At This Time of Offering
Cosmic Mystery Series
OFFERING
ALL WHO CLAIM TO FOLLOW JESUS
Tune:SALZBURG (Hintz) 77.77D
Jakob Hintze 1622-1702
Arranged: Johann Sebastian
Bach 1685-1750
CULBACH 77.77 (as 6 verses)
Adapted from a chorale in Johann
Scheffler’s ‘Heilige Seelenlust’
Breslau, 1657
- At this time of offering
We recall Christ gave his life *
To show love can overcome
Bitter words and cruel strife.
We then ask what is the price
Our discipleship will cost?
What shall be our sacrifice
And what pleasure shall be lost?
- Those who choose Christ as their seer
Must at times accept the price
Of rejecting what is dear
To expose their ruler’s vice.
When like Jesus we confront
Ruling powers who abuse
Wealth and status for themselves
It will light their anger’s fuse.
- Anger soon will turn to hate
Hate can turn to violent acts
Drowning all the prophet’s cries
And presenting clouded facts.
Let us in this offering now
Choose to walk the Jesus Way
Disregarding our own cost
Till God’s justice has its sway.
*John 110/17-18
Text © William Livingstone Wallace
Click Here for Sheet Music – Salzburg
Click Here for Sheet Music – Culbach
Click Here for MP3 – Salzburg
Click Here for MP3 – Culbach
Click Here for Full Index to William L. Wallace’s Series Hymns “Cosmic Mystery”
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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