Beneath the Cross of Jesus

This is my 31st entry in the Lenten Hymn-of-the Day project. It also corresponds to the Fifth Sunday in Lent, which used to be commonly called, Passion Sunday.

It is also my 700th upload... ;-)

This is one of "those hymns" that used to seem "trite" to me. It wasn't "Anglican", so it was worthless in my eyes.

After returning from England, I became organist of fairly "significant" Episcopal Church in NYC. Like many churches in the city, Good Friday is a special day, and services of "Three Hours Devotions" or "Meditations on the Seven Last Words of Jesus" are common. People, many of whom are NOT regular parishioners come and go as their schedule permits, and large congregations often occur. Outside of the churches, the roar and tumult that can ONLY happen in NYC goes unheeding on! The churches alone providing a resting point or oasis for reflection, self-examination, and prayer...

When I learned that this hymn would HAVE to be included, I was not pleased, but it was DURING the singing of it, that the reality of that Good Friday struck me, and it has become a solid favorite of mine.

The words are by Elizabeth Cecelia Douglas Clephane (1830-1869). She was the third daugh­ter of An­drew Cle­phane, Sher­iff of Fife and Kin­ross, and lived most of her life in Me­lrose, Scot­land, about 30 miles south­east of Ed­in­burgh. She spent most of her mon­ey on char­it­a­ble caus­es, and was known lo­cal­ly as “The Sun­beam.”

The music is by Frederick Charles Maker (1844-1927). He was born and died in Bris­tol, Glou­ces­ter­shire, Eng­land. He played the or­gan at sev­er­al church­es in Bris­tol: The Milk Street Free Meth­od­ist Church, Red­land Park Free Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church, and Clif­ton Downs Free Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church. He was al­so a vis­it­ing Pro­fes­sor of Mu­sic at Clif­ton Coll­ege, and con­duct­ed the Bris­tol Free Church Choir As­so­ci­a­tion.