Hymn Challenge #1: Lift High the Cross
Words Written by: George William Kitchin
b. December 7, 1827; d. October 13, 1912
George William Kitchin was born to a minister in Naughton, Suffolk, England. He received his Master of Arts in 1852 and was an examiner in Mathematics at Christ Church College. He later left and became the Headmaster of Twyford Preparatory School in Hampshire but then left to return to Oxford in 1861. He married in 1863 and became a preacher in Oxford that same year. Kitchin's daughter, Alexandra, was born in 1864. Mr. Kitchin was friends with Lewis Carroll who wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Mr. Kitchin wrote "Lift High the Cross" in 1887.
Welcome to our first Hymn Challenge for 2013. If you read my introduction to our study this year, you will remember that I said that "my prayer is that I glorify Him in all things and that many are drawn to Him and put their trust in the LORD." Well, this hymn talks about that very thing, and when we sang this hymn at church last Sunday, I knew it was the hymn we needed to start this year with. The refrain of this hymn puts it all so perfectly in one line:
"Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim till all the world adore His sacred name."
Deuteronomy 32:3 "I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God!"
1 Chronicles 16:23 "Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim His salvation day after day."
Proclaiming Christ and praising Him each day and in front of others keeps our minds off of our own problems and brings His character and goodness out for all to see. Our year has not started off great but I can see God in so many amazing ways. If I focused on all that has happened in just the first 12 days of this year, I would be down, depressed, worried, and probably not looking forward to what might be coming the rest of this year. Instead, I choose to look up, look at Him who created me, and at the good things in each of the circumstances before us and trust that God has a great purpose for each of them.
What has already been thrown at you this year? How can you see the good in your circumstances? You may not know the answer to why you are going through what you are going through but are you trusting that God has a great plan for your circumstance because He loves you? Our worship of God and lifting His name high means giving Him the glory even in the tough times. Being a Christian doesn't mean our lives will be easy but hardship brings opportunity to lift His name high!
Psalm 92:1-2 "It is good to praise the Lord and make music to Your name, O Most High, to proclaim Your love in the morning and Your faithfulness at night."
We need to look up to Jesus to be saved but we also need to raise His cross each day and proclaim Him to the ends of the earth. Some of you may have a blessings journal. Maybe you note a blessing from each day or several blessings each day. When we do that, whether verbally or in a journal, our attitude changes. We certainly become more positive and we learn to give God the glory in all things.
John 3:14-15 "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life."
John 12:32 "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."
Revelation 7:12 "“Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”
Do you recognize how Jesus' sacrifice on the cross has effected your life? He cares deeply and through everything, He will glorify Himself!
Below you will find the sheet music to "Lift High the Cross." Also, be sure to check out the link I have below for you today.
Listen here to hear the hymn and watch the beautiful, tear jerking video of "Lift High the Cross."
For my 6x6 page today, I used the 1 Chronicles 16:23 verse listed above. I love that the verse included "singing" and proclaiming Him each day. I printed the sheet music above onto a piece of brown paper bag. I could not find this hymn in any of my eight hymnals. Crazy! I then used 4 different pieces of Blue Fern Studios chipboard (nested circles, seasonal wildflowers, and regal ornaments chipboard), flowers, and hand-dyed Hug Snug. I stamped on the Blue Fern Studios seasonal wildflowers chipboard with the Memory Box Intricate Heart stamp in red. I put the metal cross above the flowers as a reminder to "lift His name high every day."
Stamps: Memory Box Intricate Heart F1902
Stamp Ink: SU riding hood red
Embellishments: Blue Fern Studios nested circles, seasonal wildflowers, and regal ornaments chipboard; Prima Corine flowers and crystal; DMC 816; Hug Snug hand-dyed seam binding; red flower from Wild Orchid Crafts; misc. metal cross; sewing machine
God is King over all!
1 Chronicles 29:11-12 "Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; You are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from You; You are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all."
Isn't it comforting knowing that He is in control? So, knowing that He is in control and that we are a work in progress, how will you proclaim His name each and everyday this year? Is your daily life a testimony to Him?
Remember to use Keyword HSCRC13 when posting your creations in any online galleries. Also, please leave a link to your creation here using Inlinkz! To see all of the information regarding this challenge and the previous studies, please see this post here.
8 comments:
Beautiful devotional, Patter....love your use of a paper bag....I'll really have to think about this...so much involved. I wasn't able to participate last year because of so much busyness...this year, I'm retired and, thankfully, I have time...a precious commodity!
I, too, am a BSF-er....thanks so much for the time and loving effort you devote to this challenge!
God Bless you! Susan
Patter, this is indeed a beautiful song to start the new study! It is a new song for me; I love the words! Thank you so much for your inspirational thoughts and the time you invest in this study. Your page is awesome! Hopefully, I'll be able to stay with it this year, I love participating! Hugs
How gorgeous--I love how you use texture but it doesn't overwhelm the message. This is simply beautiful, and I enjoyed the video link, as well. Do you trim your paper bag to feed through the printer? Is it a lunch sized one, or a large grocery bag? (This would also affect the thickness, would it not?) I fear a magnificent paper jam, so maybe you might explain how to do that at some point. The colors are beautiful; did you prime the chipboard, or is that optional? Thanks for sharing this--Jennifer in Ohio (singing this song now)
Patter, thank you for starting the year with such a great hymn and one I cannot remember ever singing. Your devotional thoughts are so full of teaching - thankyou for using this gift that the Lord has given you. Your artwork is lovely - I do like those flowers and the gemlike embellishment.
Hi everyone! Glad to have you joining in, and glad it's a new hymn to some of you!
Jennifer, to answer your question about the paper bag, it was from the store. I just trimmed it down, adhered it to a piece of computer paper using repositionable adhesive, and ran it through the printer. I do this with scraps too. You can see that post here:
http://triplethescraps.blogspot.com/2009/03/tuesdays-tip-printing-on-small-scraps.html
Works great, and I haven't had a jam yet. :)
Oh, and I did prime the chipboard this time. I don't always but for this page I did. I really made a mess of it though and just finally gave up. I tried to color my gesso, and the color came out a bit gray. I was disappointed in it, and then tried to spritz the gesso'd chipboard with Glimmer Mist. It then turned into a bigger mess, and I just decided to leave it, write on it, and use it. Glad you like it especially after I felt like it was destroyed. LOL! Blessings,
Happy New Year, Patter and all,
I thank you in advance for all your hard work for us and the gift of your time as we study and praise the name of JESUS. I am thrilled to be a part of this hymn/scripture challenge.
Your page is lovely, fresh, and hopeful as the song reminds up. I like the flowers and that cross.
Just beautiful, Patter! I'm finally posting my page. I've got the next one ready and I'll be all caught up before Sunday!
Thank you so much for continuing with this Challenge this year!...Nancy :o)
I'm speechless! Such a wonderful challenge and study, I am so glad that I found it! I have just uploaded my first creation (cards), and will post my second soon... now I'm up to date! Thank you so much for sharing your creativity and faith ... I will look forward to this yea-long journey!
hugs and blessings, from Australia,
Pauline
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