The Wonder of the Cross – 40 Days with the Music of Vicky Beeching
Day 19 – Wednesday after Lent 3 – Blessing And Honour
To Read:
From the Scriptures:
11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 singing with full voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honour and glory and blessing!”
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them, singing,
“To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honour and glory and might
forever and ever!”
14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the elders fell down and worshiped.
(Revelation 5v11-14)
From Vicky Beeching:
Blessing And Honour
The air is filled with angels
Who speak and shout Your name
The atmosphere is changing
As eternity invades
Suddenly above us
The floor of Heaven breaks
As Your Spirit falls down
We will say
Blessing and honour
Glory and power
Be to Your name, be to Your name
All of the praises
Throughout the ages
Be to Your name, be to Your name
Forevermore
One day we will see You
Shining like the sun
Face to face with beauty
Eye to eye with love
Standing with the elders
We will throw our crowns
At the feet of Jesus
As we shout
Chorus
You’re the Alpha, the Omega
The Creator and Sustainer of all (repeats)
Chorus – repeat
To Listen: Blessing And Honour by Vicky Beeching
To Reflect:
At this time of Lent every year there comes a moment of crisis in my Broadcast Radio choices. It’s time to nail my colours to the mast and send in my top three choices for the Classic fm Hall of Fame. The top 300 of which shared on the air waves in the United Kingdom and elsewhere throughout the Easter Weekend. As this Easter will be my final Easter as the incumbent of a parish my three choices are all finales:
The finale to The Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky.
The Final movement of the final symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven.
and finally….
‘Worthy is the Lamb’ and ‘Amen’, the final pieces from Messiah by Georg Frideric Handel.
It does not surprise me at all that Vicky, with her rich knowledge of the scriptures, picks these words to help us practice for eternity. In an interview about this song (see the video clip below) she describes our worship here as being like going to the gym to get ready for the eternity of praising God that lies ahead of us.
Vicky sees that, whatever storms have assailed us or personal shame besets us, that we are not running towards and end but towards a beginning. Travelling towards Easter, and Lent can get a bit messy so we may want it to be done with. In reality the end of Lent is not so much about playing a Finale but singing an Overture.
Once again I find myself leaning on the words of David Watson, former vicar of St Michael-le-Belfrey on the pavement of Yorkminster. Whatever lies ahead of us healing (hallelujah), death (also hallelujah because we get home early), or more pain (a gentler hallelujah because it draws us closer to our Beloved the only antidote to pain), the best is yet to be!
Yes, this Lent we will have discovered yet again that our hearts are not as ‘undivided’ as we would like them to be. Yes, we know even more that we live in a storm-tossed world and find ourselves crying out to the Captain of our Souls to save us from sinking. And yes, Lent isn’t done with us yet.
How do we cope? We go to the gym! We turn our sadness into song and our woe into praise. Because one day the Finale will become the Overture and this will be our song;
Blessing and honour
Glory and power
Be to Your name, be to Your name
All of the praises
Throughout the ages
Be to Your name, be to Your name
Forevermore
To Pray:
God of peace and charity!
We beseech Thee holy Almighty Father, eternal God,
that we may worship Thee with a pure heart.
Let us dance before Thee with a clean conscience,
let us serve Thee with all our strength.
We bless Thee, Holy Trinity, we give thanks to Thee,
we praise Thee every day,
we pray unto Thee “Abba, Father”.
May our praise be sweet to Thee and our prayer accepted.
(Gallican Sacramentary)
To Do:
By this time of Lent much of our Sunday worship will be knee deep in penitential songs all played in a minor key.
Try to go to a holy place and sing as loud as you can a favourite song which overflows with praise.
If singing is not your forte perhaps play one or two of Vicky’s songs very loud. She is quite brilliant when it comes to Extravagant Worship….
Going Further – The story of the song by Vicky
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.
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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.
Suffolk Vicar 