The Wonder of the Cross – 40 Days with the Music of Vicky Beeching
Day 0 – Shrove Tuesday – The Wonder of the Cross
To Read:
From the Scriptures:
I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
(Ephesians 3v18-19)
From Vicky Beeching:
The Wonder of the Cross
O precious sight, my Saviour stands,
Dying for me with outstretched hands.
O precious sight; I love to gaze,
Remembering salvation’s day,
Remembering salvation’s day.
Though my eyes linger on this scene,
May passing time and years not steal
The power with which it impacts me,
The freshness of its mystery,
The freshness of its mystery.
May I never lose the wonder, the wonder of the cross
May I see it like the first time, standing as a sinner lost.
Undone by mercy and left speechless, watching wide-eyed at the cost.
May I never lose the wonder the wonder of the cross.
Behold, the God – Man crucified,
The perfect sinless sacrifice.
As blood ran down those nails and wood,
History was split in two,
History was split in two.
Behold, the empty wooden tree,
His body gone, alive and free.
We sing with everlasting joy
For sin and death have been destroyed,
Sin and death have been destroyed.
Chorus:
To Listen:
To Reflect:
With its ashen symbolism and call for repentance Ash Wednesday occasionally overshadows the feast, dare I say carnival,[1] of Shrove Tuesday. Tomorrow is the day we begin our Lenten devotions today is the day we decide to say goodbye to the past and commit ourselves to the future. In a sense today is a day when, if we choose when ‘History is split in two’.
Our forebears, even without any knowledge of germs and bacteria, knew the wisdom of not holding on to winter foods that had been stored for too long. It was good practice to have a day when you got rid of all the stuff in the cupboard that may have spoiled over the Winter.
So too with us. Today is a day to take stock of the pantry of our lives and clear the shelves to make space for all the produce that we will need for the journey ahead.
We won’t work through them all in one day (we have another 40 days to do that) but today we are given a chance to begin a good clear out.
Right! Where is that big old grudge that I’ve been holding on to that needs putting in the bin….
To Pray:
O God, who hast called us to open our hand, and Thou wouldest fill it,
and we would not:
open Thou not only our hand, but our heart also;
that we may know nothing but Thee,
count all things lost in comparison of Thee,
and endeavour to be made like unto Thee;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Jeremy Taylor)
To Do:
- Enjoy whatever is your traditional Shrove Tuesday food – pancakes with bacon and maple syrup for me – and with each bite say ’thank you’ for the chance to begin the journey again.
- Sometime this week spend a time of personal penitence. If making a private confession helps, do that.
oooOOOooo
If you would like to find out more about Vicky and her work here is a link to her Wikipedia entry.
For a fuller picture her autobiography ‘Undivided’ is highly recommended
Please Note: These reflections are also published on my blog: suffolkvicarhomes.com on Bluesky as @suffolkvicar.bsky.social, and on my public Facebook page Suffolk Vicar – Rev Andrew Dotchin.
If you would like them as a daily email please send a request to revdotchin@gmail.com
If you have enjoyed reading them please make a donation to The Clergy Support Trust who provide generous grants to help clergy.
Acknowledgements:
These Reflections, ‘The Wonder of the Cross – 40 Days with the Music of Vicky Beaching’ are copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2026 and may be reproduced without charge on condition that their source is acknowledged.
All of the music on the video clips are from YouTube and are © Vicky Beeching.
If you enjoy listening to her songs please consider buying her recordings. A full discography and other information about Vicky can be found on her website vickybeeching.com.
Scripture quotations are from The New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Prayers are from A Diary of Prayer compiled by Elizabeth Goudge and are copyright © 1966 The Estate of Elizabeth Goudge.
[1] The origins of carnival https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival
Suffolk Vicar 