1.
As I have prepared for Good Friday, prayed about it, reflected on the
death of our Lord, read theological treatises and counter-arguments (seriously,
you should see my Facebook feed today), one song has constantly come back to
me. No, it’s not our next hymn tonight [O Sacred Head, Now Wounded], though that's where the smart money would be, on my all-time-favorite
Good Friday song, though we’ll sing it, and it’ll be
absolutely amazing, like it always is, and I’ll probably cry, like I usually
do.
2.
No, this year my Good Friday song is as incongruous as it could
possibly be. Of all things, it’s a Christmas song. You may have heard it: #292
in our cranberry ELW hymnal (lyrics by Ken Bible). “Love Has Come.” It’s an old French carol (Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabelle), and
with these new fifteen-year-old lyrics, it’s positively a joyous dance number.
Love Has Come
Love has come – a light in the darkness!
Love shines forth in the Bethlehem skies.
See, all heaven has come to proclaim it;
hear how their song of joy arises:
Love! Love!
Born unto you, a Savior!
Love! Love!
Glory to God on high.
3.
And it’s been the second verse that has really caught me up.
v. 2:
Love is born! Come, share in the wonder.
Love is God now asleep in the hay.
See the glow in the eyes of his mother;
what is the name her heart is saying?
Love! Love!
Love is the name she whispers;
Love! Love!
Jesus, Immanuel.
4.
You’ve all heard that “God is love,” right? It’s in the book; I
think you’ve heard it. Well, God is love, and Jesus is God, and in Jesus, God
came into this world to love us, and to show us how to love God and love one
another. Jesus is God’s love incarnate, God-with-us, fully human so he can know
our weaknesses, but fully God so he can love us more than we can ever know.
5.
That’s who died on the cross, and that’s why it’s the saddest
thing in the history of… ever. Love came to show us the way, and we human
beings couldn’t take it, could not turn our hearts to God and love as we had
been loved, and so we had Jesus killed. Jesus died on the cross out of love for
us. He loved us to the end.
6.
And so I wrote another verse to this Christmas hymn, “Love Has
Come.” It’s not joyful, and it doesn’t dance, but I pray that somehow the song’s
beauty remains as its story changes so drastically.
Good Friday verse:
Love has died.
God sent him to teach us
love; he died for us there on the tree.
Feed the hungry and welcome the stranger:
This was his life. Then why?
His crime was
Love! Love!
Love for God’s whole creation.
Love! Love!
God’s love for you and me.
7.
Lord, have mercy. Amen.
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