I recently released a new album called “dust&grooves”. This is the second part of an album I released a few months ago. This is the last song on this album and the last two songs on this album are unique because I didn’t use old hymn words nor did I write them myself, but used newer contemporary lyrics to then write my own tunes over them. This one is the words by Stuart Townend & Keith Getty of the famous worship song, “In Christ Alone”. I still play the original for corporate worship services but had fun revamping these words to my tune. Here’s my version in full.
In Christ Alone
In Christ alone our hope is found, our Cornerstone, our solid ground
He is our light our strength our song, firm through the fiercest drought and storm
In Christ alone, who took of flesh, this gift of love and righteousness
Fullness of God in helpless babe, scorned by the ones He came to save.
(Chorus 1)
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled when striving cease!
Our comforter, Our all in all, here in the love of Christ we stand
There in the ground His body lay, light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth, in glorious day, up from the grave He rose again.
No guilt in life, no fear in death, from life’s first cry to final breath
This is the power of Christ in me, Jesus commands my destiny
(Chorus 2)
Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid, here in the death of Christ we live
And as He stands in victory, sins curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine, bought with the precious blood of Christ
No guilt in life, no fear in death, from life’s first cry to final breath
This is the power of Christ in me, Jesus commands my destiny
(Chorus 3) 2x
No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck us from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ we stand
I had to revamp the original words structurally so the rimes landed right. And I changed most of the first person phrasing (me and I) to congregational (us and we) setting. This is one of my favorite newer hymns. I didn’t change anything because I thought it was insufficient, I just loved these lyrics so much that I wanted to be able to sing them more and in a different way. This song is so heavily biblically saturated that I’ll have to give a simplified explanation here. But it is a beautiful song on the work Christ did for us on the cross and our future hope in him!
The first verse really sums up the whole song, “In Christ alone, our hope is found, our cornerstone, our solid ground”. I could teach a whole sermon on just this first line. But the song does a great job at expounding on this point. First verse drives home the point of Christ being everything and all to us because He has done all things for His Children. The first chorus dives into the fact that Jesus is our safety, peace, joy, and satisfaction. The second verse begins the journey of Christ and the cross. I love this because the song never assumes we know all the glorious truths of the Gospel. This is something I’ve been doing for many years because even when we know the Gospel, we so easily forget. The second chorus continues with Christ death and resurrection. The last verse and last chorus talk our standing in the view of Jesus. We are His and nothing can take that away! God is good!
Here are some scripture references if you want to go deeper, and you should: 1 CORINTHIANS 15: 28 · ACTS 2: 32-33 · COLOSSIANS 1: 27 · EPHESIANS 2: 20 · EPHESIANS 3: 18 · ISAIAH 53: 5 · JOHN 1: 5 · JOHN 10: 28 · JOHN 15: 26 · MATTHEW 27: 42 · PHILIPPIANS 2: 7-8 · ROMANS 5: 9 · ROMANS 8: 1-2 · ROMANS 8: 38-39
Listen to song and download album here!