For our Good Friday service at Coral Ridge this year, we will begin the evening with an Invocation for piano, strings, and voices (though it really could be reset in a bunch of different ways, from choir and organ to folk). It’s called “Come Witness This Gospel to Me,” off our new album, Come and Make Us Free. Personally, it’s my favorite on the album and probably took the most out of me to write, which is saying a lot, given how emotionally charged the album is.
The truth is that this isn’t just a Good Friday text. It’s an Invocation for any service of the year. After all, worship is nothing more and nothing less than God’s divine service to us, where the Father showcases the glory of the Son through the witness of the Spirit.
Below is the text, but if you want a peek behind the curtain to see what I was thinking theologically and experientially when I wrote it, check out the article just published on LIBERATE: “He Saw the Whole Bloody Thing Go Down.”
One little note about the recording: I love the way the strings always sag on the underside of the pitch. It makes the song feel more heavy and grievous. It’s like they’re both the mourning of the Spirit and our straining to believe.
Happy Remembrancing.
Come Witness This Gospel to Me
chord chart | lead sheet | piano music
Lyrics
1. O Holy Spirit, O One who was there
To witness the anger that God didn’t spare
To witness a verdict both just and unfair
O Holy Spirit, O One who was there
2. You saw on His face all the judgment of hell
My story of shame that I cannot untell
How heavy my burden of blame when it fell!
You saw on His face all the judgment of hell
Come witness this gospel to me
Remembrancer, this is my plea:
Preach Christ till He’s all that I see
Come witness this gospel to me
3. You saw in His dying the death of my sin
The Son’s bleeding body, I’m hidden therein
Where all of my poison He drank deep within
You saw in His dying the death of my sin
4. You’re preaching a grace that is forever free
There’s no condemnation, no wrath left for me
I hear “It is finished” from Calvary’s tree
You’re preaching a grace that is forever free
Now witness this gospel to me
Remembrancer, cause me to see
That Christ is my one victory
Now witness this gospel to me
You witness this gospel to me
Forgiveness eternally free
And always Your child I will be
You witness this gospel to me
O Spirit, the truth I now see
You witness this gospel to me
One Comment on “A Great Invocation to Kick off Good Friday…or any Service”
This is amazing Zac…and so perfect for Good Friday. I love in this song and on The Magnificent Three how you emphasize the Spirit's work. Keep it up…these songs are such a blessing to the Church!