the evil schemes of man
would work for good and fulfil
our Lord’s eternal plans?
Who would have thought that Judas’ greed*
could lead to my release?
And mocking, violent taunts and strikes
would come to bring me peace?
2. Who would have thought that nails and wood,
The hangman’s cursed tree,
Would be our joy and our delight
The symbol of the free?
Who would have thought that blood could wash
The foulest sinner clean
Or that our God would bear the cost
to see his lost redeemed.
3. Who would have thought the Lord of life
could lie within the grave
his body broken, silent, still
where none can help or save?
Who would have thought our strength would come
from one so weak as he?
Who would have thought that out of death
springs life eternally?
4. I will not trust the thoughts of men
or human strength and might**
For who of man would ever dream
the saving power of Christ?
But I will trust the plans of God
The saviour crucified
And I will rest in hope assured
his death will bring me life.
sar 2013
* change to 'human greed'??
** does this make me sound like a climate change denying, science hating fundy?
* change to 'human greed'??
** does this make me sound like a climate change denying, science hating fundy?
"The symbol of the free" < great line!
ReplyDeleteLots of good lines and good theology here. My mind went straight to 1 Corinthians 2. I also like the break in pattern for the concluding verse, the resolute certainty vs the speculative mood of the other verses :D
ReplyDeleteOh, and what I did find difficult though, was the first line. Took me a while to work out "will" = noun. I kept thinking it was a verb and didn't get it, thought it was a mistake. Maybe that needs to change..?
Delete* Either but 'human' doesn't have the hiccough of s's like at the end of Judas.
ReplyDelete** No; why would it?
I'm with cj on the 1st line - it tripped me up; I had to read it and the 2nd line several times to realise that 'will' is a noun and the 2nd line was another angle on the same thought. You seem to have followed this pattern (2nd line is a restating of the 1st) for the 2nd verse but not for v3 or 4.
* change to 'human greed'?? yeah I like human
ReplyDelete** does this make me sound like a climate change denying, science hating fundy? - nope. It's essential that we don't trust the thoughts of men above the thoughts of God!
1st line: How about wicked hearts or wicked thoughts
Oh my goodness I love reading your lyrics and stickybeaking on your draft process.
Harrumph. Google just ate my comment. Lots of brilliant humour, lost to the internet...
ReplyDeleteSo, briefly:
Line 1 didn't trip me, but opening line 2 with 'and' might help.
Foulest sinner looks too borrowed...blackest, godless, grimy...plenty of other options.
On the whole, though, I reckon this is one of your best - stick with it.
And finally, if you really want to sound like a CCDSHF, just write a fifth verse to sing on special occasions...maybe for the boys' 21sts when they roll around?
Yes. Let's change that to 'and'.
DeleteCan you tell we are doing 1 Corinthians at church?
Er, no. It's not that transparent from this side. Human futility pops up here and there in the rest of the Bible ;-)
DeleteOne of the strengths of the lyrics I noticed is that it's not phase-locked in one particular place - you've got gospels, you've got Paul, you've got allusions from all over the place.
And, somehow, it's not How Can This Be?! (Which I also love)...you've managed to move it from 'death and resurrection' to 'sovereign wisdom of God' very subtly.
(In other words, it's exactly the not-vanilla-cross song type that I was ranting for earlier! Hurrah :))
I like it.
ReplyDeleteYes, I tripped up on the first line. It probably needs to work without punctuation?
I prefer human to Judas since it implicates us as well.
I'm sure you know there is a missing syllable in line 3.
Is there another word for lost in verse 2 line 8? Not just because of the rhyme with cost. maybe something that highlights the irony of it being God bearing the cost when we were the ones who sold our souls. Is irony the right word here? Anyway, like the rest of the song does.
I would like a change in meter somewhere so the music doesn't plod. Have you tried getting PP to write you a melody first? You said you would :)
I still like choruses. Gives you the chance to sin that conclusion of verse 4 in a new way. Maybe a modulation would suffice ;)