Today's promise: Christ is our Redeemer
Were You There?
As his body was taken
away, the women from Galilee followed and saw the tomb where they placed his
body. Then they went home and prepared spices and ointments to embalm him. But
by the time they were finished it was the Sabbath, so they rested all that day
as required by the law.
Luke 23:55-56 NLT
Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? O! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble! Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb? Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb? O! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble! Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were You There? Traditional spiritual
Experience the "tremble"
This favorite hymn comes
from the rich American spiritual tradition, probably developed in the early
1800s by African-American slaves. As in most spirituals, the words are simple,
seizing on one central theme or concept.
Spirituals tend to have
a lot of emotional appeal. As a result, this hymn, like few others, puts the
singer there. We experience the "tremble" as we sing it. And
in the triumphant final stanza, we experience the glory of a risen Lord. We are
called out of the cold analysis of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection
into the moment of living it. We are called out of the theological debate and
into the stark reality. We hear the nails pounded into the cross, we see the
onlookers wagging their heads, we smell the burial spices, and we feel the
rumble of the stone rolling away. And we tremble… tremble… tremble.
Our Holy Week readings
are adapted from The One Year® Book of Hymns by Mark Norton and
Robert Brown, Tyndale House Publishers (1995). Today's is taken from the entry
for March 21.
Content is derived
from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale
Publishing House
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