As a favourite song affirms; (I would encourage you to read this and/or the Scripture in the previous post aloud)
I have placed all my hope in a crucified man
In the wounds in his side, his feet and his hands
I have traded my pride for a share in his shame
And the glory that one-day will burst from his pain
I’ve abandoned my trust in the wise and the proud
For this fragile, mysterious weakness of God
And I dare to believe in his scandalous claim
That his blood cleanses sin for who ever
Will call on his name
Live or die here I stand
I’ve placed my hope in a crucified man
I believe as they beat on his beautiful face
He turned a torturer’s chair to an altar of grace
Where the worst we can do met the best that God does
Where unspeakable hate met the gaze
Of unstoppable love
At the crux of it all there he hangs
I’ve placed my hope in a crucified….
Man of sorrows man of grief
Will he stay beyond belief?
When the purest and best took the force of our curse
Death’s victory armada juddered into reverse…
And either we bow or we stumble and fall
For the wisdom of a suffering God
Has made fools of us all
I gladly admit that I am
But I’ve placed my hope in a crucified …
Man of sorrows man of grief
Will he stay beyond belief?
I have buried my life in the cold earth with him
Like a seed in the winter, I wait for the spring
From that garden of tombs Eden rises again
And Paradise blooms from his body
And never will end
He’ll finish all he began
Creation hopes in a crucified man
When I stand at the judgement
I have no other plan
I’ve placed my hope in a crucified man
Like the thief nailed beside him
I have no other plan
I’ve placed my hope in a crucified man
Copyright © 2006 Graham Kendrick
Administered by Make Way Music,
http://www.grahamkendrick.co.uk/
I was fortunate indeed to be raised in a Christian family. Little good it did me in matters of eternity before God came and sought me out. I had had some knowledge of him and even some experience, in his answering of heartfelt desperate prayers; by my middle teenage years I had waded through more crap than most people in safe middle-class New Zealand; but something I suppose clicked into place in particular at Easter camp 2006, Mystery Creek, Hamilton (of all places.) Such that I proudly affirm that God is good and he is living and active in this world.
What did God do?
He showed me that the messy, bitter and ugly past could be dealt with decisively through the messily powerful beauty of the incarnation; not that I always have chosen to go along with that option; he showed me something of the radical reality of Himself and His plans, such that I chose to engage with the world rather than walk in the shadows. I moved from reading fiction to escape; where no doubt hints of God still lay; into non-fiction, a source of even more pleasure; I moved from wanting to make a truckload of money to working to find truth. I put more effort into academia, into projects and people. I somehow chose to study science (still not sure quite how that happened.) I like to think that I am smarter and have a delicious God-given sense of humour; maybe some of it is just "growing up", but things such as deep intellect and wit still make rather little sense in the absence of genuine mind; sans God they could be described as 'nonsense', were it not that such a category could hardly exist. I now have a tough-minded faith that is not afraid to question, to defend and to trust in God's goodness as revealed in this spectacular world, the written Word and my eccentric little life.
Where does your hope lie?
I would enjoy talking about these things with you; as someone still travelling, but now with Someone to follow.
I have placed all my hope in a crucified man
In the wounds in his side, his feet and his hands
I have traded my pride for a share in his shame
And the glory that one-day will burst from his pain
I’ve abandoned my trust in the wise and the proud
For this fragile, mysterious weakness of God
And I dare to believe in his scandalous claim
That his blood cleanses sin for who ever
Will call on his name
Live or die here I stand
I’ve placed my hope in a crucified man
I believe as they beat on his beautiful face
He turned a torturer’s chair to an altar of grace
Where the worst we can do met the best that God does
Where unspeakable hate met the gaze
Of unstoppable love
At the crux of it all there he hangs
I’ve placed my hope in a crucified….
Man of sorrows man of grief
Will he stay beyond belief?
When the purest and best took the force of our curse
Death’s victory armada juddered into reverse…
And either we bow or we stumble and fall
For the wisdom of a suffering God
Has made fools of us all
I gladly admit that I am
But I’ve placed my hope in a crucified …
Man of sorrows man of grief
Will he stay beyond belief?
I have buried my life in the cold earth with him
Like a seed in the winter, I wait for the spring
From that garden of tombs Eden rises again
And Paradise blooms from his body
And never will end
He’ll finish all he began
Creation hopes in a crucified man
When I stand at the judgement
I have no other plan
I’ve placed my hope in a crucified man
Like the thief nailed beside him
I have no other plan
I’ve placed my hope in a crucified man
Copyright © 2006 Graham Kendrick
Administered by Make Way Music,
http://www.grahamkendrick.co.uk/
I was fortunate indeed to be raised in a Christian family. Little good it did me in matters of eternity before God came and sought me out. I had had some knowledge of him and even some experience, in his answering of heartfelt desperate prayers; by my middle teenage years I had waded through more crap than most people in safe middle-class New Zealand; but something I suppose clicked into place in particular at Easter camp 2006, Mystery Creek, Hamilton (of all places.) Such that I proudly affirm that God is good and he is living and active in this world.
What did God do?
He showed me that the messy, bitter and ugly past could be dealt with decisively through the messily powerful beauty of the incarnation; not that I always have chosen to go along with that option; he showed me something of the radical reality of Himself and His plans, such that I chose to engage with the world rather than walk in the shadows. I moved from reading fiction to escape; where no doubt hints of God still lay; into non-fiction, a source of even more pleasure; I moved from wanting to make a truckload of money to working to find truth. I put more effort into academia, into projects and people. I somehow chose to study science (still not sure quite how that happened.) I like to think that I am smarter and have a delicious God-given sense of humour; maybe some of it is just "growing up", but things such as deep intellect and wit still make rather little sense in the absence of genuine mind; sans God they could be described as 'nonsense', were it not that such a category could hardly exist. I now have a tough-minded faith that is not afraid to question, to defend and to trust in God's goodness as revealed in this spectacular world, the written Word and my eccentric little life.
Where does your hope lie?
I would enjoy talking about these things with you; as someone still travelling, but now with Someone to follow.
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