ORSBORNAGAIN (30)
A devotional series by Major Rob Birks
ORSBORNAGAIN is meant to introduce the poetry of the first Poet General, Albert Orsborn (1886-1967) to a new audience and to reintroduce his works to dyed-in-the-(tropical)-wool Salvationists.
These are not new songs.
However, the lyrics are jam-packed with new life, which may be missed during corporate worship. Re-examined through scripture and experience, Rob Birks intends through an examination of these scared songs to renew the spiritual fervor of believers, and point seekers to their Savior.
O love upon a cross impaled,
My contrite heart is drawn to thee;
Are thine the hands my pride has nailed,
And thine the sorrows borne for me?
Are such the wounds my sin decrees?
I fall in shame upon my knees.
’Twere not for sinners such as I
To gaze upon thy sore distress,
Or comprehend thy bitter cry
Of God-forsaken loneliness.
I shelter from such agonies
Beneath thy cross, upon my knees.
Forgive! Forgive! I hear thee plead;
And me forgive! I instant cry.
For me thy wounds shall intercede,
For me thy prayer shall make reply;
I take the grace that flows from these,
In saving faith, upon my knees.
Now take thy throne, O Crucified,
And be my love-anointed King!
The weapons of my sinful pride
Are broken by thy suffering.
A captive to love’s victories,
I yield, I yield upon my knees.
Albert Orsborn
189 God The Son – The Suffering and Death of Jesus
On May 13, 1981, a little over five months after John Lennon was shot and killed and less than seven weeks after an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II was shot four times by Mehmet Ali Agca. The crime took place in Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Square. The pope had been greeting and blessing the crowds when the sound of shots pierced through the sound of shouts. The pontiff slumped into his seat, and the vehicle sped away.
I was 13 in May of 1981, living with my parents in Shoreline, Washington. Far from interested in world news or current events, my life centered on street football and mom’s cooking. As long as the rain held off, and I made it in by dinnertime, life was good. So it’s no surprise that I don’t remember this assassination attempt.
What I do remember is a photo that was published two years after the shooting, which showed the pope visiting with Agca in the would-be assassin’s prison cell. That picture made a huge impact on me as a teenager. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but that particular picture illustrated one word for me … FORGIVENESS.
The kind of forgiveness that Pope John Paul II demonstrated in that cell in 1983 was foreign to me, but compelling. I couldn’t imagine myself even visiting, much less forgiving, some guy who tried to shoot me, but I knew it was right. It wasn’t until adulthood that I discovered the true quality of the forgiveness which the pope offered the man who tried to kill him. While it’s true that the pope visited Agca two years after the shooting in St. Peter’s Square, forgiveness was offered much earlier. The pope forgave Agca publically on May 17, 1981, just four days after the assassination attempt. Reports indicate, however, that the pope privately forgave Agca in the ambulance on his way to the hospital, immediately following the shooting. Wow! He attributes the power to pronounce forgiveness so early on to “the fruit of a particular grace” given to him by Jesus. In a kind of open letter on the power of forgiveness written five months after the attack, the pope wrote, “The act of forgiveness is the first and fundamental condition so that we aren’t divided and placed one against another like enemies.”
In the Orsborn song we’re considering here, the first Poet General is once again contemplating the cross of Christ. The first line of the third verse recalls one of the seven statements Jesus made while dying in our place: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Orsborn’s very next line takes this cross-contemplation to another level. It’s one thing to look at the cross of Christ and acknowledge that Jesus forgave those who killed him. That’s history. That’s fact. It’s a very different and much deeper thing to look at the cross of Christ and acknowledge our own need for Jesus to forgive. That’s our story. That’s faith. “And me forgive! I instant cry.”
Once we see our own face in the crucifying crowd, and let the words of Jesus as recorded in Luke 23:34 wash over us, cleansing us, it is crucial to extend forgiveness to OTHERS. In forgiving the man who shot him four times, and then following up with a visit, Pope John Paul II was exemplifying Christlikeness. No less is required of us. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins (Matt. 6:15).
That’s pretty clear-cut, and it cuts right through any lame excuses we may try to make for not forgiving someone. Whether wounded by actual bullets, or as a result of someone just shooting their mouth off in our direction, our right response, the only Christlike response, is forgiveness. One final observation on this particular Orsborn song: I like how the last line of each of the four verses makes one thing very clear: Knees Know No Season!