Joanna Leeds

“O praise the name of the Lord our God, O praise His name forever more
For endless days we will sing Your praise, Oh Lord, oh Lord our God.”
 
We all have songs we love, but I challenge you to name a song that tells the redemption story more beautifully than O Praise the Name (Anástasis). Granted, there are other timeless classics such as When I Survey and How deep the Father’s love. I’m sure we could have a lively debate about our favourite songs! Ultimately, any song that draws my attention to the power of the cross and its eternal significance is a song I want to sing. But for me, O Praise the Name moves me like no other song can (to date!).
 
The first verse helps us to imagine being present at Jesus’ death as we “see his wounds, his hands, his feet,” while the last verse draws us to our response on the day that Jesus returns, when our gaze will be “transfixed on Jesus’ face.”. We are taken on a wonderful journey of love, sacrifice and victory in Jesus, which culminates with us singing his praise for endless days. A beautiful picture and a wonderful promise of what is to come.
 
As we journey through Holy Week towards Easter Sunday let us remember that "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8. I pray this verse and song will bless you as we thank God for sending his son so we can be with him forever and sing his praise for endless days.
 
Prayer
Jesus, we love you and thank you for the incredible, life-changing love that you have poured out over us. We can’t wait to spend eternity worshipping you! Amen
 
Prayer request:  For those in our church family working in the Civil Service.  We remember especially Ewen, James and Ben, and ask for resilience, wisdom and strength to cope with the demands of a rapidly changing situation with the complications of many staff being off sick or working from home.
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