Day 369 | Tuesday, 23 March 2021

Day 369 - Audio Version

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Day 369 | Tuesday, 23 March 2021

One of the hymns that appears under the theme of Passion and Death is “What Wondrous Love Is This.”

1 What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul?
What wondrous love is this, O my soul?
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
to bear the dreadful curse for my soul?

2 When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
when I was sinking down, sinking down,
when I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown,
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul,
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul.


 (An amended stanza 2 which is more familiar is:  
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul?  
What wondrous love is this, O my soul?  
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of life 
to lay aside his crown for my soul, for my soul, 
to lay aside his crown for my soul.)

3 To God and to the Lamb I will sing, I will sing,
to God and to the Lamb I will sing,
to God and to the Lamb who is the great I Am,
while millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing,
while millions join the theme, I will sing.
4 And when from death I’m free I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,
and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on,
and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be,
and through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,
and through eternity I’ll sing on.

          “We have few clues as to the author and composer of this profound hymn of wonder at the love of Christ for all humanity.”                    
                                                             
    “Thanks to the careful work of scholars, we do have some suggestions about the origins of this hymn. The text appeared as early as 1811 in a collection by Stith Mead titled General Selection of the Newest and Most Admired Hymns and Spiritual Songs Now in Use (second enlarged edition). William J. Reynolds traced a variant of this text to Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Original and Selected by Starke Dupuy, also published in 1811.”      
                                                 
     "What Wondrous Love Is This" captures our attention right from the beginning with its simplicity and persistence – "What wondrous love is this" sung three times. This repetition is not the sign of a weak poet who has a narrow range of expression, but a fellow traveler who has experienced profoundly the sacrificial love of Christ and can only express again and again – "What wondrous love is this." It is the kind of repetition that sounds trite when spoken yet gains strength and power through singing. These are not the carefully crafted words of a theologian, but utterances directly from the heart or, even more profoundly, from the soul.” 
            
     “Depending on how one reads the stanza, the entire first stanza is either a statement of pure awe or a profound question. This rhetorical device – the ambiguity of a statement of awe or profound question – is reminiscent of Charles Wesley's "And Can It Be". The first stanza of that hymn ends, "Amazing love! How can it be/that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?"”

Holy God, as we continue our Lenten journey, we do think about this wondrous love of Jesus who did lay aside who he was for us and our salvation.  Thank you, God, for your wondrous love for each one of us.  Lord, hear our prayers, Amen.