This is Good Friday, and this hymn, by Johann Sebastian Bach, reminds us why we mark this day–O Sacred Head, Now Wounded, sung by the choir at Kings College, Cambridge.
He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities.
This is Jesus Christ the Son of God, Our Lord.
With things falling apart pretty nearly everywhere you look, it’s important to remember that God is forever, and Christ’s Kingdom an everlasting kingdom.
This is the Luther College Nordic choir performing the Pilgrims’ Hymn and Bach Chorale in the church wherein Martin Luther is buried, in Wittenburg, Germany. Let the music wash over you. Look around the ancient church.
The things of God do last, being spiritual, unshakeable, eternal.
Christmas must work every day throughout the year: we need it. And one of the ways it works is by music. Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, by Johann Sebastian Bach, here performed by Celtic woman–if this doesn’t stir your soul, then you need Vigoro or something.
God promised Abraham that in him and in his seed–ultimately, in Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God–all the nations of the world will be blessed. This promise is repeated throughout the Old Testament, in a variety of forms.
Which brings us to this video of a Japanese orchestra performing a composition by a German composer in praise of Jesus Christ, born in Judea 20 centuries ago. God has blessed all the nations of the world, for Christ is king for all of them.
Let us take great pains to declare that, in this 2016 Christmas season.
(And hey, everybody, I stand ready to post your Christmas hymn requests. Step right up and don’t be shy! You don’t need an alibi!)
It can’t be wrong to post this, one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever created–by Johann Sebastian Bach, in collaboration with the Holy Spirit.
Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring–here performed by Celtic Woman, backed up by a full orchestra–is a hymn I usually associate with Christmas. But that’s too long to wait for it!
Let’s share this at the end of the day–one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written, surely by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. If this doesn’t stir your soul, then maybe you don’t have one.
Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, by Johann Sebastian Bach: Leopold Stokowski conducting.
Our Lord, our Shepherd, is worthy of our love and reverence.
Let’s start our Sabbath day with this, one of the most gorgeous hymns ever written–Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Hard indeed is the heart that isn’t stirred by this!
Like I say, “Keep your rock, we’ve got Bach!”
But even Bach is nothing without the Holy Spirit.
A reader suggested this last night, so I saved it for this morning: O Sacred Head Now Wounded, by Johann Sebastian Bach.
This was another one we sang in seventh-grade chorus. Let me see if I can remember the words.
O sacred head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down
Now scornfully surrounded, with thorns thine only crown
O sacred head, what glory! What bliss till now was thine
Yet tho’ despised and gory, I’d joy to call thee mine…