In Christ Alone

Church today was really good. Our pastor spoke of the impact death has on life. He said that for a Christian who has Christ in their life, death is merely a passageway on to true life, eternal life, life healed from pain and sorrow and sin. It is a path towards Christ, that place where we can be in a right standing with God. We have hope in the midst of death, regardless of how much it hurts and how bad we miss those who are gone, there is joy beneath it all.

I end up crying whenever I go to church, especially if we sing In Christ Alone. I sang that song in Athens, the day after I heard about eric’s death. We were in a Greek evangelical church, and it was all in greek, but when we sang that song we (wheaton students) sang it in english while the locals sang it in greek.

 

In Christ Alone"

Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

Copyright © 2001 Kingsway Thankyou Music

 

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,

Fullness 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 ev'ry 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 pow'r of Christ in me;

From life's first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand;

Till He returns or calls me home—

Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand. 

These lyrics comfort me with the Truth, and yet they sting with the pain of those close to me whom He has called home. Weeping doesn’t go along well with singing, but even the fact that I can’t sing reminds me that I can’t do anything on my own, that I have to stand in Christ power and not on my own.

God has blessed me with good friends and family who help me through these days, who cry with me and abide with me even when I’m not very much fun; who let me know its ok if I’m not particularly jolly every day of the week. *Thank you Jesus for my dear sweet friends and family. Thank you.*