Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Go to Dark Gethsemane

I want to share with all of you the text of a hymn we sang this morning in the worship service. The tune was familiar ("Redhead"), but I'd never seen the words before. Our focus this week is on the passion and resurrection of Jesus.

Go to Dark Gethsemane

Go to dark Gethsemane, ye that feel the tempter's power.
Your Redeemer's conflict see; watch with him one bitter hour,
Turn not from His grief away; learn of Jesus Christ to pray.

Follow to the judgment hall; view the Lord of life arraigned.
O, the wormwood and the gall! O, the pangs His soul sustained!
Shun not suffering, shame, or loss; learn of Him to bear the cross.

Calvary's mournful mountain climb; there adoring at His feet,
Mark the miracle of time, God's own sacrifice complete:
"It is finished!" - Hear him cry; learn of Jesus Christ to die.

Early hasten to the tomb where they laid his breathless clay:
All is solitude and gloom; who hath taken Him away?
Christ is risen! He meets our eyes. Savior, teach us so to rise.


What a rich, rich text! The description is very good, but the message to the reader, to learn from Jesus HOW to do these things - how we need this! To pray as He prayed in the garden, to bear our crosses as He bore His, to die as He died, to rise into life as He rose. If we did learn these lessons from the Teacher, how much better prepared we would be to live the lives he has designed for us.

1 comment:

Tammy said...

I love old hymns especially - the writers were amazing at the layers in the verses . Their words put us there-where our hearts should be. :)