Every so often, I hear a song that catches my heart. I listen intently to the words and then I listen for the emotion. Will this be a song that the church will enjoy singing? Is this a song that will encourage us as a church body? Do the words cause us to feel; to think; to love; to worship? A few weeks ago I was reading some responses to an article about a worship leader of a church that was asking for some help in selecting songs for their upcoming Easter Service. One of the responses was from a young female worship leader from England, Vicky Beeching. She mentioned a song that she had written about the cross of Jesus, and how she would offer it as a suggestion for an Easter song. So, I decided to find the song and give it a listen. And, oh what a song!
"The Wonder of the Cross" stirs my imagination. I listen to the words and they paint a living picture of the cross. The words cause my mind to look back in time; not to the crucifixion, but to the day I heard about the love of Christ; the day I heard that He gave His life on that cross for me. I listen to the words that encourage me to hold on to that memory; to not let time and years steal the power of the cross, and how it has impacted my life. Listening to the song, my mind sees the cross; not as a vertical, horizontal wooden structure that stands as a symbol of our belief, but as I saw it for the first time; at a revival. What had always been just a symbol was now real in my mind, and in my heart. This structure of wood was shameful, painful, and necessary for my salvation. My life would never be the same; neither would anyone else that looked at the cross the way that I did that evening. When I see the cross in my mind, I feel it in my heart. When I see people respond to the cross, I feel it in my heart. When I see lives changed because of the cross, I feel it in my heart. Please, don't ask me what it feels like; I can't tell you. It's what I would say is the wonder of the cross, and as is written in the song, "May I never lose the wonder, the wonder of the cross". May we never lose the wonder.
