By His Wounds

For Good Friday, we’re uploading our original song, By His Wounds.  As you can hear by clicking the blue Streampad player at the bottom of the page, this song’s exhortation to willingly take up one’s cross and follow Christ is, I think, a fitting theme for Good Friday.  That being said, this piece has always had, for me, an equally prevalent resurrection theme.  In that sense, By His Wounds is a great piece to help us transition from our Lenten songs into our more Easter-themed music.

At our Lenten concert, I introduced this song by way of dedicating it to the memory of my grandfather, Ray Vrazel, Sr.  I’d like to explain the story behind this song in a little bit more detail than I was able to go into that night.  If you’re curious please read on.  I also have the lyrics included after the jump.

First, this song had its initial roots in a conversation that Michael and I had not long after we first began writing music together.  He mentioned something to the effect (and I’ll let him correct the record if he so chooses, but I’m pretty sure I’m quoting) that he would like to write an “upbeat” song about the cross.  I remember both of us having a good chuckle at his choice of words, but at the same time, I was intrigued by the challenge implied in his comment.  One of my favorite aspects of songwriting is the challenge of it all, finding just the right lyric to succinctly convey a point, just the right melody to make a particular lyric come alive, just the right theme to help someone (more often than not myself) see an old truth in a new light, etc.  In any event, the seed of an idea was born that night, and I filed this particular challenge away in the back of my mind to come back to later as time and inspiration allowed.  It wasn’t long before two very painful experiences provided the inspiration I needed to take on the idea of an upbeat song about the cross.

In late 2008 and carrying over into the first couple months of 2009, I had to undergo a series of invasive and painful surgical procedures on my right foot.  By the end of it, I had a six or seven inch pin inserted into my foot from the tip of my toe back to my ankle, and this was after several prior procedures.  At times, the pain was severe, and I found myself thinking back to something my parents used to tell my siblings and me as we were growing up: “Offer it up.”  Whenever my brothers and sisters and I would complain about an ache or pain that my parents knew to be mild, we were encouraged to “offer up” our suffering.  As a kid, I think I heard that so often (or perhaps I just complained a lot) that I more or less tuned it out.  I knew the point my parents were making, but I came to think of “offering it up” as a Catholic way of saying “get over it.”  But as I suffered through these foot surgeries and even contemplated the idea that a six inch “nail” was in my foot, my mind kept turning back to the idea of offering up my pain for others.  It occurred to me that since Jesus offered up His suffering and death for all of us and since no servant is greater than his master, I needed to try and offer my suffering up for others to better follow His example.  For those times when the pain was most intense, I prayed that Jesus would help me to endure and that my suffering could be offered up for those whom I knew needed prayers.  I don’t know that I was entirely successful.  During those times of intense pain, I found it increasingly difficult to focus on anything other than my own immediate pain, but I became more convinced than ever that to truly follow Christ, this was something I needed to keep working on.

As I was going through this ordeal with my foot, these ideas on suffering and sacrifice began coalescing into a theme that I thought might be useful for a cross song, but I wasn’t making any particular progress.  And then out of nowhere I received word that my grandfather was in a hospital dying back in Alabama.

There is no way that I can give my grandfather his proper due in this small space.  I’ve struggled at my keyboard now for quite a while trying to figure out a way to explain how his death somehow led to this song, and I’m not sure what to say other than that, to me, every line of this song lives and breathes my grandfather, Ray Vrazel, and if there was one person on earth (or in heaven) who would appreciate a good upbeat song about the cross, it’s him.  His father, my great grandfather, prevented him from ever studying music.  I always got the sense that that was one of the great regrets of his life.  I don’t know if that was the case or not, but I can say with absolute certainty that he unabashedly and undeniably delighted in hearing his children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren play music, and the more upbeat, the better.  This song came together so quickly after his death that I am sure he somehow had a hand in it.  And I believe he now sings the songs of the angels, a music we cannot comprehend until we sing it ourselves.

Happy Easter!  This is a resurrection song.

By His Wounds

Refrain

By His wounds we are healed;

By His blood poured out are we set free.

And we follow Him, each bearing our cross,

That we might be as Christ:

Light for the world.

Verse 1

We will follow the cross,

Our pain a bridge to Him

Who heals our brokenness.

His peace beyond all that we can know

Calms the strife within,

Easing the burdens we bear.

Verse 2

We will follow the cross

That we may put on Christ

For all those lost in doubt.

The hurt we bear, the suff’ring we endure,

Offered as sacrifice

To bring forth the kingdom of God.

Verse 3

We will follow the cross

To where this journey ends

In perfect love’s embrace.

Let us lead lives worthy of our God,

Dying to ourselves,

Raising up all those cast down.