This Sunday we’ll be singing one of my favorite songs, How Deep the Father’s Love for Us.
A man named Stuart Townend wrote it in 1995. Here’s what he had to say about how he came to write it:
I’d been meditating on the cross, and in particular what it cost the Father to give up his beloved Son to a torturous death on a cross. And what was my part in it? Not only was it my sin that put him there, but if I’d lived at that time, it would probably have been me in that crowd, shouting with everyone else ‘crucify him’. It just makes his sacrifice all the more personal, all the more amazing, and all the more humbling.
Here is the first verse:
How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give His only Son
to make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away,
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory.
We’ll also be singing Fairest Lord Jesus. This one originated in the 1600s and went through some tweaks along the way, especially in the 1800s. It was probably sung as a Gregorian Chant by Jesuit monks at first. We won’t be singing it that way…
Here’s this song’s first verse:
Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish; Thee will I honor,
Thou my soul’s glory, joy, and crown.
Then we’ll close the service with The Family of God. When I was a kid, my church sang this every Sunday while we all shook hands. This is one one of the few hymns I know all the lyrics to by heart. It’s a 1970s Gaither song. Gloria Gaither tells the story behind the song:
It was the Saturday after Good Friday that Ron went in for work at the garage where he was serving as a mechanic. He was making up time that he had taken off the previous Thursday to take his little daughter for some tests prior to some anticipated heart surgery.
While Ron was working with combustible material, there was an explosion. He managed to crash his way through the large double doors before the building blew apart and went up in flames, but he was severely burned over most of his body.
Ron was alive but was not expected to make it through the night. Within minutes a chain of telephone calls alerted the family of God, and the whole church began to pray for Ron. Little groups, bigger groups, in homes, at the church, over the phone.
The church building was kept open, and lights burned all through the night as a steady stream of folks who cared and loved came to talk to Jesus about this young father.
Easter morning the sun rose on a sanctuary filled with a bleary-eyed congregation. The pastor came in with a report from the hospital. Ron has outlived the deadline. The doctor says he has a chance.
For the Body of Christ, that news was better than eight hours of sleep and a good breakfast. New life was infused into us all. Tears of praise and joy began to flow, and our hope and gratitude poured itself into the glorious songs of Easter. Jesus lives, and because He lives, we too shall live!
With the words of victory we pledged ourselves to what would lie ahead: help with the children, many long trips to the hospital, blood for transfusions, money, meals—long months of support while the healing process went on.
On our way home from church that morning Bill and I were so full of the beauty of it all that we could hardly speak. Finally, we said to each other what we had come to realize through all this: They’d do that for us, too!
It was almost too good to realize, but it was true! We aren’t very model church members. The function we fill in the Body of Christ takes us away from a lot of the activities of our congregation. We’re never available on Fridays and Saturdays. We arrive early on Sunday mornings to get our children to their Sunday school and church, but we can’t be counted to teach a class with a schedule like that.
But they’d do the same thing for us if we were the part of the Body that was suffering! Not because we were worthy or had earned special treatment or were indispensable—but just because we were a part of the Family of God!
As I started dinner, Bill sat down at the piano. It wasn’t long before the magnetism of the chorus Bill was singing drew me from the kitchen to the piano, and we finished the song that was to feed us better than any other food.
The first verse:
I’m so glad I’m a part of the fam’ly of God –
I’ve been washed in the fountain,
cleansed by His blood!
Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod;
For I’m part of the fam’ly, the fam’ly of God.
If you get a chance, listen to these songs and re-familiarize yourself with them in preparation for our worship together this Sunday. I found a link to a good video with lyrics for How Deep the Father’s Love for Us. I couldn’t find the others, but you might have better luck.
Worshiping with you,
Pastor Matt
