The Cross at the Center of Worship
Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (1 Cor 2:2). If the cross is central to the apostolic message, it must be central to our songs.
What to Look For
A cross-centered hymn will:
- Name the atonement specifically — Not vague "sacrifice" but Christ's substitutionary death
- Acknowledge sin — The cross only makes sense in light of our desperate need
- Celebrate grace — The cross is good news precisely because we could not save ourselves
- Point to resurrection — The cross is incomplete without the empty tomb
Examples from Our Library
- When I Survey the Wondrous Cross — Isaac Watts' masterpiece of cross-meditation
- And Can It Be — Charles Wesley marveling at the incarnation and atonement
- It Is Well with My Soul — "My sin — not in part, but the whole — is nailed to the cross"
- O Sacred Head, Now Wounded — Bernard of Clairvaux's devotional contemplation of Christ's suffering
Scripture Foundation
- 1 Corinthians 1:18 — "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God"
- Galatians 6:14 — "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ"
- Colossians 1:20 — "having made peace through the blood of his cross"