We used a section of an old hymn to set the stage for this year’s Good Friday service:

Now, my soul, thy voice upraising,
Sing aloud in mournful strain,
Of the sorrows most amazing,
And the agonizing pain,
Which our Savior
Sinless bore, for sinners slain.

As far as I can tell, this is an early version or a different translation of whatever became the first verse of “Now My Soul, Thy Voice Upraising”. That goes:

Now, my soul, thy voice upraising,
Tell in sweet and mournful strain
How the Crucified, enduring
Grief, and wounds, and dying pain,
Freely of His love was offered,
Sinless was for sinners slain.

The later version is more grammatically correct, but there’s something I love about the rawness of the original…