The Wonder of the Cross – 40 Days with the Music of Vicky Beeching
Day 30 – Tuesday after Lent 5 – Suddenly
To Read:
From the Scriptures:
16 ‘It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.’
17 The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’
And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book; 19 if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
20 The one who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.
(Revelation 22v16-21)
From Vicky Beeching:
Suddenly
Awaken us to see
The reality of eternity and feel it near
Awaken us to pray
As we watch and wait and anticipate with Holy fear
For the day You’ll return again
Is closer now than it’s ever been…
Suddenly, every eye will see
As You return in glory
Suddenly, every knee will fall
Before heaven’s coming King
Jesus, here we stand, lifting up our hands
Asking You to purify our lives
So on that glorious day
When we stand face to face
Unashamed, we’ll dance in heaven’s light
For the moment is drawing near
When our radiant King will appear…
Chorus
The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘come soon, Lord’
The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘come soon’
The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘come soon, Lord’
Chorus
To Listen: Suddenly by Vicky Beeching
To Reflect:
The Already and the Not Yet – Part 2: Zion
(Note: This post continues a reflection from the previous day on the song ‘One Day’)
In our second look at Eschatology we turn to the ‘Not Yet’ part of how people view the end times. This aspect of what is yet to be but hidden from us has concerned, and continues to concern, too many faithful people down the generations (for extended thoughts on this please read my post Apocalypse When?’). The challenge of focussing on the ‘Not Yet’ is that life can become so consumed with preparing for the disaster to come that we neglect to live in the here and now!
There are ways of holding this tension of knowing that everything will be wrapped up and yet still live a godly day-to-day life. Again I’d like to take a peek at how some African Independent Churches square the circle. Churches such as the Zion Christian Church[1] in Southern Africa, born out of a rejection of historic African traditions by missionaries and governments of the colonial and Apartheid eras, major on gathering for praise and worship weekly in tight knit groups and, when able, in very big gatherings. Their worship tends to have a focus on the future refusing to dwell on present pain. For then all will be welcomed in Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem.
Part of the reason for this was the exclusion and oppression experienced by their members. In South Africa Black people were banned from attending worship in ‘White’ areas from 1957 until as recently as 1994 and, having literally no place in this world to call home, they sought the heavenly home where everyone is welcome.
Sometimes our life in this world can feel a little bit as if we, imitating our Lord, have no place to lay our head (Luke 9v58). Too many of my friends find themselves wanting to worship but are denied entry into a supposedly welcoming church because they are of the wrong skin colour, or gender, or language, or class, or are divorced, or…. To the shame of the church this list is seemingly endless.
What do we do when we find ourselves in such a place? This is a time to hold on to the ‘Not Yet’ of our Eschatology and make Vicky’ words our heart’s cry:
The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘come soon, Lord’
The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘come soon’
The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘come soon, Lord’
And if we can’t worship with the rest of the Body of Christ we will worship where we are because the Spirit of God is not imprisoned in the sanctuary of a cathedral or the pulpit of a chapel.
When we learn to look to the Glory of the ‘Not Yet’ that is to come we find ourselves able to bear with patience and grace the imperfections of the ‘Already’ that too often separate us from each other.
To Pray:
Let me love Thee, O Christ,
in Thy first coming,
when Thou wast made man, for love of men,
and for love of me.
Let me love Thee, O Christ,
in Thy second coming,
when with an inconceivable love
Thou standest and knockest at the door,
and wouldest enter into the souls of men,
and into mine.
Plant in my soul, O Christ, Thy likeness of love;
that when by death Thou callest,
it may be ready,
and burning
to come unto Thee.
(Eric Milner-White)
To Do:
How Inclusive is your Church? Have a look at the resources developed by the Student Christian Movement and their ‘Honest Church’ programme.
https://honestchurch.org.uk[2]
What can you do to be more honest to those who would worship you about the way you welcome?
Going Further:
Listen to this clip from Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Mass’ in which the Celebrant sings about the power of the Word of God to break down barriers.
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
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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 short overview of the ZCC read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zion_Christian_Church
[2] Note: though the focus of this programme is about welcoming LGBTQIA+ Christians the webpage also explores other ways in which we, sometimes subconsciously, exclude God’s children from church.
Suffolk Vicar 