Daniel Snoke, Paul Zach
Library
Richard Stringer, leke
A song reflecting on all Jesus did for us on the cross and that there is nothing we can say or do to deserve it.
A song of darkness and hope set against the backdrop of Good Friday
The more I discover about God the more I am amazed by the depth of love and freedom the LORD gives us. I also realise how we carry around a great deal of baggage emanating from what I call ‘bad church’; our received cultural heritage of “what the bible says” rather than a true understanding of what it really does say and mean. This song is about one particular issue that we may carry some hang-ups about - confession.
Being brought up as an Ulster protestant it is not surprising that I might see confession as a ritual to keep us feeling bad and fallen and under the thumb of a controlling church, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Confession is a fantastic gift from our loving God who only wants us to be set free. There is nothing we can do that could make God love us less, we just think there is. We carry hurt, self-loathing, all sorts of pain, and Jesus simply says, “Give it to Me, I will take it away and release you from it”. That is what confession is for, to release us. We never have to be ‘good enough’ because Jesus is. Give all the rubbish you carry up to him, He’ll take it all and it is gone. And it isn’t a contractual arrangement where we have to confess it for Christ to take it away. We are forgiven already, the confessing is for us to surrender the hurt, pain, and wrong, so that we can let it go too and be released from it. So whatever it is that you are carrying, give it up to Jesus and just bask in His love.
I think it's such a powerful thing to declare Jesus as king - we join with all of heaven when we do so. This song is about turning from our sin and idols, and placing the crown on Jesus' head. It works well as a response song, and fits particularly well during communion.