As We Gaze Upon the Cross
Cosmic Mystery Series
Crucifixion
AS WE GAZE UPON THE CROSS
Tune:
DIX 77.77.77
arr William Henry Monk 183-1889
from a chorale by Conrad Kocher 1786-1872
- As we gaze upon the Cross
We discern a tortured man
Wracked by cruel suffering,
Victim of a traitor’s plan.
In that battered human flesh
We see all that fear can fan.
- Jesus hanging on that Cross
With forgiveness could proclaim
God’s great loving will endure
And will never ever wane.
Suffering is the holy path
To compassion’s sacred flame.
- When our heart is full of wounds,
When our pain knows no release,
All this cycle will dissolve
As our empathies increase.
When we share in others’ pain
We discover God’s own peace.
- Can I be a Christ for you?
Yes if I both share and care
For the pain within your heart,
All the pain you hide or wear.
When your pain becomes my own
It becomes a pain we share.
- So let’s join in sharing wounds,
Source of liberating pow’r,
For imprisoned wounds can each
Poison living hour by hour
But when wounds are owned and shared
Love will grow and then will flower.
- God of Stabat Mater’s tears,
Tears that share another’s pain,
May we now embrace all life
As one family again
That our love for Planet Earth
Shall endure and ever reign.
Text © William Livingstone Wallace
Click Here for Sheet Music – Dix
Click Here for MP3 – Dix
Click Here for Full Index to William L. Wallace’s Series
Hymns “Cosmic Mystery”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
William (Bill) Livingstone Wallace is a retired New Zealand Methodist Minister and one of our most prolific contributors. Bill says that his work springs from communicating with the fire in his gut and his observation of both the internal and external aspects of the Cosmos. Since an early age, he has been both sympathetic to and critical of the church, announcing at the age of 13 his belief in evolution. In his youth, he struggled with the disconnection between art and spirituality in his own and other denominations and with the way in which all of the liturgies prior to the sermon were regarded as preliminaries and longer sermons were viewed as superior to more concise ones.
He holds a B.A. in philosophy and a Dip. Ed. and is the author of nine published collections of his hymns as well as other resources on our website. His aim is to help people be empowered by the divine within them and the Cosmos and to work to overthrow the forces of personal and institutional greed which destroy both the ecosystem and human society.
Click Here for a Full Biography of William L. Wallace
Click here for a complete list of his work on ProgressiveChristianity.org