Dear Online Friends,
I gave up “contending” for Lent, but it struck me as appropriate during Holy Week not to take up the sword but to “enter with joy upon the meditation of those mighty acts by which you have promised us life and immortality.” So I am publishing as a thank offering an octave of meditations on the Passion of our Lord, beginning with Palm Sunday and ending on Easter Day. (For a sneak preview, I am posting Palm Sunday in advance.)
These are pieces I have written and preached before, but since the mighty acts are sempiternal, they are, I trust, of ongoing relevance.
Other than the first and last days, they are taken from Good Friday meditations on the Words of the Cross. On Good Friday itself, I am including a triptych of George Herbert’s poems: “The Agony,” “The Sacrifice,” and “Love” (III).
Each day, I shall add a select hymn, drawing greatly from an online series by David Duerr called “Hymn History.” Here is a sample: Reginald Heber’s “Holy, Holy, Holy.”
I shall be posting every day and would be happy if you wish to follow along at www.stephenswitness.org.
In any case, I wish you all a blessed Holy Week and a joyous Easter.
Stephen Noll
Cover Art: Tintoretto, Christ on the Cross (1565). “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (John 12:32). NOTE: I have just visited the special exhibition of Tintoretto’s art at the National Gallery in Washington. It is truly astounding!
