As we hunker down fighting this virus, we might forget that we are almost into Holy Week. My mind turns to one of the great Passiontide hymns, “My Song is Love Unknown.”*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMart4wXsI0

There is a strange sweetness mixed with this hymn that reflects on the crucifixion. It’s these two lines that speak to me.

Love to the loveless shown,
That they might lovely be.

Christ loves us whose hearts are so often devoid of the love that should shape us. By being loved, we become loveable.

The whole hymn contrasts the loving work of God with the terrible hostility that human kind returned.

They rise and needs will have
  My dear Lord made away;
A murderer they save,
  The Prince of life they slay.
    Yet cheerful He
    To suffering goes,
    That He His foes
    From thence might free.

The hymn makes me feel sad, not only because it reflects on the crucifixion of Jesus, but because it exposes our flawed human nature. In the world around us I so often experience the hate and anger that seems to grip us like a foul disease. What increases my anguish is the number of times I have seen anger in churches that’s absolutely at odds with the Savior’s love. Even the author of the hymn, The Rev. Samuel Crossman (1623-1683), was expelled from the ministry for a time because of his Puritan leaning.

Despite the cruelties we experience, we take solace in Jesus, our friend . . .

    In whose sweet praise
    I all my days
    Could gladly spend.

Be with us in these difficult days, blessed Friend, as we recall your precious gift to us.

Read Romans 5:17 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne