In 2019, in the weeks leading up to Easter, I was spending some time reading the book of Hebrews and looking at the Old Testament pictures of sacrifice that pointed to Jesus. During the same time, I was reading the book “On Loving God” by Bernard of Clairvaux. Something about this combination deeply impacted me – seeing the depths of meaning in Jesus’s giving of his life for us alongside Bernard of Clairvaux’s rich statements on the magnitude and glory of Christ’s work of loving redemption. Now, I must confess that I have some reservations about how allegorically Bernard often interprets Scripture. Even so, his meditations on the immeasurable love that is due to God are well worth pondering.
The following liturgy is my attempt to bring these themes together as a way of lingering and meditating on the beauty of Christ’s work on the cross. This liturgy is a much longer one, with opportunities to pause interspersed throughout it – so I typically use it when I have a longer chunk of unrushed time to linger on these themes.
Liturgy
By a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14)
“Let me contemplate compassion so marvelous and so undeserved, favor so free and so well attested, kindness so unexpected, mercy so unconquerable, and grace so amazing… Let them move me to run swiftly, all on fire with love, to the Lover of my soul.”
Souls redeemed your voices raise
Sing your dear Redeemer’s praise;
Worthy thou of love and laud
King of saints, incarnate God. (Repeat)
“Come Lord Jesus, rejoice in visiting my heart as I faithfully meditate on your mercy shown in dying for us, and your mighty power in rising again. Together, these manifest your glory. So easily the warmth of my love languishes and grows cold – yet you are the one who sustains me, wholly bent on saving us, Your Bride.”
The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you. (Leviticus 12:13)
For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. (Leviticus 16:30)
So Christ has now become the high priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven… With his own blood – not the blood of goats and calves – he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. (Hebrews 9:11-12)
(Pause)
“How vast is your work of redemption – how much you spoke, what wonders you worked, what hardships you endured, what shame you suffered. “What reward shall I give to the Lord for all the benefits which he has done unto me?” In the first creation you gave me myself, but in the new creation you gave me yourself, and by that gift restored to me the self I had lost.”
So, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great high priest who rules over God’s house, let us draw near, into the presence of God, with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for he who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:19-23)
(Pause)
Fear thou not, nor be ashamed
All thy sorrows soon shall end.
I who heaven and earth have framed,
Am thy husband and thy friend
I the high and holy one,
Israel’s God by all adored
As thy Savior will be known
Thy Redeemer and thy Lord.
We died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we also may walk in newness of life. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin… And since we died with Christ we know we will also live with him – Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. (Romans 6:4-9)
(pause)
Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart
Dissolved by Thy goodness I fall to the ground
And weep to the praise of the mercy I’ve found.
“It is plain that God loves us, and loves us with all his heart, for the Holy Trinity altogether loves us.”
Lifted up was he to die, it is finished was his cry
now in heaven exalted high, hallelujah what a Savior.
Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Hallelujah, what a Savior
Songs referenced:
King of Saints – Red Mountain Music
Pensive Doubting Fearful Heart – Indelible Grace
Thy Mercy My God – Sandra McCracken
Man of Sorrows – Shelley Moore band
With all liturgies, if you are unfamiliar with the songs included, or if you would prefer different songs that are meaningful to you, feel free to modify the liturgy as desired and print it out for personal use.