Lead Me To Calvary

We are fast approaching Holy Week, the high point of the Christian year. What does it say about us as a people that our "high point" includes what by all accounts is a low point - a very, very low point, a nadir? The Christian story is not simply about triumph, success, the good stuff in life. It includes in its embrace that which is lowly, despised and painful. The things we would rather not embrace; the things we wish life didn't include; the things we might cut out of our stories if given a magic wand. If we were to write the story of Jesus, we might have him come to earth and just wave his heavenly wand and make everyone better. We might write a story in which he lives forever and doesn't undergo death. Who would ever expect their god to die?

He didn't have to undergo death. He had the divine prerogative to skip that part of human experience, but he chose to enter into our deepest source of sorrow and to transform it with his love. "Death, where is your sting?"

This morning the hymn "Lead Me to Calvary" came to my mind as I prepared my Palm Sunday sermon. Jennie Hussey, the woman who wrote the lyrics, was a Quaker who lived in New Hampshire. She was born in 1874 and died in 1958. Not much is known about her except that she spent much of her life caring for an invalid sister. She wrote poetry that was later set to music as hymns. This is a good song for Palm Sunday, because it asks God to lead us through the events of Holy Week.

This time around I am particularly struck by Jesus' struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane. The hymn asks God to

Lead me to Calvary

Lest I forget Gethsemane

Lest I forget thine agony

Lest I forget thy love for me

Lead me to Calvary

Don't let me forget what happened there. Don't let me forget that Jesus struggled as I sometimes do to accept your will. When he was on that side of the struggle, when the pain and suffering were still ahead of him, he felt the agony that humans feel when they anticipate pain - which is sometimes worse than experiencing the pain itself. I see Gethsemane as the place where Jesus inwardly, spiritually took up his cross. He was able to shoulder his literal cross in humility and submission - like a lamb before the slaughter, he did not open his mouth - because he had taken time in prayer the night before to wrestle with and finally accept the bitter cup that had his name on it. And he did it all for us.

I found a youtube video of Christians in Bangalore, India, singing this hymn in beautiful harmony:

Lead Me to Calvary

King of my life, I crown Thee now,
Thine shall the glory be;
Lest I forget Thy thorn crowned brow,
Lead me to Calvary.

Refrain:
Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget Thine agony;
Lest I forget Thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.

Show me the tomb where Thou wast laid,
Tenderly mourned and wept;
Angels in robes of light arrayed
Guarded Thee whilst Thou slept.

Let me like Mary, through the gloom,
Come with a gift to Thee;
Show to me now the empty tomb,
Lead me to Calvary.

May I be willing, Lord, to bear
Daily my cross for Thee;
Even Thy cup of grief to share,
Thou hast borne all for me.