2000 years ago Jesus died on an old rugged cross
He took our sin and shame upon Himself
By this one incredible act of love
Everyone is invited to come to the cross
And find forgiveness and a personal relationship with God
As a Methodist evangelist, George Bennard, wrote the first verse of “The Old Rugged Cross” in Albion, Michigan, in the fall of 1912
This song touches the hearts of believers today as much as it did 100 years ago
On a hill far away, stood an old rugged Cross
The emblem of suff’ring and shame
And I love that old Cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain
So I’ll cherish the old rugged Cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged Cross
And exchange it someday for a crown
1st verse and chorus from “The Old Rugged Cross”
https://youtu.be/W9kXZT3x4G8
The Old Rugged Cross
I bought an Edison C150 Disc Phonograph
which were introduced in June, 1915.
It had a broken part
and the other day I fixed it.
After resembling the Phonograph,
I took a record from a stack of Edison records,
I had bought.
I picked the record by random
and read the label and it said…
“The Old Rugged Cross”
I cranked up the Edison
and set the daimon needle on the record.
As the record played…
“The Old Rugged Cross”
I thought this is how people heard
this amazing song 100 years ago.
The Old Rugged Cross was published in 1915.
It has been sung in thousands of churches
and performed by countless artists.
This song and its message has been very dear
to believers for over 100 years.
As I listen to the record play in my eyes’ mind…
I could see people like me 100 years ago
gathered around the Edison Disc Phonograph
enjoying the music and message of this great song.
Over the last 100 years…
We have listen to Christian music from
Disc and Cylinders
to Cassettes and Compact Discs
to MP3s and Pandora.
The style in which songs are written
have also changed greatly in the last 100 years.
2000 years ago an old rugged cross
was carried by a man named Jesus.
He was no ordinary man…
He was the Son of God.
God came in the flesh to…
Suffer and die for our sin and shame.
For 100 years believers have sung this song
with hope and faith.
The last verse of the song is…
The response and hope of the believer.
To the old rugged Cross, I will ever be true
Its shame and reproach gladly bear
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away
Where His glory forever I’ll share
So I’ll cherish the old rugged Cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged Cross
And exchange it someday for a crown
Many changes have taken place
in the last 2000 years.
Many changes have taken place
in the last 100 years.
But the message and promise of the cross still…
Bears the hope for anyone
who is separated from the God
who created them.
What do the scriptures say about the cross?
1 Corinthians 1:18-19…
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Galatians 6:14-15…
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through which the world has been crucified to me,
and I to the world.
Philippians 2:8…
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death —
even death on a cross!
Colossians 1:19-20…
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
and through him to reconcile to himself all things,
whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Colossians 2:14-15…
Having canceled the written code, with its regulations,
that was against us and that stood opposed to us;
he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
And having disarmed the powers and authorities,
he made a public spectacle of them,
triumphing over them by the cross.
Hebrews 12:2-3…
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy set before him endured the cross,
scorning its shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
History…
George
Bennard was a native of Youngstown,
Ohio, but was reared in Iowa.
After his conversion in a Salvation
Army meeting, he and his wife became brigade leaders
before leaving the organization for the
Methodist Church.[1] As
a Methodist evangelist, Bennard wrote the first verse of “The Old Rugged Cross”
in Albion, Michigan, in the fall of 1912[note
1] as a response to ridicule that he had received at a
revival meeting.[3] Bennard
traveled with Ed E. Mieras from Chicago to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin where they held
evangelistic meetings at the Friends Church from December 29, 1912 to January
12, 1913. During the meetings Rev. George Bennard finished “The Old Rugged
Cross” and on the last night of the meeting Bennard and Mieras performed it as
a duet before a full house with Pearl Torstensen Berg, organist for the
meeting, as accompanist.[4] Charles H. Gabriel, a well-known
gospel-song composer helped Bennard with the harmonies.[5] The
completed version was then performed on June 7, 1913, by a choir of five,
accompanied by a guitar[6] in Pokagon, Michigan, at
the First Methodist
Episcopal Church of Pokagon. Published in 1915, the song was
popularized during Billy
Sunday evangelistic campaigns by two members of his campaign
staff, Homer Rodeheaver (who bought rights
to the song for $50 or $500[3])
and Virginia Asher, who were perhaps also
the first to record it in 1921. The Old Rugged Cross uses a
sentimental popular song form with a verse/chorus pattern in 6
8 time, and it speaks of the writer’s adoration of
Christ and His sacrifice at Calvary. Bennard retired to Reed City, Michigan, and the town maintains
a museum dedicated to his life and ministry.[7] A
memorial has also been created in Youngstown at Lake Park Cemetery.[8] A
plaque commemorating the first performance of the song stands in front of the
Friend’s Church in Sturgeon Bay.
The Old Rugged Cross – Wikipedia
Lyrics…
On a hill far away, stood an old rugged Cross
The emblem of suff’ring and shame
And I love that old Cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain
So I’ll cherish the old rugged Cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged Cross
And exchange it some day for a crown
Oh, that old rugged Cross so despised by the world
Has a wondrous attraction for me
For the dear Lamb of God, left His Glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary
So I’ll cherish the old rugged Cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged Cross
And exchange it some day for a crown
In the old rugged Cross, stain’d with blood so divine
A wondrous beauty I see
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died
To pardon and sanctify me
So I’ll cherish the old rugged Cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged Cross
And exchange it someday for a crown
To the old rugged Cross, I will ever be true
Its shame and reproach gladly bear
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away
Where His glory forever I’ll share
So I’ll cherish the old rugged Cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged Cross
And exchange it someday for a crown
https://youtu.be/W9kXZT3x4G8
Scripture Reading
Hebrews 12:2-3 NIV
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
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