That Rugged Great Commission

 By Catherine Ulrich Brakefield

One of America's best-loved hymns sings loudly of rejection, torture, and death. One would think it inappropriate for singing during Sunday services, let alone converting people to Christianity, and especially singing this favorite celebrating Easter. 

“The Old Rugged Cross” provides Christians an example of perseverance, commitment, and justification (just as if you never sinned). That all-consuming grace and the reason Christ died for you that Good Friday. He shed His blood on that old rugged cross for you and provided the ammunition to love one another as He loved you.  

When troubles arise—when fathers lose their jobs, when children become deathly ill, when the old become crippled—the trials of life are bearable just thinking about that old rugged cross. 

After all, God became handicapped in a man’s body when He decided to come down to earth! Christians understand their Savior’s agape love for them, accepting the trials and tribulations that life brings. The song's author knew this lesson firsthand.

George Bennard (1873-1958) lost his father as a young teen. He was thrust into the unwelcomed role as the head of the household with all the responsibilities of an adult. George supplied financial support to his struggling mother and siblings and worked in the coal mines, like his father before him.

When he grew up, he married. He and his wife were saved during a Salvation Army camp meeting and often served in the Army. Because he had no formal education, he was thought of as illiterate. But that didn’t hinder him from following God’s promptings. He stepped up to the pulpit and became one of the best-loved Methodist preachers of his time.

His favorite Scripture verse was John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (NKJV and subsequent verses).  Whenever George quoted that verse a vision of the cross came to mind. Not a pleasant wooden cross, but a crude Roman instrument of torturous death, stained with the Christ’s blood.

One day, as George thought of Christ's crucifixion, a melody played across his thoughts. Not a complete melody, and though there were very few words that came to his mind, one passage continued to reverberate, “I’ll cherish the old rugged cross.”  The song slowly took shape. 

During a revival in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, his revival partner, Chicagoan Ed E. Mieras, premiered “The Old Rugged Cross” as a duet during the final evening of the meeting, January 12, 1913. The famous gospel song composer Charles H. Gabriel joined Bennard with the harmony.

“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.

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 someday for a crown.”

“And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified him.”  (John 19:17–18 NKJV).

The song was first published in Heart and Life Songs for the Church, Sunday School, Home, and Campmeetings (1915). “The Old Rugged Cross” became one of Billy Sunday's favorites to sing at his evangelistic crusades. Homer Rodeheaver, Sunday’s chief musician, eventually bought the rights to the song. 

“The Old Rugged Cross” has caught the imagination of singing artists across the spears of time. Ernest Tubb, Andy Griffith, Johnny Cash, June Carter, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Willie Nelson, and countless more have sung this well-known hymn throughout the pages of history. 

After a life dedicated to spreading God’s Word, Bennard retired in Reed City, Michigan, where a museum is dedicated to his life and ministry. In Youngstown, Ohio, Bennard’s birthplace, a memorial has been created at Lake Park Cemetery. A plaque commemorating the first performance of the song stands in front of the Friend’s Church in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

A State of Michigan Historical Site plaque now marks the location on Michigan Avenue in Albion, Michigan, where Bennard wrote “The Old Rugged Cross.”

George Bennard started off with the nametag “illiterate coal miner,” but that did not stop him from spreading God’s Word. He wrote a total of 300 songs, some of which include “Have Thy Way, Lord,” “Pentecostal Fire is Falling,” “Love Never Faileth,” “Songs of Victory,” and “Sweet Songs of Salvation.” 

Believing in Jesus’ teachings, George never dwelled on his lack of money, position, or education. He kept his eyes on the prize. That of eternal life and performing his earthly duties, accepting the cross and the Great Commission Jesus bestowed to Christians that first Easter Sunday. 

Jesus did not remain in that grave. He rose on the third day to say, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19–20 NKJV).  

When death haunts your heels, the words of “The Old Rugged Cross” take on new meaning. The doughboys of World War I, the caissons of World War II, and the grunts of Vietnam believed in that new life that Easter celebrates and the words of “The Old Rugged Cross” exemplify. The soldier, the sick, the infirmed, the forgotten—their morale is instantly uplifted knowing Jesus Christ bore these difficulties, and so must we. “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me”" (Matthew 16:24 NKJV). 

Throughout American history, our ancestors have done that very thing. The Second Great Awakening sparked flames of a revival in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, in 1802, that began the circuit rider who rode to the utmost parts of this new nation to spread the Word of Jesus Christ. 

All of a sudden, France decided to sell the great expanse of land from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains in 1803. President Thomas Jefferson couldn’t pass up that deal, and called this new annexation the Louisiana Purchase. 

So began the American Missionary Alliance that brought Jesus’ saving grace to the Native Americans and French trappers as told in Wilted Dandelions.  

There is a new beginning, a new life awaiting believers—no matter their education, their handicaps, or the hardships they face. The path is marked with tears and tribulations, and it is ragged and rough, like that cross our Savior shed his blood upon; however, that rugged great commission is worth the liberation of a life. 

Wilted Dandelions: Rachael is eager to leave her life of luxury in Boston to share the gospel with Native Americans in the West. The only problem is the Missionary Alliance won't let her go unless she's married. When Jonathan, another missionary hopeful, learns about the restrictions, he’s desperate to find a wife. They agree to a marriage of convenience and learn God doesn’t create coincidences—He designs possibilities.  

“One gripping, compelling read. Wilted Dandelions by Ms. Brakefield had me eagerly turning pages and sighing over the love story premise as well as taking comfort in the spiritual message.” ES, Amazon Reader

An award-winning author, Catherine's inspirational historical romances include Wilted Dandelions, her Destiny series Swept into Destiny, Destiny's Whirlwind, Destiny of Heart, and Waltz with Destiny. Her newest book is Love's Final Sunrise. She has two pictorial history books: The Lapeer Area, and Eastern Lapeer Area.

https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-the-old-rugged-cross 

https://christianheritagefellowship.com/george-bennard-and-the-old-rugged-cross/  

https://www.staugustine.com/story/lifestyle/faith/2017/10/21/story-behind-song-old-rugged-cross/16290488007/

https://christianheritage.info/places/category/monument-outdoor/united-states/wisconsin/door-county/ 

https://the-oldruggedcross.org/museum