This week’s song is “Christ the Lord is Risen Today”.
Scriptures for this song:
1 Corinthians 15:20
Matthew 28:5-8
Various facts:
Text by Charles Wesley (1707-1788)
Music by Anonymous (ca 1708)
Tune name is Easter Hymn
The story behind the song:
This is one of the most beloved of Easter hymns. One amazing thing about this hymn is the age of it! It is a variation of an earlier hymn—“Jesus Christ is Risen Today”. This hymn was originally a poem that dated from the 14th century. It was translated from Latin to English in 1708.
The current version has stanzas that are the work of Charles Wesley. Charles Wesley was a leader of the Methodist movement. He wrote words to over 2000 hymns, many of which are still popular today. He and his wife Sarah had 8 children. Three of these children survived infancy and became accomplished musicians themselves. Charles Wesley’s brother John was also an influential Methodist leader.
When Wesley published the original hym text in 1739 for the first worship service at the Wesleyan Chapel in London, the song had no alleluias. These were added later. Alleluia means “praise ye the Lord” or “praise ye Jehovah” in Hebrew.
I am doing a little research online to find these things out. I also have a book entitled "Our Latter-day Hymns The Stories and the Messages" by Karen Lynn Davidson from which I am finding information on these songs. If you want more info, the aforementioned book and the internet search engines can get you much more than the little bit I shared.
Don't forget Spring Clean for 5!
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