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Easter 2024: Resurrection and the Life

Shared by the Laningas

I AM the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth, and believeth in me shall never die.
John 11:25-26

We wait for the Lord, our Beloved,
Our Comforter, Master and Friend,
The substance of all that we hope for,
Beginning of faith and its end;
We watch for our Saviour and Bridegroom
Who loved us and made us His own;
For Him we are looking and longing;
For Jesus, and Jesus alone.
~Annie Johnson Flint

If the Christ who had died had stopped at the cross,
His work had been incomplete,
If the Christ that was buried had stayed in the tomb,
He had only known defeat.
But the way of the cross never stops at the cross,
And the way of the tomb leads on 
To victorious grace in the heavenly place
Where the RISEN Lord has gone.
~Annie Johnson Flint

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.
~Jim Elliot

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Easter 2024: The Battle Won

shared by the Laningas

The strife is O’er, the battle won;

    The victory of life is won;

The song of triumph has begun,

                                                       HALLELUJAH !

The powers of death have done their worst,

      But Christ their legions hath dispersed;

Let shouts of holy joy outburst, 

                                                         HALLELUJAH !

The three sad days have quickly sped;

       He rises glorious from the dead;

All glory to our risen Head !

                                                           HALLELUJAH !

He brakes the age-bound chains of hell;

     The bars from heaven’s high portals fell;

Let hymns of praise His triumph tell,

                                                             HALLELUJAH !

                    Giovanni P. Da Palestrina 1525

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Lent 2024: Power of the Cross

shared by the Laningas

They stood there grimly upon Calvary;

Each bore a victim suffering bodily.

But in the attitude of soul we see

A strange unlikeness in the suffering three.

Behold, upon the centre cross He

Who, to atone for sin, hung on the Tree.

Of His own will He died for rebel’s guilt,

Though by man’s cruel hands His blood was spilt;

Pardon for all believers did Christ win,

Since upon Calvary He died for sin.

Now see upon the left a sufferer

Who even to the last did curse and swear.

Write underneath the picture of his cross,

He died in sin bringing eternal loss.

Now turn to the sufferer on the right.

How different in the picture, and how bright!

He owns his sin, laments his evil ways,

Then turns him to the centre cross and prays.

Christ pardons him. The thief now dead to sin.

Enters, with Him, the Golden Gates within.

READER, be sure since Christ for sinners died,

Thou canst find pardon through the Crucified.

 ~WILLIAM OLNEY from The Incomparable Christ

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Lent 2024: O Lord, Remember Me

Shared by Pastor Bert Hitchcock

When on the cross of Calvary
The Lord was crucified
The mob stood ’round about Him
And they mocked Him until He died

And there were two thieves
Hanging there beside Him
Just to share the agony
But one of them
Cried out to Him
Oh! Lord remember me

Verse 2:

Oh! What a shame to kill Him
Out there on that old rugged cross
But such a death was needed
Just to rescue all of us that was lost

Oh! His blood is made a ransom
Just to set the captives free
I know that I’m included
And I know God will remember me

Chorus: 

Oh! Will the Lord remember me
When I am called to go 
When I have crossed death’s chilly sea
Will He His love there show

Oh, yes! He heard my feeble cries
From bondage set me FREE!
And when I reach the pearly gates
I know He will remember me

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Lent 2024: Sing My Soul

Shared by the Laningas for our Spanish-speaking church friends

1. Sing my soul the glorious battle; Tell the triumph

     far and wide; Tell aloud the wondrous story

     Of the cross, the Crucified: Tell how Christ, the

     world’s redeemer, Vanquished death the day died.

2. Tell how, when at length the fullness of the holy 

     time had come, Christ was sent, the world’s Creator,

     from the Fathers’s heavenly home. And was found

     among us dwelling, Offspring of the Virgin’s womb.

3.  Nailed upon the cross, Christ suffered Crowns of thorns, and

     spear, and reed. From his pierced and broken body

     blood and water both proceed: By that flood of

     grace, creation from the stain of sin is freed.

4.  Faithful Cross, true sign of triumph. Be for all the 

     noblest tree; None in foliage, none in blossom,

     none in fruit your peer may be;  Symbol of the 

     world’s redemption. For your battle makes us free.