Blood of Christ Be Our Salvation

Last week on Good Friday a few dear friends gathered with Jana and I at church to hold vigil through the night. We lit candles in the darkened sanctuary and kept watch as the hours of the night passed. At the top of each hour, to mark the passage of time, I set my phone to sound a tolling bell and we would listen to someone read a passage of Scripture. Not everyone stayed the whole night. But a few of us made it through to morning.

Pictured here are some of the candles along with the Christ the Bridegroom icon Ben brought to the vigil. A perfect icon for a Good Friday vigil:

Matthew 25.1-13
Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.

But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’

And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

To pray through the night I used a couple of different prayer books. I like Catholic prayer books during Passion Week because there are many Catholic prayers that focus upon the five wounds and blood of Jesus.

In the wee hours of the night I was praying through a litany of The Precious Blood of Jesus. A litany, if you don't know, is a series petitions echoing a repeated chorus. The litany I used is similar to this one I found online (which I've abridged a bit):

Lord, have mercy
Christ, have mercy

Blood of Christ, only Son of the Father
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, incarnate Word
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, of the new and eternal covenant
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, that spilled to the ground
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, that flowed at the scourging
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, dripping from the thorns
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, shed on the cross
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, the price of our redemption
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, our only claim to pardon
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, our blessing cup
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, in which we are washed
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, torrent of mercy
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, that overcomes evil
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, strength of the martyrs
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, endurance of the saints
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, that makes the barren fruitful
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, protection of the threatened
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, comfort of the weary
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, solace of the mourner
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, hope of the repentant
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, our peace and refreshment
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, our pledge of life
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, by which we pass to glory
~be our salvation
Blood of Christ, most worthy of honor
~be our salvation

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world
~have mercy on us
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world
~have mercy on us
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world
~grant us your peace

No doubt many readers will be a bit spooked, disturbed and freaked out by a litany meditating upon blood. I understand. But my impulses during Passion Week can be quite Catholic. There is a medieval monk deep in my soul and he likes to make an appearance during Passion Week. To be sure, there are problems with any theology when pushed to the extreme but, crazy as it may seem, I actually like to focus upon the Passion during Passion Week.

And it helps, of course, that I have well-worked out atonement theology that guides me in praying a Passion-related litany. When I think of the blood of Jesus I don't think about how blood satisfies the wrath of God. When I think of the blood of Jesus I think of love being poured out.

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

After reading the litany of the Precious Blood I picked up my notebook and jotted down a few lines in the candlelight.

the litany of
the Precious Blood of Jesus
I pray
the insistent repetition
like a heartbeat
like a rhythm of breath
as vital and as necessary
reckoning the accumulating weight of sorrow
accounting each drop
collecting the pain
following the etching of crimson on wood, flesh and earth
tracing the rivulets of love