HYMNS FOR EASTER SUNDAY Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Resurrection Axel Hjalmar Ender copied by August Klagstad REFLECTION The hymn for today in the English speaking world is Christ the Lord is Ris’n Today. While there may be many many other hymns that fit the day well and are worthy, those planning the Easter service would be well advised not to leave this one out. People expect it and love it. And for many it won’t be a real Easter service without it.   There is a feeling among many that we shouldn’t be so caught in our traditions and find new things and not repeat old chestnuts. The older I get the less advisable I think that is. Our faith is rooted in memory. Psalm 42, among many others, teaches us that. We have had a mountain top experience in our past and want that feeling to return. It often can when we repeat a hymn much loved and remembered from another time. The truth of the gospel is that often just when we think we are tired of the old old story, we hear it again, and suddenly something pops and it is new, entirely new.   That cannot happen when we only do new things. New things come when the old is repeated and it seems utterly new. Or when we see that we have not quite seen the fullness of what the old contained of the new. As the old hymn has it, “Sometimes a light surprises a Christian while he sings.” That happens most often when we sing something old.   Resurrection Montegna On the other hand, Easter is the story of something so new it changes everything, but it was always there embedded in the old. Paul believed and taught, as the church does, that the story of Jesus was there from the beginning. Sin, death and the devil are defeated. When the women hear the good news from the angels and run back to tell the disciples, their road is the old way, but now looks completely new. Flowers blossom in the air and all things are made new. Even as they run they remember what Jesus has told them and recognize something of what he meant. Now they see in the old words that they were speaking of this new thing. It is hard to describe that in anything but poetry, the best of which we remember.   Even when we are in the depths of despair, which many are today, we must not fail to hope. The resurrection of Jesus tells us that no matter what our situation is, what governments are doing, what we fear most, Easter makes the old things lose their powers, we now know that our fears are not the last word. Jesus is. He is alive and well, ruling over all things. Because of his death and resurrection he makes penultimate all our fears. He has defeated our enemies and rules over all for our good. Christ is risen, he is risen indeed!   HYMN INFO There are many hymns that are musts for Easter. For information on "Christ the Lord is Ris’n Today" see below, and then a couple more. You can find blogs on more Easter hymns if you search in the blog front page. Just enter Easter and many will appear!   LINKS Christ the Lord is Ris’n today https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-23-christ-the-lord-is-ris-n-today I come to the Garden alone, plus .. https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-for-easter-solen-på-himmelen-lukket-sit-øye-i-come-to-the-garden-alone   Easter Morrow Stills our Sorrow https://www.hymnfortheday.com/post/hymn-24-easter-morrow-stills-our-sorrow