Liturgy is daring to use old words which we would not have thought of or found ourselves, words which have been handed down to us in an incalculably long tradition which is often doubious, words such as "holy", "Holy Spirit", "grace".

We have no glory,
we have no name
but the name of Jesus, the Lord.
We have no glory but his cross.

Great is the mystery of our faith -
he was made public in the flesh
and justified in the Spirit
and he appeared to the angels.
He was proclaimed to the people
and he found faith here in the world
and he was taken up in glory.

If we have died with him,
then we shall also live with him.
If we hold firm, we shall reign with him,
then we shall live and reign with him.
If we deny him, he will deny us.
We may be faithless - he is faithful,
for he cannot deny himself.

We have no glory,
we have no name
but the name of Jesus, the Lord.
We have no glory but his cross.
...

[This song is composed of fragments of ancient hymns quoted by Paul in his letters, cryptic verses, probably dating from the time of the earliest communities of Christians.]

Transformation to vernacular language(s) and exact choice of wording by Huub Oosterhuis.