What Wondrous Love Is This? – Anonymous

Awe, and perhaps one might have said bewilderment, too. That’s what this anonymous songwriter was trying to convey when he or she wrote “What Wondrous Love Is This?” sometime in the early 19^th Century. The question that was asked is still one that is worthy of consideration even today, because no one can claim to have completely understood the mind of Him who gave His all for a fallen race. The answer to the question lingers unresolved, just as the origin of this hymn does, though there is some evidence that it might have come from somewhere in the Appalachian region of the eastern United States (see the map-graphic showing this area). It’s an ages-old theme that even scripture struggles to expose in a way that makes the mortal human understand. He loved. That’s it, but it’s packed with meaning, because this is a divine love. So, there is a point at which we humans cease trying to sort it all out, and we just live faithfully as best we can, knowing that we cannot live up to His standard nor answer with complete comprehension the ‘Why’ question. But, it is of no matter, because His love-act doesn’t require our perfection or our total grasp and ability to answer Him. Just accept His gift of love, and show it to others, with a certain astonishment. That’s all we humans can manage.   

 

‘What Wondrous Love Is This?’ has traditionally been counted among the innumerable works in the American folk hymn tradition. At least two sources suggest the song may have originated with someone in Appalachia; this possibility seems credible because of its first known publication in a collection known as A Ge­ne­ral Se­lect­ion of the New­est and Most Ad­mired Hymns and Spir­it­ual Songs Now in Use, by Stith Mead, which was published in Lynch­burg, Vir­gin­ia (of the Vir­gin­ia Con­fer­ence of the Me­thod­ist Epis­co­pal Church) in 1811. But, the author of its words remains unknown, as well as the particular circumstance that inspired the original poetry of seven verses. We can only speculate that this poem set forth the feelings of the author as he/she read a bible and was struck again and again by the concept of Godly love expressed in the Messiah. And, it wasn’t just a theory, was it? That He died for all humanity still confounds people today, even some in a tragic way that makes them doubt and refuse to accept what Christians hold to be true. After all, how could the Omnipotent One allow Himself to be killed, and in such a gruesome and shameful way? The author does not spend any more than the initial verse asking this burning question, and then spends the subsequent six verses extolling what He has done and its impact on those who receive His great gift – from the moment of belief to the first steps into eternity. Spread the news and join in the praise of what He did, even as ‘seraphs’ (v.3) do to acknowledge and serve Him. The author says repeatedly that he will sing in response (vv.4-7), and perhaps that is the basic message here: Just sing and give thanks.  

 

The song has a haunting quality to it, because of the key (D minor), as well as the question in the first verse that is also the song’s title. It can give my life some sense of how to approach daily living. I live with awe and wonder, and should always be trying to bring others into the same realization – that life with or without Him brings a gravity that cannot and should not be ignored – it’s one of profound and forever punishment if I do not choose Him, versus one that will bring eternal blessing and utter delight in being with Him and others who accept Him. You and I get to choose now, for that is part of the life experience, isn’t it? Do you prefer evil, or would you prefer someone who was willing to sacrifice for you? Try reading these passages: Jeremiah 31:3; John 3:14-18; Numbers 21:8; Galatians 3:13-14; 1 John 3:1; Revelation 1:5-6. Then ask yourself, how amazing is what He’s done, and why would you not want to be with someone so amazing for the rest of existence, for the rest of time in eternity? It’s a no-brainer, is it not?

 

 

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990.

 

See also here for information on the song: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/w/h/a/t/w/whatwond.htm

 

See information on the image-map here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Appalachia_without_county_borders.svg …English: Map of Appalachia, red covers counties in the Appalachian Regional Comission, dark red covers "Consensus Appalachia" by John Alexander Williams, striped counties are not ARC counties. 19 February 2024…The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. This image is found inside the document at this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachia

 

Victor's Crown -- Darlene Zschech, Israel Houghton, Kari Jobe

 

Their ‘vision’ defied what their eyes would have told them. There’s another way to say that – ‘Don’t believe what your eyes are seeing’. And so, try reading from the International Standard Version of the Bible when you look up John 19:2-5, and notice how it’s different than virtually all of the other translations. That’s apparently what Darlene Zschech and her two collaborators, Israel Houghton and Kari Jobe, noticed, and what spurred “Victor’s Crown” in 2011. (See here the image of Christ Carrying the Cross, and wearing a crown of thorns, by 16^th Century artist El Greco.) Jesus stood on its head what wearing the thorns on one’s brow typically meant, and what the Roman soldiers evidently intended when they thrust them down on His head to cause one more stab of pain to His physical body. It was also their way to poke fun at Him, to heap yet one more bit of ignominy upon His person. We can thank Him that He was capable of enduring whatever they did to Him, and in fact turning it all upside down.

 

Darlene and her husband Mark Zschech left the Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia to become the pastors of the Hope Unlimited Church in New South Wales in 2011; it was from there just a couple of years later that ‘Victor’s Crown was written by Darlene, along with her collaborators. Darlene has shared in a video explanation (see the link below) the song’s inspiration, and what all that scene in John 19 has meant for believers. In short, his bleeding forehead and what would happen in the next few moments and hours were not the end of the story. The ‘final victory’ was in the resurrection, the defeat of death. With that, as Darlene explained, some of the lyrics that she, Israel, and Kari wrote describe what naturally results from such an amazing sequence of events. The ‘high things…come down’ and ‘strongholds…broken’. Pilate and the others, Darlene observed, thought their own power had been victorious; one has to wonder why they thought this way. Had they not perceived that He was more than a magician, that He had raised others, perhaps most notably Lazarus whom so many credible witnesses had observed (see John 11 and 12), so that His opponents even plotted to kill Lazarus too? But, they just didn’t have the power to eliminate all of the evidence; that’s what ultimately convicts criminals – they cannot erase all of the evidence. They cannot overcome because there’s too many evidence trails that lead back to them. On the other hand, Jesus has ‘overcome’, and He wants the evidence trails to lead inexorably to Himself. Darlene reminds us in the video that God underscores this point for us --- He’s ‘greater than anything anybody may be facing, and that’s the joy of the Victor’s Crown’. He doesn’t wear it just to help Himself; it’s for you and me, too.

 

The ‘Victor’s Crown’ really says it all, so this blogger doesn’t need to expound on it more here. Listen/watch it here, and just celebrate that what is sung is true, forever. Tell-show others that whatever dogs them in their terrestrial life, whatever feels like a crushing weight on their shoulders, whatever gnaws at their guts or feels empty deep inside, to get in touch with what the words of the song communicate. Bet your life on its truth.  Victor's Crown w/Darlene Zschech

 

See/hear the song story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X100Fzd5PP8

 

See here information on the image of Jesus: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_Carrying_the_Cross_1580.jpg …This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1930. The image may be found inside this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_of_thorns

 

See here for information about the coat of arms of New South Wales: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coat_of_Arms_of_New_South_Wales.svg …The author died in 1922, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1930. Find this image within this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales

The Word Is Alive -- Mark Hall and Steven Curtis Chapman

 

When the Creator-God speaks, there is no compromising. With that in mind, you either live what’s inside of you or you don’t. Perhaps that’s what Mark Hall and his song collaborator Steven Curtis Chapman were essentially saying as they provided a musical reminder for themselves and some young people that “The Word Is Alive”. Mark and his group, Casting Crowns, could have been in Daytona Beach (see its seal here) when they cut an album called The Altar and the Door, which was released in August 2007; its focus was inspired by some troubling information that Mark read about how people were trying to ‘ride the fence’, so to speak, and were not taking the right way of living beyond the traditional Sunday worship space. Did the focus of The Altar and the Door provide some echoes in what Mark and Casting Crowns sang about Him being the Word, about how He cannot be disregarded or diminished?     

 

Mark Hall was one of the youth pastors at the church when he found to his dismay some entries in MySpace (a social networking forum that began in August 2003) from some of the teens he knew that sharply contrasted with the Christian lifestyle. These young people were really trying to live in two separate worlds – a phenomenon that Mark pointed out was not unique to youths. It’s easy to feel guilty and share at the Sunday altar what’s going on and how God should motivate a person’s daily life, but what happens between the altar and the door is the crux of the matter. Some of the lyrics that Mark and Steven wrote sound as if they were recalling some scriptures that make God-in-the-flesh too real to overlook, even for a moment, so perhaps the theme of the album provided the subtext for ‘The Word is Alive’, though neither composer explicitly says this. Take for example the title words of the song they wrote – ‘the Word is alive’ sounds so very much like what John wrote on multiple occasions, that He really lived, and really was/is God (John 1:1, 14; and 1 John 1:1). Lest anyone forget how profound was this Word, try on what John saw on Patmos: He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God (Revelation 19:13). If that one verse isn’t enough, try reading the entire 19^th chapter – and especially verses 11-21 -- to capture more of just who He is, and how terrifying and breathtaking He can be, especially to those who oppose Him. Perhaps this and what the Hebrews writer said (Hebrews 4:12) was what drove home the point for Mark and Steven – that the Word’s living and active, and mortally dangerous for those who don’t accept who He is. Did Mark’s youth group hear that when he sang ‘And it cuts like a sword through the darkness’ (chorus). Did they understand also that the ‘world and its glories (including that stuff on MySpace) will fade’. Make very certain you are on God’s side, 24/7.  

 

Mark and Steven also included a spoken portion in the song – maybe it helps emphasize the word that God spoke? – that underscores the diversity of individuals and episodes that worked over centuries to produce the bible and its core message: that Jesus and how He points to the God of the universe is the focus. The bible…it’s hard to appreciate how rare it was once upon a time, in centuries past. But now, do you and I take it too much for granted? And, does that translate into some ho-hums about His presence now? Don’t look at the mere surfaces of what He’s done, but go a little deeper, and then go even deeper. This book that He’s preserved for me has unmined truths, ways to look at Jesus that can fascinate and inform me anew, if I’ll just spend time in it. That’s how one keeps renewing the vision of Him, by finding something new about Him every day. What Mark and Steven and Casting Crowns have done is but one more reminder that this Word is still watching and waiting for me to keep on coming. Get used to hearing His voice, and what He has to say to you.    

 

 

See information on the album on which the song appears here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Altar_and_the_Door

 

See information on the graphic-seal here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seal_of_Daytona_Beach,_Florida.png …This work was created by a government unit (including state, county, and municipal government agencies) of the U.S. state of Florida. It is a public record that was not created by an agency which state law has allowed to claim copyright and is therefore in the public domain in the United States. The graphic-seal can be found inside this document: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daytona_Beach,_Florida