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704

The Blood That Jesus Sheds for Me

Scripture References

Further Reflections on Scripture References

Like other familiar hymns about the blood of Jesus (383, "0 Sacred Head" and 384, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross") this text presents the blood of Jesus as a metaphor for Christ's atonement for our sin. That atonement gives "me strength from day to day" and "will never lose its power." Certainty about the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice (st. 1) "soothes [our] doubts and calms [our] fears" (st. 2) and helps us negotiate "the highest mountain" and "the lowest valley" in our experiences of life in Christ.

Confessions and Statements of Faith References

Further Reflections on Confessions and Statements of Faith References

When we receive God’s pardon, we find ourselves at peace with him and at rest again. When the benefits of Christ are made ours, “They are more than enough to absolve us of our sins” and we need no longer look “for anything apart from him” (Belgic Confession, Article 22). We have “freedom from sin’s dominion” (Our World Belongs to God, paragraph 25) and we understand that we are “set free from all [our] sins and misery…” (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 1, Question and Answer 2). We are “righteous before God and heir to everlasting life” (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 23, Question and Answer 59).

704

The Blood That Jesus Sheds for Me

Additional Prayers

A Prayer of Acclamation and Thanksgiving
Lord Jesus Christ, enemy of darkness, you have not held yourself above human evil, but have entered it, suffered from it, died to atone for it. So we trust and thank you. You have absorbed so much evil, so much pain. The sign is your blood shed for sinners. It will never lose its power. Amen.
— Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.
704

The Blood That Jesus Sheds for Me

Tune Information

Name
THE BLOOD
Key
A♭ Major
Meter
8.6.10.7 refrain 9.7.10.7
704

The Blood That Jesus Sheds for Me

Hymn Story/Background

African American gospel musician Andraé Crouch (b. Los Angeles, CA, 1945) wrote both text and tune in 1962. An arrangement of the text by Thursten G. Frazier entitled "It Will Never Lose Its Power" was published as a choral piece that same year by the Frazier-Cleveland Company.
 
Like other familiar hymns about the blood of Jesus, this text presents the blood of Jesus as a metaphor for Christ's atonement for our sin. That atonement gives "me strength from day to day" and "will never lose its power." Certainty about the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice (st. 1) "soothes [our] doubts and calms [our] fears" (st. 2) and helps us negotiate "the highest mountain" and "the lowest valley" in our experiences of life in Christ.
 
Crouch's musical setting of THE BLOOD provides a skeleton script for a piano accompaniment that welcomes additional or substitute chords, arpeggios, runs, and ornaments. This hymn is appropriate for regular congregational singing, choral part singing, and/ or the use of a soloist on the stanzas. Keep the dotted rhythms crisp and sing majestically.
 
The African American gospel style began in the 1920s with Thomas Dorsey. Along with Edwin Hawkins, Jessye Dixon, James Cleveland, Dannibelle, and Curtis Burrell (to name a few), Crouch represents a more recent generation of such gospel musicians.
 
Andraé Crouch is a leader in contemporary gospel music. He began performing as a teen in his church, directed a choir at a Teen Challenge drug rehabilitation center, and then formed a singing group for the Church of God in Christ denomination. As a singer he has toured with his "Disciples" ensemble throughout the world for twenty-five years; his recordings have won Grammy and Dove awards. He has written more than three hundred gospel songs, many of which have become standards in gospel music. He has also written an autobiography, Through It All: A Biography (1974).
— Bert Polman

Author and Composer Information

Andraé Crouch (b. Los Angeles, CA, 1945; d. Los Angeles, 2015) was a leader in contemporary gospel music. He began performing as a teen in his church, directed a choir at a Teen Challenge drug rehabilitation center, and then formed a singing group for the Church of God in Christ denomination. As a singer he toured with his "Disciples" ensemble throughout the world for twenty-five years; his recordings have won Grammy and Dove awards. He wrote more than three hundred gospel songs, many of which have become standards in gospel music. He also wrote an autobiography, Through It All: A Biography (1974).
 
The African American gospel style began in the 1920s with Thomas Dorsey. Along with Edwin Hawkins, Jessye Dixon, James Cleveland, Dannibelle, and Curtis Burrell (to name a few), Crouch represents a more recent generation of such gospel musicians.
— Bert Polman

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