Come join me on a musical journey to the cross and beyond. It’s my hope that this playlist, which includes personal and emotional songs as well as rich and reflective ones, will help guide you as you meditate on Jesus’ death and resurrection.
/ “The Power of the Cross” (Keith & Kristyn Getty)
This powerful song strikes home to the heart, poignantly commemorating Christ’s suffering and celebrating the triumph He won.
/ “The Hunger” (Wayne Watson)
“The Hunger” captures the craving of the crowd who called for Jesus’ crucifixion and then gives it a transforming twist.
/ “Your Will Be Done” (CityAlight)
A prayer of surrender framed in the garden of Gethsemane, this song reminds us to look to Jesus as our highest example of surrender and obedience to God.
During his earthly life, he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him…
— Hebrews 5:7-9 (CSB)
/ “Carry My Cross” (Third Day)
“Carry My Cross” imagines some of the thoughts that may have been running through Jesus’ mind and captures the intense struggle and the ultimate choice to surrender for the sake of love.
/ “The Holy One” (Mark Schultz)
Tenderly told from Mary Magdalene’s perspective, this song shows how all through His life, regardless of whether others believed in Him or mocked Him, Jesus remained the Holy One.
/ “Driving Nails” (Bruce Carroll)
As she stands by the cross, Mary reminisces on Jesus’ childhood as the adopted son of a carpenter and prays that He will have the strength to see through the greatest work He has undertaken.
/ “How Love Wins (Thief)” (Steven Curtis Chapman)
Knowing death is near, the thief looks back on his life with regret, but then he learns that beside him is the only one who can give him hope. His ears echo with the sound of the voice of love—a love that will stop at nothing until the victory is won.
/ “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted” (Reawaken Hymns)
This lesser-known hymn has rich lyrics set to a haunting melody. By pondering Christ’s sorrow and suffering caused by the weight of sin laid on Him, it moves us to meditate on the doctrine of redemption in a deeper way.
/ “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” (Sounds Like Reign)
This contemplative modern hymn reflects on the Father’s role in our redemption and then moves on to how His great love shapes our lives.
/ “Mercy Tree” (Lacey Sturm)
Another modern song with a hymn-like feel, this song speaks of the mercy we find at the cross. It’s a grateful celebration of all that Jesus obtained for us.
/ “Mighty Is the Power of the Cross” (Chris Tomlin)
Quiet and gentle, this song prompts us to contemplate the redemption, healing, and cleansing the cross brings.
/ “The Cross Has Spoken” (Songs from the Soil)
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
— Hebrews 12:22-24 (NIV)
This song commemorates Jesus’ deep love for us and the transformation He brings. We must learn to listen to the love He speaks over us.
/ “Thank You for the Cross” (Brenton Brown)
Before we chose Him, Jesus chose us. He chose to die for us while we were still sinners because His love for us is like no other (Romans 5:8).
/ “At the Cross (Love Ran Red)” (Chris Tomlin)
In response to all that the cross symbolizes, the only thing we can do is surrender our lives to the one who died for us.
/ “There Is a Fountain” (Reawaken Hymns)
This classic hymn reminds us of the power of Christ’s blood to save and cleanse us from sin and guilt and keep us until the day when sin is banished from the new creation.
/ “Grave” (Cochren & Co.)
If Jesus hadn’t died, there would be no life for you or me. The law showed us our need for grace, the darkness made us long for the light, and His death was required to bring us new life.
/ “All Is Well” (Phillips, Craig & Dean)
This song connects the cross to the cosmic story of redemption, beginning with Adam’s fall in the garden and its echoes through the ages and spanning all the way into our lives today, as we receive Jesus’ redemption and remember what He has done.
/ “He’s Alive” (Don Francisco)
This classic song gets me every time. It doesn’t require much of an introduction, but I did find this interesting backstory:
Don wrote “He’s Alive” in a Nashville duplex while attending Donelson Bible Chapel. He had intended to write a song about Jesus’ resurrection from Thomas’ point of view, moving the listener from doubt to faith. But as he worked on the song, Don realized that he identified more with Peter. He felt he had failed or betrayed Jesus so many times in his own life. Three weeks later, he played his original version of “He’s Alive” for his wife. That version ended without the final chorus. She reacted, “What? You can’t stop there like that! It isn’t finished.” Half an hour later one of the greatest songs in CCM history was finished.1
/ “I Know that My Redeemer Lives” (Keith & Kristyn Getty, Laura Story)
A celebration of the hope we have because of the resurrection, this song reminds us of how Jesus’ interceding presence in heaven affects our lives on earth and prompts us to look to the day when He returns to take us to be with Him.
/ “Same Power” (Jeremy Camp)
“Same Power” is a song of victory, celebrating Christ’s power to overcome. Because of Him, we have the victory through a strength not our own. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is now at work in us (Romans 8:11). Hallelujah!
You can find the playlist of all these songs below:
- Stan Moser, We Will Stand (Brentwood, Tennessee: Christian Music United, 2015), 73.
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