Notes on the Notes – April 5, 2015 – Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday Scripture Readings:
1 Corinthians 15: 1-11
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15%3A1-11&version=MSG
Mark 16: 1-8
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+16%3A1-8&version=MSG
Acts 10: 37-40, 43a
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+10%3A37-40%2C+43a&version=MSG
Easter Sunday Music:
“This is the Day That God Has Made” (VU #175)
“This is the day that God had made!
Rejoice! Rejoice, and be exceeding glad!
This is the day that God has made!
Rejoice! Rejoice! Hallelujah!
Christ has conquered death at last,
Left the tomb that held him fast!
Gone the sorrow, gone the night,
Dawns the morning clear and bright!
Jesus lives who once was dead,
Lives forever, as he said!
Risen now our Saviour, King;
Songs of gladness let us sing!”
This youth-oriented Easter song was written by American composer Natalie Sleeth in 1976. Sleeth was born on October 29, 1930 in Evanston, IL. Among her other published works, “In the Bulb there is a Flower” (“Hymn of Promise”) has become one of her most popular compositions both as a hymn and as an anthem. An organist, she wrote over 180 highly successful selections for church and school. At age 62, at the height of her career, she died of cancer on March 21, 1992 in Denver, Colorado.
“Christ the Lord is Risen Again”
“Christ, the Lord, is risen again,
Christ has broken every chain!
Hark! angelic voices cry,
Singing evermore on high:
“Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!”
He who gave for us His life,
Who for us endured the strife,
Is our living Lord today.
We too sing for joy and say:
“Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!”
He who slumbered in the grave is exalted now to save;
Now through all God’s world it rings that the Lamb is King of Kings!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!”
The Worship Choir and Praise Singers will join together to sing this anthem, with words by Michael Weiss (tr. by Cathering Winkworth) and music by Don Whitman. The song comes from a larger work called, “Lord of Life,” published in 1968.
“The Strife is O’er” (VU #159)
“The strife is o’er the battle done;
The victory of life is won;
The song of triumph has begun,
Hallelujah!
The powers of death have done their worst,
But Christ their legions has dispersed;
Let shouts of holy joy outburst,
Hallelujah!
He closed the ancient gates of hell,
The bars from heaven’s high portals fell;
Let songs of praise his triumph tell,
Hallelujah!
On the third morn he rose again,
Glorious in majesty to reign;
O let us swell the joyful strain,
Hallelujah!”
Published anonymously in a Catholic hymnal in 1695, the hymn was translated into English by Anglican minister, Francis Pott, in 1861. An organist, William Monk, then added the Alleluias (meaning, “Praise the Lord”) and set the words to music that had been written much earlier by Vatican choirmaster, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. The hymn celebrates the battle fought and won at the cross. “The powers of death have done their worst,” but Christ has won the victory. The words in Voices United are a revision of an already much-altered translation.
Hear an organ prelude on this tune at: https://youtu.be/9G3dHJWDpb8
“This Joyful Eastertide” (VU #177)
“This joyful Eastertide, away with sin and sorrow!
My love, the crucified, has sprung to life this morrow.
Had Christ, who one was slain, ne’er burst his three-day prison,
Our faith had been in vain: but now has Christ arisen, arisen, arisen, arisen.
My flesh in hope shall rest, and for a season slumber,
Till trump from east to west shall wake the dead in number.
Had Christ…
Death’s flood has lost its chill, since Jesus crossed the river:
Lover of souls, from ill my passing soul deliver.
Had Christ…”
George R. Woodward was a Cambridge scholar who collaborated on the editing and publishing of several collections of carols and hymns. This text was fist published in Carols for Easter and Ascension (1894). The melody, VRUECHTEN, is a 17th-century Dutch song which was revised into a sacred setting (1695).
Hear the King’s College Cambridge sing this hymn at: https://youtu.be/5tipsbcfuB4
“Lord of All Good“
“Lord of all good, our gifts we bring to you;
Use them your holy purpose to fulfill;
Tokens of love and pledges brought anew,
That our whole life is offered to your will.
Lord of all good, our gifts we bring to you.”
The text for our offering response is by Albert F. Bayly (1988). It is set to the melody GENEVA 124, also known as OLD 124th, attributed to Louise Bourgeois and first published in Genevan Psalter, 1551.
“Thine is the Glory” (VU #173)
“Thine is the glory, risen, conquering Son:
Endless is the victory thou o’er death hast won.
Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
Kept the folded grave-clothes where the body lay.
Thine is the glory…
Lo, Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb!
Lovingly he greets us, scatters fear and gloom.
Let the church with gladness hymns of triumph sing,
For the Lord now liveth: death has lost its sting.
Thine is the glory…
No more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of life;
Life is nought without thee: aid us in our strife;
Make us more than conquerors, through thy deathless love;
Bring us safe through Jordan to thy home above.
Thine is the glory…”
The French hymn “A toi la gloire” may have been derived from an earlier German Advent hymn set to this tune. The French text was first published in Chantes evangeliques (1885), with the words attributed to Edmond Louis Budry. Richard Birch Hoyle translated the French text into English in 1924. The tune is derived from the chorus “See the conquering hero comes” in Handel’s oratorio Judas Maccabaeus (1747). The hymn is also known as “Thine Be the Glory.”
Hear a choral version at: https://youtu.be/gZz5fO2e1Cc
Hear the hymn on organ at: https://youtu.be/YZJL8pwLu8A
“Share the Easter Joy”
“Go tell the news of the risen Lord,
Alleluia! Lift up your voice!
Go tell the news of the risen Lord,
Alleluia! Alleluia! Go share the Easter joy!
Christ is risen from the grave. Alleluia! Alleuia!
Let the joyful song be raised, Alleluia, Alleluia!”
The Joyful Noise, Worship Choir and Praise Singers join together to send us out of worship with this anthem by Mark Patterson (1999).
