O Sacred Head Now Wounded
He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
~Isaiah 53:3-6
O sacred Head, now wounded,
With grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded
With thorns, Thine only crown;
O sacred Head, what glory
What bliss ’til now was Thine
Yet though despised and gory
I joy to call Thee mineWhat Thou, my Lord, hast suffered,
Was all for sinners’ gain;
Mine, mine was the transgression,
But Thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
’Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor,
Vouchsafe me to Thy grace.What language shall I borrow
To praise Thee, heavenly friend,
For this my dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
Lord make me Thine forever,
Nor let me faithless prove
Oh let me never, never
Abuse such dying love
We broke out that hymn and “Were You There?” [which is an old Afro-American spiritual that may not be in your hymnal, but is in the United Methodist one] last night. Good stuff.
Oh no, we sang it at both the Tenebrae services I’ve been to this year (Maundy Thursday at my home church, and Good Friday at my parent’s church) – it just about breaks my heart (as it should) that we stop singing before we get to the ‘Were you there when He rose up from the grave?’ verse. It was pretty powerful both times.
But I love Sacred Head, if only because of my never-ending love for Amy Grant, who recorded it on My Father’s Eyes. Love it.