I was brought up to go to a church where we sung traditional hymns written in previous centuries by writers with wonderful names – Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts, Francis Ridley Havergal, Cecil Francis Alexander… and Fanny J Crosby. I was delighted that one of her hymns has been ‘re-discovered’ recently. Her original words have been updated in this version…
I believe that these are the original words:
Jesus, keep me near the cross;
There a precious fountain,
Free to all, a healing stream,
Flows from Calv’ry’s mountain.
In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever,
Till my ransomed soul shall find
Rest beyond the river
Near the cross, a trembling soul,
Love and mercy found me;
There the Bright and Morning Star
Sheds His beams around me.
Fanny J Crosby (1820-1915), born in Brewster village, sixty miles north of New York, was proud to trace her heritage back to Puritans that came to America in the Mayflower. She was also related to Bing Crosby.
Born blind she grew to be a remarkable woman, writing poems and songs of a religious and political nature throughout her life including the American Civil War. She worked with many of the religious and secular writers of the day. Wikipedia describes her as the “Queen of Gospel Song Writers” and the “Mother of modern congregational singing in America”. I remember her hymns ‘To God be the Glory’, and ‘Blessed Assurance’…
Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
Bring its scenes before me;
Help me walk from day to day
With its shadow o’er me.
Near the cross I’ll watch and wait,
Hoping, trusting ever,
Till I reach the golden strand
Just beyond the river.
In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever,
Till my ransomed soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.
It’s good to be brought back to the cross, and its centrality to my faith. The cross speaks of Jesus, of love and forgiveness, and the simple faith I committed myself to as a young teenager. It speaks powerfully of my failures, of Jesus the man who suffered and died on that cross, of God’s grace and mercy. The cross speaks of the simple yet profound truth of salvation and Jesus as my ‘Saviour’.
So this morning I’m musing on the power and influence of the cross, of faith as ‘I walk from day to day’, and of hope in that day when I’ll ‘rest beyond the river’.
malcolmsmusings.org 
Amen, Malcolm. There can by no real Christianity without the cross of Christ. And each one of His followers must also take up their cross and follow Him. The enemy of our souls wants us to reduce Jesus to a good moral teacher, and have us leave the Savior of the world part out of the narrative. Yet, the cross, and rising from the dead afterwards, were central to His God-given mission. But now I’m preaching.😊
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Looking back, David, I think I emphasised the preaching of the cross as the priority. In recent years I’ve emphasised more the living of the cross. I think that my thought for today was the need to keep the balance.
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Understood, Malcolm. My usual practice is to read a post and comment straight away, based on my visceral reaction. I may have been thinking about posting my own thoughts, earlier today, about taking up the cross.
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