In Christ Alone, the controversy for almost a decade about a modern hymn

 And how do you interpret this hymn? "In Christ alone" by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev’ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

In our traditional service this Sunday (Oct. 9) we sang "In Christ Alone" which is a contemporary song, but I do like it and it fit the sermon theme, sort of. After the service I asked one of the pastors who's also a musician about the words in the second verse, “on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.” Isn't that Calvin's interpretation, I asked. He assured me, it's in Lutheran theology. But it appears I'm not the only one asking.  Some people just don't sing that verse.

After our wonderful Sunday dinner which was sort of like my mom's (over done beef roast because it had to go in the oven before we went to church) I googled it. WOW. All sorts of controversy and that very line kept it out of some hymnals, including a Presbyterian!

I don't think it fits the whole O.T. sacrificial system we've been following up to the Cross, and God does come off sounding kind of nasty and petty, punishing someone for what others did instead of Jesus voluntarily offering a sacrifice we (humankind since Adam and Eve) haven't been able to do. But I know from being at a gazillion Bible studies over the last 50 years, that is how many Protestant denominations see that.

So what does your church do? Just sing it lustily and don't pay attention to the words just the emotion? Revise that verse and violate copyright? Receive it and believe it?

Here's just one article I looked at it. I shook my head and thought, "This is why there are 35,000 Protestant/Bible based denominations." https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/did-jesus-die-to-satisfy-gods-wrath/

And others: The Wrath of God Was Satisfied: Wondrous Love in the Awful Cross | Desiring God   The wrath of God satisfied? – Theology Everywhere   Wrath or Love? Calvin on Why Jesus Goes to the Cross | Reformedish (derekzrishmawy.com)   (PDF/Books) The Wrath Of God Satisfied Download FULL | Automation Journal (this one sounds really good, but I didn't download it) and from Augustine How Augustine Viewed the Cross | Billy Kangas (patheos.com)

And this one with a long quote from N.T. Wright, a prominent Anglican theologian: The Bible Guy | “The wrath of God was satisfied”? (steventuell.net)  Another N.T. Wright fan: 3a9f50ff-0846-417a-85a2-7623c472877f.pdf (calvin.edu)

But I did read a lot of viewpoints, and some fairly lengthy articles on copyright, and how hymns can form theology long into the future.  But this blogger from Australia fit my understanding best:

"Sydney Anglican blogger David Ould helpfully pointed out in the online debate that God’s wrath is not satisfied by severely punishing an unwilling child. Nor is the Father like a sadistic teacher.

“The solution to all this, the Scriptures teach, is that one dies in our place. The entire OT sacrificial system models this and then Jesus Himself comes and does it. He is no “abused child” and there is no “lashing out by God”, rather He chooses Himself to lay down His life (John 10:11, 15, 17-18). Those last two verses are stunning how they tell of the unity of purpose between Father and Son:

John 10:17 “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.’” The Wrath against Wrath: “Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.” - Eternity News

St. Augustine

“He was a daring, in-your-face iconoclast. A wild fornicator, he had many mistresses and a bastard son. A self-confessed thief who declared “the evil in me was foul, but I loved it.” St. Augustine, A.D. 398.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/augustines-good-and-evil_2741796.html

What is time?

Book XI of St. Augustine is devoted to an extraordinarily subtle analysis of the nature of time and the relation of time to creation.  “What then is time?  If no one asks me, I know what it is.  If I wish to explain it to him who asks me, I do not know.” His analysis of time arrives at the conclusion that time is an aspect of created being, and that, consequently, in the uncreated being of God time has no effective reality. In God and God’s consciousness there is no change, no before or after, but only an eternal present.  (Masterpieces of Christian literature in summary form, ed. Frank N. Magill, Harper & Row, 1963. p. 132-133.

“By the time of Augustine, the Church had settled down in Roman society.  The Christian’s worst enemies could no longer be placed outside him; they were inside, his sins and his doubts; and the climax of a man’s life would not be martyrdom, but conversion from the perils of his own past.”  Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a biography. Faber & Faber, 1967. p. 159

Our pastor, Brodie Taphorn, preached this past Sunday on "You have too much to do" part of the sermon series "What to do when. . .insights from ordinary people of the Old Testament."  The scripture launch was Exodus 18:18-23,  but he supplied background from surrounding verses, and the second reading was from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Jethro gives advice to his son-in-law Moses on how to manage the huge load of responsibility--delegate as we say today.  Brodie addressed the busyness of the modern culture, how most Christians respond, and suggestions from the text.

After the sermon and during the "meet and greet" I told Brodie I was probably the only person he knew who says, "I'm never busy." I almost never have to much to do.  So I offered to write him a note about it, but I'm still working on it. And I think St. Augustine has some of the answers on how we use time.

For me, my non-theological take is that in the English language we use all the same verbs with time that we use with money; invest it, use it, spend it, save it, plan for it, waste it, hoard it, borrow it, lose it, and in the end, you "cash it in" because there is no use for it outside our created world.  As Augustine says time is also a creation of God.  Me?  I tend toward the hoard and save, so I usually have a lot in the bank, but I'm not so good at the spending part, particularly using my time for the Kingdom.

Prayer of St. Augustine

God of our life,
There are days when the burdens we carry
chafe our shoulders and weigh us down;
when the road seems dreary and endless,
the skies grey and threatening;
when our lives have no music in them,
and our hearts are lonely,
and our souls have lost their courage.

Flood the path with light,
turn our eyes to where the skies are full of promise;
tune our hearts to brave music;
give us the sense of comradeship
with heroes and saints of every age;
and so quicken our spirits
that we may be able to encourage
the souls of all who journey with us
on the road of life,
to your honor and glory.

http://aleteia.org/2017/03/25/a-prayer-for-the-days-you-just-cant-take-it-anymore/

https://www.oursanctuary.net/augustine.html

A message for the New Year from St. Augustine

St. Augustine, Confessions, Book 1

What, then, are You, O my God-what, I ask, but the Lord God ?
 For who is Lord but the Lord? or who is God save our God (Ps. 17:32) ? Most high,
most excellent,
most powerful,
most omnipotent ;
most piteous and most just;
most hidden and most near;
most beautiful and most strong, stable, yet contained by none;
unchangeable, yet changing all things;
never new, never old;
making all things new,
yet bringing old age upon the proud without their knowing it (Job 9:5);
always working, yet ever at rest;
gathering, yet needing nothing;
sustaining, pervading, and protecting ;
creating, nourishing, and developing;
seeking, and yet possessing all things.
You love, yet do not burn;
are jealous, yet free from care;
You repent, yet do not suffer;
are angry, yet serene;
You change Your ways, leaving Your plans unchanged;
You recover what You find, without ever having lost it;
You are never in want, while You rejoice in gain;
never covetous, though requiring interest.'
That You may owe, more than enough is given to You;
yet who has anything that is not Yours?
You pay debts while owing nothing;
and when You forgive debts,
You lose nothing.
Yet, O my God, my life, my holy joy, what is this that I have said ? And what does anyone say when He speaks of You? Yet woe to them that keep silence, seeing that even they who say most are like the dumb."

Translation 

My own translation (by Edward Bouverie Pusey, public domain) uses the thy and art and shouldest,  which isn't that difficult, but I looked for more current English.  Then I rearranged the spacing; looks like a nice poem or liturgy.