Thoughts on Latter-Day Saint faith in the twenty-first century.

He Is Risen!

He is Risen! He is Risen!
Tell it out with joyful voice.
He has burst his three days’ prison;
Let the whole wide earth rejoice.
Death is conquered; man is free.
Christ has won the victory.

I love this hymn. There is so much in this song that speaks to me in this day and age, and yet it is also tied into an older and eternal world.

I have recently been called to be the choir director in my ward. We have a performance for Easter, in two weeks. No pressure. So I chose this as one of the songs we'll be singing.

Here's what I love about it:
– The jubilant feeling. I don't know if the world does “Jubilation” any more, we are too saturated in low-grade “I'm okay I guess” to really be jubilant. This song is a massive wave of unbounded joy from being set free from a fate quite literally worse than death.
– The gratitude built into every line of this song. Any mention of ourselves is in a passive voice, we are celebrating the victory of our God, our Lord, who has done these great things for us.

Come with high and holy hymning;
Chant our Lord’s triumphant lay.
Not one darksome cloud is dimming
Yonder glorious morning ray,
Breaking o’er the purple east,
Symbol of our Easter feast.

He is risen! He is risen!
He hath opened heaven’s gate.
We are free from sin’s dark prison,
Risen to a holier state.
And a brighter Easter beam
On our longing eyes shall stream.

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