Of its work I do sing

I have the privilege of being a student in a weekly interdenominational Bible study of women in my area.  Right now we are working our way through 1 Corinthians, and coming across the passages where Paul chides the Corinthian believers for their party spirit.  "One of you says, 'I follow Paul'; another, 'I follow Apollos'; another, 'I follow Cephas'; still another, 'I follow Christ.' Is Christ divided?" (1:12-13a). In this passage, and others like it, Paul turns immediately to the cross as the object and subject of his teaching: "We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1:23-24).  Our interdenominational group is a blessing and a joy precisely because the leadership are united in looking to the cross.

I also have the privilege of leading worship from time to time, and I was listening through the set list for our church's upcoming Women's Retreat.  My friend Misty and her husband Dave have put together a delightfully cross-centered set.  There are a hundred reasons to sing about the cross.  Unity is, I think, not the chief of them; it is a by-product of the supremacy of Christ and the centricity of the cross in the Christian life, which are the more legitimate reasons.  Still, unity is a precious peaceable fruit.

I really wanted to share here a video of a cross-centered song I'd had on my mind; "Sweetly Broken," by Jeremy Riddle (but I cannot find a licensed version) .  I love the lyric, "To the cross I look, and to the cross I cling/ Of its suffering I do drink/ Of its work I do sing."  I can never sing too much of the cross and am grateful for singers and musicians who find fresh ways of drawing my heart gently to its knees through song.