My taste in music is eclectic. One minute I am listening to country, the next classical. My digital music files include Kansas, Boston, James Taylor and Bread. There are contemporary Christian artists like Matt Maher, Chris Tomlin, Mercy Me, and Big Daddy Weave  alongside Bach, Handel and Mozart. As I write this, Pachelbel’s “Canon in D” is playing in the background.

Music has always been a big part of my life, whether it was singing or playing instruments or simply listening to it. And that was especially true in church. I grew up in a large church that had a fabulous pipe organ and someone who knew how to play it. I used to play a trumpet in worship services. There were large choirs that sang magnificent choral pieces. I sang songs in parochial school that sometimes were even accompanied by guitars! (Quite an innovation in the 1960s).

Something I have always known about music is the way it can touch your emotions and its ability to help you remember things. If I hear a hymn melody or a contemporary melody being played, I instantly start “singing” the words in my mind. Music is a powerful tool that enables people to recall a message.

In less than two months we will celebrate Easter, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead (Actually, every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection, but I digress). Easter is the high point of the church year for me. It is the guarantee that I have forgiveness and eternal life because of what Jesus did for me.  “… if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:17)

There are lots of hymns and songs that help us celebrate the Resurrection, and I’ll be singing those very soon. But first, before Easter, comes the season of Lent. I will be  soberly and somberly focus on the death of Jesus. And it was a terrible death. It was the death my sin deserved. And Jesus did it in my place.

A favorite hymn of mine that helps drive home the enormity of what Jesus did is “O Sacred Head Now Wounded.” I share some of the stanzas below and encourage you to reflect on them as you prepare to remember the death of Jesus this Lenten season, celebrate His resurrection on Easter, and live in the confidence that this makes all the difference for you and your future.

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 till now was thine.
Yet, though Despised and gory,
I joy to call Thee mine!

What language shall I borrow
To thank Thee, dearest friend,
For this Thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
O make me Thine forever!
And should I fainting be,
Lord, let not me never, never,
Outlive my love for Thee.

Be Thou my consolation,
My shield, when I must die.
Remind me of Thy Passion,
When my last hour draws nigh.
Mine eyes shall then behold Thee,
Upon Thy cross shall dwell,
My heart by faith enfold Thee,
Who dieth thus dies well.