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A Non-Penal "In Christ Alone"

I've always liked the contemporary song, In Christ Alone, because of its rich depth, singability and suitability for worship.  But, some of the strongly evangelical penal-substitutionary language has bothered me, particularly the line: "Till on that cross as Jesus died/The wrath of God was satisfied..."  In addition, I've felt the song needs to bring in the communal dimension a little more strongly.

After hearing NT Wright make similar complaints about the hymn, and suggesting that it be modified, I took to re-write the song using a different atonement "lens."  Here's what I came up with.  We've printed this version in our songbooks.  The link to the original lyrics is here.

In Christ Alone
Stuart Townend & Keith Getty
Copyright © 2001 Kingsway’s Thankyou Music, P.O. Box 75,
Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6NW, UK. tym@kingsway.co.uk.
Modifications by David Eagle, October 2006

vs. 1
In Christ alone our hope is found,
He is our light, our strength, our 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!
Our comforter, our all in all,
Here in the love of Christ we stand.

vs. 2
In Christ alone! - who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteous - ness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save:
And on that cross where Jesus died,
The love of God was quantified –
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

vs. 3
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 we are His and He is ours –
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

vs. 4
With hope in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no human plan,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
‘Til He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand!

Lord have mercy

Lord Jesus Christ, we pray to you because you were tempted like us, in all things, yet did not submit; because you have promised to come to the help of those who in every age are put to the test; and because we are not exempt from the subtle attraction of what is wrong and what is evil, therefore we pray to you.

Lord, have mercy

We call you to where in our lives we exploit our abilities purely for personal gain, and let the human gifts which were meant to be used to serve the world, to serve no more than our own vanity.

Lord, have mercy

We call you to where in our lives we have made a mockery of our religion, ignoring your call to live transformed lives, living by the patterns of this world and because of this distracting others from you.

Lord, have mercy

We call you to where in our lives, another god, more to our liking, is the object of our flattery, the recipient of our time, of our attention, and of our worship.

Lord, have mercy

For it is in these places in our lives that we threaten to desert you, the one who has chosen us and who in the wilderness at the Temple and on the mountaintop showed there was a better way.

So we turn from our seeking after selfish comfort, we turn from our inclination to hypocrisy, we turn from our preference for false gods. From these we avert our face, turning our faces towards you, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Adapted from Bell, John. Present on Earth. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2002.

One Anothering

We recently did a very powerful corporate Scriptue reading during a Sunday morning worship services focusing us our life together.  I managed to pull out of the New Testament all of the references to "one another-ing" and put them on a bulletin insert.  We then had a different person in the congregation read one of these verses out loud, then followed by another. 

The effect was powerful - particularly because it was Scripture doing the preaching about community and it was many different memebers of the community participating in the exercise.

I've included a pdf copy in insert form (Download another.pdf), for your own use.  Just print it two sided and fold it down the middle.

An Offertory Prayer

God, we are once again confronted by your radical grace:
 Grace that welcomes sinners into your family;
 Grace that breaks down walls that separate people;
 Grace that brings healing and peace.

Our world is in desperate need of your grace. We have watched in sadness as
 hundreds are killed in civil war in Iraq;
 factions battle in Gaza;
 storms leave hundreds of thousands homeless in Indonesia;
 scientists issue dire warnings about the future of life on this planet.

And we are reminded that these are merely the events of today,
 We quickly forget about those people still suffering the effects
 of yesteday’s news.

We know that even in our own city
 there are many who live without adequate food and shelter
 there are many who are lonely and hurting
 there are many wandering far away from your grace.

And if we narrow the focus even further,
 we realize that our lives need your healing touch,
 whether because of illness,
                or troubled relationships,
                or depression,
                or financial pressures,
                or grief.

Our world, our city, our church, our lives
 are all in need of a reminder:
 a reminder that while death,
                and violence,
                and disaster,
                and human rebellion against all that is good continue...

...they don’t have the final word.

The final word that was and is and will be spoken is Jesus Christ
 and the peace he offers to the nations;
 the healing he offers to the world;
 the forgiveness he offers to humans hell-bent on their own destruction.

As we give, help us to let go of fear and anxiety;
 give us the freedom to trust in your grace. 

Amen.