I’m wracking my brain to think of where I heard this song first but all I know is that I ordered the CD immediately upon hearing it. It’s on a CD called “New Irish Hymns” and at last count, there were 4. (I have 3 of them on my iTunes.) I’ve sung it once or twice in worship and I think the most amazing time was when I went into the medium security prison near where we lived in Montana and helped with worship. (I’ll write about my prison experiences another time.)

Another reason I like it is that it is theologically correct. I sometimes have a problem with contemporary praise songs because the words convey some seriously bad theology or it’s “Jesus is my boyfriend” stuff (translation: you could sing the song to your significant other and they wouldn’t be able to tell that it wasn’t a love song). This one, however, conveys the faith as laid out in the creeds.

The lyrics:

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fulness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied –
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine –
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.

And of course, we have the music. This recording is off of “New Irish Hymns” and has Margaret Becker, Joanne Hogg, and Maire Brennan singing.