This week’s adventure in worship music is “Near the Cross”, a hymn I learned in Jon’s first parish in Minnesota. I was originally going to be part of a Lenten octet singing it but I ended up getting bronchitis. 🙁 Still, it is one of my favorites. My favorite part is the chorus:

In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever;
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.

At that time (and now) when things are tenuous for me, I love the promise of rest eventually.

The Youtube video for this is from Moore’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Maryland. The first few seconds aren’t great until the sound kicks in. As with last week’s hymn, it’s congregational singing which is how hymns should be done, in my not so humble opinion.

The hymnwriter is Fanny Crosby, an amazing 19th century hymnwriter who was blind and known for other standards like “Blessed Assurance”. I’ve heard estimates as high as 6000 as to the number of hymns she penned.

(Lyrics are here.)