Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024
The Resurrection of the Lord
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
When I survey the wondrous cross
On this Easter Sunday, after grieving the Illini loss to UConn at the basketball tournament last night (79-52) the ways of death and resurrection are clearer than ever. One thing about being a basketball fan, there’s always tomorrow. Can’t wait.
But Jesus’ resurrection was once and for all time. At Orphan’s Treasure Box bookstore in Champaign I found a 25 cent children’s book that I read last night, prayed last night, while the basketball game kept going south, A Child’s Treasury of Best-Loved Prayers. Here are several prayers that continue to lift my heart on Sunday morning.
Oh Jesus, I give you today all that I think and do and say.
Oh, Jesus, I love you and pray more love today than yesterday.
Oh, God, be with me, I pray, be by my side forever to stay.
What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I’d give him a lamb.
If I were a wise man, I would do my part
But what can I give him? I will give him my heart.
Oh, the Lord is good to me
And so I thank the Lord,
For giving me the things I need,
The sun and the rain and the appleseed.
Oh, the Lord is good to me.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise him all creatures, here below
Praise him above, ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
Dear Lord, for these things I pray:
To know thee more clearly,
To love you more dearly,
To follow you more nearly, day by day.
Heavenly Father, thanks we say
For the food we have today.
May there be enough to share
With other people everywhere.
For food and all Thy gifts of love
We give thee thanks and praise,
Look down, O Father, from above,
And bless us all our days.
And as the sun sets on each day, prayers for the night.
I see the moon, and the moon sees me,
God bless the moon, and God bless me.
Lord, keep us safe this night,
Secure from all our fears.
May angels guard us while we sleep,
Till morning light appears.
Reading these prayers, written for children, their parents and for all of us, I think of Isaac Watts, who followed his non-conformist father and rejected offers for university education. He complained about the poor hymns they sang in church and his dad challenged him to write something better. He did, and as the church sang his hymn the next Sunday, he was on his way to become the “Father of English Hymnody.”
Joy to the World. O God our help in ages past. I sing the almighty power of God. 600 hymns, most of them written while he pastored an independent London church for the last 40 years of his life.
Of course he wrote this one for the death of Jesus, and today, for his resurrection:
When I survey the wond’rous Cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest Gain I count but Loss,
And pour Contempt on all my Pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the Death of Christ my God:
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his Blood.
See from his Head, his Hands, his Feet,
Sorrow and Love flow mingled down!
Did ever such Love and Sorrow meet?
Or Thorns compose so rich a Crown?
His dying Crimson, like a Robe,
Spreads o’er his Body on the Tree;
Then am I dead to all the Globe,
And all the Globe is dead to me.
Were the whole Realm of Nature mine,
That were a Present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my Soul, my Life, my All.
(Acts 10, Psalm 118, Colossians 3, 1 Corinthians 5, John 20)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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