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204

Christ Is Risen! Shout Hosanna

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Scripture References

Thematically related:

Further Reflections on Scripture References

While Easter is a time to sound a fanfare, it’s also a time to “hush in wonder.” The resurrected Jesus was a spectacle never yet seen by creation. Bodies had been resuscitated before, but never had a body taken on the flesh of the new creation and then appeared in the old. And this same bod is now offered to us in the “wine of resurrection” (st. 2) and the “bread of new creation” (st. 3). This is what God’s “love can do and dare.”

 

Sing! A New Creation

Confessions and Statements of Faith References

Further Reflections on Confessions and Statements of Faith References

Easter hymns accomplish three functions: they recount the Easter narrative, proclaim our Easter hope, and celebrate our joy at Christ’s resurrection. This hymn is built on the professions of Easter truths that are expressed primarily in Heidelberg Catechism. Note especially the following:

  • Lord’s Day 17, Question and Answer 45 declares that Christ’s resurrection makes us share in Christ’s righteousness, raises us to a new life by his power, and is a sure pledge to us of our resurrection.
  • Lord’s Day 22, Question and Answer 57 comforts us to know that not only our soul but “also my very flesh will be raised by the power of God, reunited with my soul, and made like Christ’s glorious body.”
  • Lord’s Day 22, Question and Answer 58 says that it may be a comfort to know that while experiencing the beginning of eternal joy now, “after this life I will have perfect blessedness such as no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human heart has ever imagined: a blessedness in which to praise God forever.”

In addition, Our Song of Hope, stanza 5 professes: “On the day of the resurrection, the tomb was empty; His disciples saw Him; death was defeated; new life had come. God’s purpose for the world was sealed.”

204

Christ Is Risen! Shout Hosanna

Call to Worship

The Lord who calls us to worship today is the same Jesus
who refused the temptation to worship the evil one.
Rather than receive the glorious kingdoms of this world,
he endured the shame of the cross,
and today is Lord of lords and King of kings.
Now are gathered in him
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
glory and power.
With the saints of all ages we say,
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom
and strength and honor and glory and praise!”
—based on Colossians 2:3; Revelation 5:12, NIV
[Reformed Worship 27:40]
— Worship Sourcebook Edition Two

Words of Praise

In life and in death we belong to God.
Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit,
we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel,
whom alone we worship and serve.
We trust in Jesus Christ,
fully human, fully God.
Jesus proclaimed the reign of God:
preaching good news to the poor
and release to the captives,
forgiving sinners,
and calling all to repent and believe the gospel.
Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition,
Jesus was crucified,
suffering the depths of human pain
and giving his life for the sins of the world.
God raised Jesus from the dead,
vindicating his sinless life,
breaking the power of sin and evil,
delivering us from death to life eternal.
With believers in every time and place,
we rejoice that nothing in life or in death
can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.
—from A Brief Statement of Faith
— Worship Sourcebook Edition Two

Assurance

God, who is rich in mercy,
out of the great love with which he loved us
even when we were dead through our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
and raised us up with him and seated us with him
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
so that in the ages to come he might show
the immeasurable riches of his grace
in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
—Ephesians 2:4-7, NRSV
— Worship Sourcebook Edition Two
Christ has died!
Christ has risen!
Christ will come again!
[ancient source, PD]
— Worship Sourcebook Edition Two
Jesus Christ is the hope of God’s world.
In his death,
the justice of God is established;
forgiveness of sin is proclaimed.
On the day of his resurrection,
the tomb was empty; his disciples saw him;
death was defeated; new life had come.
God’s purpose for the world was sealed.
—from Our Song of Hope, st. 4
— Worship Sourcebook Edition Two
Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation;
for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created,
things visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—
all things have been created through him and for him.
He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
so that he might come to have first place in everything.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things,
whether on earth or in heaven,
by making peace through the blood of his cross.
—from Colossians 1:15-20, NRSV
— Worship Sourcebook Edition Two
This is the good news that we have received,
in which we stand, and by which we are saved:
Christ died for our sins, was buried,
was raised on the third day,
and appeared first to the women,
then to Peter and the Twelve,
and then to many faithful witnesses.
We believe Jesus is the Christ,
the Anointed One of God,
the firstborn of all creation,
the firstborn from the dead,
in whom all things hold together,
in whom the fullness of God
was pleased to dwell
by the power of the Spirit.
Christ is the head of the body, the church,
and by the blood of the cross reconciles all things to God. Amen.
—based on 1 Corinthians 15:3-7; Colossians 1:15-20
— Worship Sourcebook Edition Two
This office the Lord Jesus most willingly undertook,
and in order to discharge its obligations
he was born under the law and perfectly fulfilled it.
He endured most grievous torments in his soul
and most painful sufferings in his body;
he was crucified, died, and was buried;
he remained under the power of death,
yet his body did not undergo decay;
and he arose from the dead on the third day
with the same body in which he had suffered.
In this body he ascended into heaven,
where he sits at the right hand of his Father, making intercession,
and he shall return to judge men and angels at the end of the age.
The Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself—
which he through the eternal Spirit once offered up to God—
has fully satisfied the justice of his Father.
He purchased not only reconciliation
but also an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven
for all whom the Father has given to him.
—from Westminster Confession (MESV), Chap. VIII, Sec. 4-5
— Worship Sourcebook Edition Two

Blessing/Benediction

If Christ is not risen, nothing matters.
Our preaching is then useless
and our faith too.
We are false witnesses about God,
for we have testified that God raised Christ from the dead.
We are still in our sins.
Those who have died are as dead as ever.
We who have pinned our hopes on Jesus
are then the most pitiable of all human beings.
But if Christ is risen, nothing else matters.
Though in Adam all may have died,
in Christ all will then be made alive.
He will destroy every dominion, power, and authority
and put every enemy under his feet.
Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of Christ—
trouble, hardship, persecution, famine,
nakedness, peril, sword,
angels, demons,
the present, the future, nor any powers.
Nothing whatsoever, in fact,
nothing in all creation,
neither height nor depth,
nothing either in life
or in death.
Christ, our Lord, is risen indeed!
Therefore, sisters and brothers, stand firm, let nothing move you.
Always give yourselves wholly to the Lord’s work. Amen!
—based on 1 Corinthians 15; Romans 8
[The Worship Sourcebook]
— Worship Sourcebook Edition Two

Additional Prayers

Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
From everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Speak to us now as you have spoken to us throughout the ages.
On this glorious Easter, reveal yourself and your will for our lives,
that we might live as your Easter people.
We seek your face, O Lord; hear our prayer through Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
—based on Psalm 90
[The Worship Sourcebook]
— Worship Sourcebook Edition Two
Gracious God,
pour out your Holy Spirit upon us,
that the bread we break and the cup we bless
may be the communion of the body and blood of Christ.
By your Spirit make us one with Christ,
that we may be one with all who share this feast,
united in ministry in every place.
As this bread is Christ’s body for us,
send us out to be the body of Christ in the world.
[BCW, p 321[272], alt., PD]
— Worship Sourcebook Edition Two
204

Christ Is Risen! Shout Hosanna

Tune Information

Name
HYMN TO JOY
Key
G Major
Meter
8.7.8.7 D

Recordings

204

Christ Is Risen! Shout Hosanna

Hymn Story/Background

ODE TO JOY or HYMN TO JOY is the adaptation of Ludwig van Beethoven’s famous final movement in his Ninth Symphony into a melody fit for congregational singing. The tune has an 8787D meter, which Austin Lovelace describes as having the “ability to carry massive ideas in its fifteen syllables per double line” (Anatomy of Hymnody, 74). It is a tune of grandeur and, fittingly, joy. It almost begs to be sung in a fast, upbeat manner; Jerry Jenkins writes, “the tune is so reminiscent of sprightly harpsichords that the words begin to bounce, and suddenly I’m singing it the way it was meant to be sung—at least in style” (Hymns for Personal Devotions, 132).
 
— Laura de Jong

Author Information

Brian Wren (b. Romford, Essex, 1936) is English by birth, American by choice, Reformed by Tradition, Presbyterian by membership, United Methodist by marriage and Emeritus Professor of Worship, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. He is a writer, preacher, worship leader and designer, and internationally published hymn-poet, with entries in most recent denominational hymnals in North America, Britain and Australia. Some of his hymn poems have been translated into Finnish, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish and Korean.
 
Brian holds undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Oxford University. He is a Minister of the United Reformed Church (UK). His publications include Education for Justice (1979), What Language Shall I Borrow? - God-Talk in Worship: A Male Response to Feminist Theology (1989- reissued 2009), Piece Together Praise - A Theological Journey: Poems and Collected Hymns Thematically Arranged (1996), Praying Twice: The Music and Words of Congregational Song (2000), Advent, Christmas and Epiphany: Liturgies and Prayers for Public Worship (2008), Hymns for Today (2009) and seven hymn collections totaling 250 hymns, the most recent being Love's Open Door (2009). He is a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. Most of his hymns are published through Hope Publishing Company (USA) and Stainer & Bell (UK)
— Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Brian-A.-Wren/e/B001IQW922])

Composer Information

A giant in the history of music, Ludwig van Beethoven (b. Bonn, Germany, 1770; d. Vienna, Austria, 1827) progressed from early musical promise to worldwide, lasting fame. By the age of fourteen he was an accomplished viola and organ player, but he became famous primarily because of his compositions, including nine symphonies, eleven overtures, thirty piano sonatas, sixteen string quartets, the Mass in C, and the Missa Solemnis. He wrote no music for congregational use, but various arrangers adapted some of his musical themes as hymn tunes; the most famous of these is ODE TO JOY from the Ninth Symphony. Although it would appear that the great calamity of Beethoven's life was his loss of hearing, which turned to total deafness during the last decade of his life, he composed his greatest works during this period.
 
— Bert Polman
Edward Hodges’ (b. Ju­ly 20, 1796, Bris­tol, Eng­land; d. Sep­tem­ber 1, 1867, Clif­ton, Bris­tol, England) mu­sic­al gift showed it­self at an ear­ly age; by 1819, he was play­ing the or­gan at St. James’ Church in Bris­tol, and at St. Nicholas’, 1821-1838. He al­so had an in­ter­est­ing me­chan­ic­al bent, and spurred sev­er­al tech­ni­cal im­prove­ments in or­gan de­sign. He com­posed a num­ber of serv­ic­es and an­them piec­es, and Cam­bridge Un­i­ver­si­ty award­ed him a doc­tor­ate in mu­sic in 1825.
 
Hodges event­u­al­ly em­i­grat­ed, ac­cept­ing a post at the ca­thed­ral in To­ron­to, Ca­na­da, in 1838. The next year, he be­came mu­sic di­rect­or at Trin­i­ty Par­ish in New York Ci­ty. He be­came the or­gan­ist at Trin­i­ty Church when it opened in 1846 (the church had its or­gan built to his spe­ci­fi­ca­tions). He re­tired for health rea­sons in 1859, and re­turned to his na­tive Eng­land in 1863.
 
— Hymntime (http://www.hymntime.com)
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