There Is a Green Hill

John 19:15-18

            They cried out, ‘Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!’ Pilate asked them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but the emperor.’ Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.

            So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them.

 There Is a Green Hill Far Away LBW 114

 1    There is a green hill far away, outside a city wall,
     where the dear Lord was crucified, who died to save us all.

2    We may not know, we cannot tell, what pains he had to bear,
      but we believe it was for us he hung and suffered there.

3    He died that we might be forgiv’n; he died to make us good,
      that we might go at last to heav’n, saved by his precious blood.

Text: Cecil F. Alexander, 1823-1895

      Cecil Alexander was a pastor’s wife who, during the age when Sunday School became the norm, mostly wrote hymns for children designed to teach them about Christian Doctrine, the life of Jesus, and Biblical Truths.  This is one of two of her hymns that grace the LBW, the other, is the familiar “All Things Bright and Beautiful” – which was written to teach children about the first article of the Creed; :”I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” This hymn is not sung much today, mostly I suspect because it is set to a ghastly, uninspiring tune. The original tune, by John Henry Gower (Meditation) is more accessible and the tune I remember from the old SBH.  While she was remembered as a songwriter, it was her compassion and service to the poor that marked her life as a pastor’s wife.  Her husband wrote of her; “She went from one poor home to another, tending the sick and dying, even children, and wherever she went, Christ went with her.”

      Another thing what makes this song memorable is that it is one of the few in our hymnal that speaks directly about the death of Jesus.  Remember, she wrote for children, and it is reported that this hymn was written as she sat by the sickbed of a dying child. To speak to adults about hope beyond death is never an easy thing.  To sit at the bedside of one sick unto death, harder.  What faith it takes to sit by the bedside of a dying child, and write a song about hope.

 Prayer:  Dearest Jesus, in a world of hard things, keep our vision clear.  Help us speak words of comfort, hope and healing to all who must suffer, and remind them that one came before who suffered for all of our sakes.  Amen.