Sunday, March 27, 2005
Nothing but the Blood
By The Erudite Redneck
Happy Easter, y'all -- with ALL that is holy that that implies (plus a handful of Peeps and some chocolate bunny ears!)
I went through a short period where I was embarrassed by the common references to "the Blood of Christ" that some of us grew up with.
Not ashamed of the Gospel, mind you -- I just got hung up on the idea that to one who was NOT raised to sing gladly about something as, well, gross as blood, it sounded pretty extreme.
Think about it. If you didn't have, at the ready, the full complement of assumptions, context and understanding that comes with the simple yet profound phrase "the blood of Jesus," what would you think?*
You might think the same thing I at first felt when I, and the rest of the West, saw the thousands Sunnis or Shias or whichever religious flagellants in Iraq on TV after the fall of Saddam.
That seemed extreme to me. But then, the notion of a good man being executed for the sins of the world, whose death is commemorated in pageant and song and, seems pretty extreme to those without ears to hear (bunny or otherwise).
Today is the real day upon which my tattered, worn faith is based. Today. Not Christmas and the baby Jesus. But today, Easter, and the Risen Savior, without which nothing -- nothing -- else matters.
I am estranged from the church of my raising. I am not estranged from the God of my salvation. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Jesus saves, the same yesterday, today and forever.
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
END
*And if you don't know what all this refers to, then look it up. My days of beating people over the head with the Gospel ended about 20 years ago. You either want to know or you don't, and that ain't up to me. It's up to your own self. God ain't hiding.
Happy Easter, y'all -- with ALL that is holy that that implies (plus a handful of Peeps and some chocolate bunny ears!)
I went through a short period where I was embarrassed by the common references to "the Blood of Christ" that some of us grew up with.
Not ashamed of the Gospel, mind you -- I just got hung up on the idea that to one who was NOT raised to sing gladly about something as, well, gross as blood, it sounded pretty extreme.
Think about it. If you didn't have, at the ready, the full complement of assumptions, context and understanding that comes with the simple yet profound phrase "the blood of Jesus," what would you think?*
You might think the same thing I at first felt when I, and the rest of the West, saw the thousands Sunnis or Shias or whichever religious flagellants in Iraq on TV after the fall of Saddam.
That seemed extreme to me. But then, the notion of a good man being executed for the sins of the world, whose death is commemorated in pageant and song and, seems pretty extreme to those without ears to hear (bunny or otherwise).
Today is the real day upon which my tattered, worn faith is based. Today. Not Christmas and the baby Jesus. But today, Easter, and the Risen Savior, without which nothing -- nothing -- else matters.
I am estranged from the church of my raising. I am not estranged from the God of my salvation. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Jesus saves, the same yesterday, today and forever.
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
END
*And if you don't know what all this refers to, then look it up. My days of beating people over the head with the Gospel ended about 20 years ago. You either want to know or you don't, and that ain't up to me. It's up to your own self. God ain't hiding.
