The Wonder of the Cross – 40 Days with the Music of Vicky Beeching
Day 29 – Monday after Lent 5 – One Day
To Read:
From the Scriptures:
5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he existed in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a human,
8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death –
even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God exalted him even more highly
and gave him the name that is above every other name,
10 so that at the name given to Jesus every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
(Philippians 2v5-11)
From Vicky Beeching:
One Day
To You O Lord will all the earth give glory
No other name will share the glory due
Though kingdoms rise and nations mock Your mercy
One day they’ll stand and worship only You
Every knee will bow down
Every tongue say out loud
You are the Lord of earth and heaven
Every hand will be raised in the thunder of praise
You are King of all creation they’ll say
One day
Today we join with angels and archangels
Who never cease by day or night to sing
Yet we await the moment earth joins heaven
Around Your throne to raise an offering
Chorus
Yours is the kingdom
The power and glory
Forever and ever amen (repeats)
Chorus
One day
To Listen: One Day by Vicky Beeching:
To Reflect:
The Already and the Not Yet – Part 1: Ethiopia
The songs Vicky brings us today and tomorrow may, at first glance appear to be the ‘A’ and ‘B’ side of the same song. Both of them are about what it will be like when time will be wound up at the great Banquet of the Lamb but they address the topic of Eschatology[1] in different ways. One as ‘Already’ here and the other as ‘Not Yet’ arrived. And each points to the other.
To help unpick this I’d like to share a few thoughts about two predominant indigenous strands of Christianity in Africa. Today, churches with an Ethiopian ‘heritage’ – the ‘Already’. Tomorrow, churches with their sights firmly fixed on ‘Zion’ – the ‘Not yet’.[2]
African Independent Churches such as the Order of Ethiopia (now iBandla lamaTopiya)[3] in Southern Africa, take as one of their tenets, when faced with subjection and racism by ‘Christian’ colonial powers, the story of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8v26-39. The Good News Bible gives this passage the heading ‘How the Good News came to Africa’. When we lived at the Federal Theological Seminary[4] in Imbali Township, South Africa fellow student Malusi Mpumulwana, now a Bishop of the Order of Ethiopia, used to gently remind me, ‘Dotch, you do know the gospel came to Africa before it came to Europe, let alone East Anglia…’
Churches such as this remind us that God is already here. Incarnate. Taking the form of a slave, (to which too many African Christians were subjected) and overflowing, self-emptying humility. Becoming like the humus[5] of the world our Beloved allowed us to walk all over Him safe in the knowledge that, even in this desert place of rejection and dishonour, sin was conquered and future glory secured.
Christ knew what awaited Him when going to ground. Christ knew that the world made by God was not yet ready for the glory of God. Yet our Beloved still came to live amongst us. Not for the hope of future glory but for love of love.
This is the ‘Already’ of Eschatology. Our Beloved has come to us and the arrangements for the marriage supper of the Lamb. (Revelation 19v9) have begun. Nothing can change this. Because of the ‘Already’ the ‘Not Yet is on its way. All we need do is wait.
It will not be easy. Our Beloved warns us of, ‘wars and rumours of wars’ (Matthew 24v6) and gave us the antidote for anxiety; challenging us to get on with what we are doing where we have been placed. Be it in a Black Township in Southern Africa or a middle-class suburb in East Anglia, the only thing we can do with the unknown ‘Not Yet’ is to live and love others where God has placed us. Humble, self-emptying, willing slaves of those around us, in the sure and certain knowledge that this ‘Already’ will become the ‘Not Yet’ and as we toil, sing with Vicky:
Every knee will bow down
Every tongue say out loud
You are the Lord of earth and heaven
Every hand will be raised in the thunder of praise
You are King of all creation they’ll say
One day
One glorious day which will last an eternity!
To Pray:
Lord, bestow on me two gifts,
- to forget myself,
- never to forget Thee.
(Eric Milner-White)
To Do:
Do an act of service for someone who does not deserve to be helped.
(Without telling them of course. Read here to find out how to do it all wrong…)
Going Further:
Read and reflect on the poem ‘The Coming’ by R.S. Thomas.
And God held in his hand
A small globe. Look he said.
The son looked. Far off,
As through water, he saw
A scorched land of fierce
Colour. The light burned
There; crusted buildings
Cast their shadows: a bright
Serpent, A river
Uncoiled itself, radiant
With slime.
On a bare
Hill a bare tree saddened
The sky. many People
Held out their thin arms
To it, as though waiting
For a vanished April
To return to its crossed
Boughs. The son watched
Them. Let me go there, he said.
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
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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.
[1] For a broad look at Eschatology visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eschatology
[2] Students of the history of Independent African Churches please accept my apologies for a reflection that is made with broad sweeps and many generalisation.
[3] Read here for a history of this Southern African expression of the Ethiopian tradition: https://grokipedia.com/page/order_of_ethiopia
[4] For a history of FedSem borrow the book ‘The Native School That Caused All the Trouble’ here: https://archive.org/details/nativeschoolthat0000deni
Suffolk Vicar 