The Wonder of the Cross – 40 Days with the Music of Vicky Beeching
Day 4 – Saturday after Ash Wednesday – Extravagant Worship
To Read:
From the Scriptures:
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’s feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5 ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’
(John 12v1-8)
From Vicky Beeching:
Extravagant Worship
Doesn’t matter what people say
I forget their watching eyes
I just want to bring to You
My most costly, my most priceless,
my most precious Sacrifice.
I’m longing to bring…
Extravagant worship
Total surrender
Reckless abandon
I pour out my love, pour out myself
Saviour
Breaking open my thankful heart
I release its praise perfume
Here I’ll linger lifting to You
Songs of wonder, songs of worship
Songs of deepest gratitude
Chorus (repeats)
To Listen:
To Reflect:
This song is, for me, one of the most challenging of Vicky’ songs.
I know what she is singing about, the references to Mary of Bethany and her uncosted devotion brings joy to my heart, yet I hold back a little. Perhaps, a little Judas-like (remembering that sometimes faith is found in the questioning of others) I want to say, ‘Isn’t this just a bit OTT[1]?’ My inbred Englishness sees such acts of ‘Reckless Abandon’ and I feel my skin crawling. ‘This isn’t proper,’ I protest as I reach for my copy of the Constitution and Canons of the Church of England and decide to write a letter of complaint to the Chair of the Liturgical Committee.
But then I turn to see both Mary of Bethany and Vicky Beeching and find two women who are indeed Captivated by the One who Loves us Best. Determined to love regardless of the small-mindedness of others. And looking on their devotion I weep for the miserliness of my offering.
Then Lent comes along, and for those in the Northern hemisphere, with it Spring and the promise of new life after the death of winter; fruit replacing barrenness. And all I, all we, need do is stay close to Love, to linger in the presence of Love, emptying ourselves of all that we used to hold on to and remain close for just 40 Days until Easter blooms in our hearts.
Not all of us will find ourselves in the same place as Mary and Vicky but we all have something we can give away, somehow, recklessly even, we can pour out our love. As we pour out our love we begin to learn to pour out ourselves. It is often said of those who would teach the ways of prayer that we should, ‘Pray as we can, not pray as we can’t’. In the Gospels Jesus praises the gifts of two people, Mary with her pint of pure nard and the elderly woman at the Temple with her widow’s mite. Their gifts differ greatly in value, but their offering is the same;
Extravagant worship
Total surrender
Reckless abandon
We are called to, ‘Give as we can, not as we can’t’ and in so doing we will find ourselves holding on to the feet of our Beloved. Something that Mary does today and will do again on the Day of Resurrection…..
To Pray:
Sacrifices of praise may we be accounted worthy to offer unto Thee,
O Lord, a sweet-smelling savour,
even all our thoughts and words and deeds and holocausts[2],
and without spot to appear before
Thee all the days of our life.
(Greek Church)
To Do:
When next attending worship give a little more than you usually do.
This may be in helping others, giving goods and money, or just singing the songs a little louder.
Going further…
The Church of England has produced a wonderful series of videos and small group notes which looks at the different generosities of Mary of Bethany encouraging us to imitate her actions. They are useful for personal reflection, a home group, or even in public worship. Find out more here;
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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] OTT – Over the top; excessive.
[2] The word ‘holocaust’ in this prayer is used as found in the Greek translation of the Old Testament meaning a ‘complete sacrifice’ and does not reference the concentration camps of World War II in which Jewish people and many other Minorites were massacred.
Suffolk Vicar 