I am a liturgical magpie.
When I see pretty things glistening and shiny, I pick them up. They become mine.
Thus today, on finding a hymn whose tune I liked in the excellent new Church of Scotland hymnbook that was not to my theological tastes, I rewrote it. It is a little lesson in alternative views of the doctrine of the atonement, if you are interested.
Here is the original:
Before the throne of God above
I have a strong, a perfect plea,
a great High Priest whose name is Love,
who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on his hands,
my name is written on his heart;
I know that while in heaven he stands
no tongue can bid me thence depart.
When Satan tempts me to despair,
and tells me of the guilt within,
upward I look, and see him there
who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Saviour died,
my sinful soul is counted free;
for God the just is satisfied
to look on him and pardon me.
Behold him there! the risen Lamb,
my perfect, spotless righteousness,
the great unchangeable I AM,
the King of glory and of grace!
One with himself, I cannot die;
my soul is purchased by his blood;
my life is hid with Christ on high,
with Christ my Saviour and my God.
(Charitie L De Chenez – 1841-1923)
Now that is all very well, if you find ideas of substitutionary atonement palatable. (You know, the idea that God will discount one’s sins because Jesus has in some way borne them instead). Notwithstanding anything I may once have thought, I’m of the view that this is a doctrine rather past its sell-by date.
So, here, with a nod to Johannine imagery, …
Before the throne of God above
I have a strong, a perfect plea,
a great High Priest, whose name is Love,
who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on Love’s hands.
My name is written in Love’s heart.
I know that while in heaven Love stands
no tongue can bid me thence depart.
For though I’m tempted to despair
and only seek for strength within,
outward I look and see Love there
and hope and faith and joy flood in.
Because my saviour, Love has come,
my grateful soul has been set free,
for God from heaven came to earth
and lived a mortal life like me.
Behold Love there, the risen Son!
my perfect, dazzling righteousness,
the great unchangeable I AM,
the God of glory and of grace.
At one with God, I cannot die
my soul is captured by God’s love
my life is hid with Christ on high
with Christ my saviour and my God.
I cannot post the sheet music as it is still in copyright. (Though I suppose I could post an mp3 of me playing it or something should anyone be interested). The original is at number 466 in CH4.
One of my favourites!
This is one of my favourite hymns, first heard
on 01/01/01 in the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh
when a whole bunch of churches got together.
Fully orchestrated with choir, it’s mind-blowing.
If you’re thinking of the tune I am
(not always guaranteed), might I suggest you
abbreviate `heaven’ in the penultimate line of
the first verse to retain scanning?
Various understandings of Atonem
Secondarily, thanks for prompting me to go dig out a list
of various ways to understand the atonement. http://groups.google.com/group/uk.religion.christian/msg/cc290a176c25f495?dmode=source&hl=en
is probably bookmark-worthy. 🙂
Such an improvement on the original! Available for others to use?
My changes, such as they are are free for anyone to appropriate.
The hymn’s use of the metaphor of “satisfaction” is surely more to do with St Anselm than with later Calvinistic ideas of substitutionary atonement – though not a bad substitution of your own!