Particularly appropriate during Eastertide before the Great Prayer of Thanksgiving, this text, harkening to the great feast in Revelation, tells the Pascal story in verses that each have their own musical setting, each time coming back to the sparkling refrain that lifts the glory and praise to God. Consider introducing by having a choir or worship team sing the verses (perhaps from the published SATB anthem), with everyone joining in on the refrain. This is not a song to introduce once and put away; consider singing the seven weeks of Eastertide, until the refrain soars and the text is committed to memory. Many congregations have learned and love singing the entire song, verses and all. 

Marty Haugen (b. 1950), is a prolific liturgical composer with many songs included in hymnals across the liturgical spectrum of North American hymnals and beyond, with many songs translated into different languages. He was raised in the American Lutheran Church, received a BA in psychology from Luther College, yet found his first position as a church musician in a Roman Catholic parish at a time when the Roman Catholic Church was undergoing profound liturgical and musical changes after Vatican II. Finding a vocation in that parish to provide accessible songs for worship, he continued to compose and to study, receiving an MA in pastoral studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul Minnesota. A number of liturgical settings were prepared for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and more than 400 of his compositions are available from several publishers, especially GIA Publications, who also produced some 30 recordings of his songs. He is composer-in-residence at Mayflower Community Congregational Church in Minneapolis and continues to compose and travel to speak and teach at worship events around the world.