The Word Chapel
Hymnal
The Word Chapel
923 Vanderbilt St.
Birmingham, Alabama  35206
Easter comes once a year. How often do you?

Let my cry come near before thee, O Lord: give me understanding according to thy word.
Psalm 119:169
Pastor:
Chaplain Larry McDowell
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Click on the song's name to view the written lyrics for the hymn. If there is a video link, then clicking on it will reveal the lyrics and the music in a presentation of slides so that you can sing to the presentation with the music. It is assumed that all the songs below are in the public domain or that we have permission. If you are the owner of the song rights and feel this is in error, contact the website provider through the contacts link at ChurchProvider.com.
Cross, Sacrifice and Salvation
20
The Old Rugged Cross
By Bennard, George

1
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best,
For a world of lost sinners was slain.

Chorus
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

2
O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above,
To bear it to dark Calvary.

3
In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.

4
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.
This popular hymn written in 1912 by evangelist and song-leader George Bennard (1873–1958). George Bennard was a native of Youngstown, Ohio, but was reared in Iowa. After his conversion in a Salvation Army meeting, he and his wife became brigade leaders before leaving the organization for the Methodist Church. As a Methodist evangelist, Bennard wrote the first verse of "The Old Rugged Cross" in Albion, Michigan, in the fall of 1912 as a response to ridicule that he had received at a revival meeting. Bennard traveled with Ed E. Mieras from Chicago to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin where they held evangelistic meetings at the Friends Church from December 29, 1912 to January 12, 1913. During the meetings Rev. George Bennard finished "The Old Rugged Cross" and on the last night of the meeting Bennard and Mieras performed it as a duet before a full house with Pearl Torstensen Berg, organist for the meeting, as accompanist. Charles H. Gabriel, a well-known gospel-song composer helped Bennard with the harmonies. The completed version was then performed on June 7, 1913, by a choir of five, accompanied by a guitar in Pokagon, Michigan, at the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Pokagon. Published in 1915, the song was popularized during Billy Sunday evangelistic campaigns by two members of his campaign staff, Homer Rodeheaver (who bought rights to the song for $50 or $500) and Virginia Asher, who were perhaps also the first to record it in 1921.
It speaks of the writer's Christian experience rather than his adoration of God. Bennard retired to Reed City, Michigan, and the town maintains a museum dedicated to his life and ministry. A memorial has also been created in Youngstown at Lake Park Cemetery. A plaque commenorating the first performance of the song stands in front of the Friend's Church in Sturgeon Bay, WI.

Hymn background from:
wikipedia.org
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