Christ the Lord is risen today

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Christ, the Lord is risen today, Sons of men and angels say

Author: Charles Wesley (1739)
Tune: EASTER HYMN (Lyra Davidica)
Opening Hymns
Published in 1182 hymnals

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	Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Piano/Organ
	Rejoice, the Lord Is King! - Arrangement…

Choral
	Risen Indeed!

Representative Text

1 Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

2 Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!
Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

3 Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where's thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!

4 Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

5 Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

6 King of glory, soul of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing, and thus to love, Alleluia!

United Methodist Hymnal, 1989

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Author: Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley, M.A. was the great hymn-writer of the Wesley family, perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, the great hymn-writer of all ages. Charles Wesley was the youngest son and 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, and was born at Epworth Rectory, Dec. 18, 1707. In 1716 he went to Westminster School, being provided with a home and board by his elder brother Samuel, then usher at the school, until 1721, when he was elected King's Scholar, and as such received his board and education free. In 1726 Charles Wesley was elected to a Westminster studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1729, and became a college tutor. In the early part of the same year his religious impressions were much deepene… Go to person page >

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Related Texts

First Line:	Christ, the Lord is risen today, Sons of men and angels say
Title:	Christ the Lord is risen today
Author:	Charles Wesley (1739)
Meter:	7.7.7.7 with alleluias
Language:	English
Notes:	Swahili translation: See "Mwokozi alifufuka, Aleluya, amin, aleluya"
Copyright:	Public Domain
Liturgical Use:	Opening Hymns

Year A, Easter season, Easter Vigil
This is recommended for Year A, Easter season, Easter Vigil by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #245 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #182.
Year A, Easter season, Easter Day
This is recommended for Year A, Easter season, Easter Day by 3 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #245 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #182.
Year A, Easter season, Easter Day
Related to Acts 10, Colossians 3 and John 20 (NPM)
Year A, Easter season, Easter Evening
This is recommended for Year A, Easter season, Easter Evening by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #245.
Year A, Easter season, Second Sunday
This is recommended for Year A, Easter season, Second Sunday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #245 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #182.
Year A, Easter season, Second Sunday
Related to Acts 2 (LUYH)
Year A, Easter season, Third Sunday
This is recommended for Year A, Easter season, Third Sunday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #182.
Year B, Easter season, Easter Vigil
This is recommended for Year B, Easter season, Easter Vigil by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #245 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #182.
Year B, Easter season, Easter Day
This is recommended for Year B, Easter season, Easter Day by 3 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #245 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #182.
Year B, Easter season, Easter Day
Year B, Easter season, Easter Evening
This is recommended for Year B, Easter season, Easter Evening by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #245.
Year C, Christmas season, Holy Name of Jesus (Mary, Mother of God)
Year C, Epiphany Season, Eighth Sunday
This is recommended for Year C, Epiphany Season, Eighth Sunday by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #245 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #182.
Year C, Easter season, Easter Vigil
This is recommended for Year C, Easter season, Easter Vigil by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #245 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #182.
Year C, Easter season, Easter Day
This is recommended for Year C, Easter season, Easter Day by 3 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #245 and Lift Up Your Hearts: psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs #182.
Year C, Easter season, Easter Day
Year C, Easter season, Easter Evening
This is recommended for Year C, Easter season, Easter Evening by 2 hymnal lectionary indexes including Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #245.

Chinese

生命聖詩 - Hymns of Life, 1986 #137

Chinese (Mandarin)

The Book of Praise #247

English

10 shown out of 803

Notes

Scripture References:
st. 1 = Matt. 28:1-10
st. 2 = Acts 2:24
st. 3 = Hosea 13:14, 1 Cor. 15:20-23
st. 4 = Phil. 3:10-11
st. 5 = Phil. 2:10

Charles Wesley (PHH 267) composed this "Hymn for Easter Day" in eleven stanzas. First sung at the famous Foundry Meeting House, the text was published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739). The "alleluia" responses, reflecting ancient Jewish and Christian practice, were added by later editors to fit the tune. Wesley's stanzas 1-2a and 3b-6 are included.

The text contains some of the most familiar Easter themes: all creatures rejoice in Christ's resurrection (st. 1); the work of redemption is complete (st. 2); death is vanquished (st. 3); we have new life in Christ now (st. 4); we praise the victorious Christ (st. 5). The "alleluias," which remind us of the ancient Easter greeting, do more than interrupt the textual flow: they provide the framework for praising God with each line of text.

Liturgical Use:
Easter Sunday morning; a great processional hymn.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook
==================

Christ [our] the Lord, is risen today, Sons of men, &c. C. Wesley. [Easter.] This is one of the most popular and widely used of C. Wesley's hymns. It appeared in the Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739, in 11 stanzas of 4 lines, with the heading "Hymn for Easter." In his Psalms and Hymns, 1760, No. 32, M. Madan introduced some alterations, and omitted stanzas vii.-ix., thereby forming a hymn of 8 stanzas. It is from this form of the hymn that all subsequent arrangements of the text have been made. It is curious that although it was in several collections of the Church of England in 1780, yet J. Wesley omitted it from the Wesleyan Hymn Book, which he compiled and published during that year, and it was not until the issue of the Supplement to that collection in 1830, that it appeared therein in any form, and then the alteration of stanza iv., 1. 3, "Dying once, He all doth save," to "Once He died our souls to save," was adopted from Madan. Its use is extensive in all English-speaking countries. The reading, "Christ, our Lord," &c, dates from Cotterill's Selection, 1810 (Poetical Works, 1868-72, vol. i. p. 185).

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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Tune

EASTER HYMN (Lyra Davidica)

EASTER HYMN originally appeared in the John Walsh collection Lyra Davidica (1708) as a rather florid tune. Tempered to its present version by John Arnold in his Compleat Psalmodist (1749), EASTER HYMN is now one of the best and most joyous Easter tunes. Composed by Paul Sjolund (b. Minneapolis, MN,…

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For Leaders

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In every worship service, the words we say and the actions we participate in are somehow shaping us. Perhaps without even being aware of it, worship is doing something to us – it’s forming habits and language inside of us to both teach us why we are in relationship with God, and how to be in relationship with God. One practice that many liturgists and hymn authors have brought into worship is describing an event that happened in the past (usually a moment from the Gospel story) as if it were happening today, in order to instill in us the understanding that, just as God worked in the lives of people two thousand years ago, He is still working today.

The hymn “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” is a perfect example of this. Right in the title is an indicator of the present tense: the word “is.” As we sing this song, we are first brought back two millennia as “witnesses” of the resurrection, and then we are also made aware that though the actual event of the resurrection happened once, it is in a sense an on-going event with ever-present effects. We are called today to live out of the resurrection, to follow our risen Lord in newness of life, and to ever lift our “alleluias” in praise.

Text:

Charles Wesley’s text originally consisted of eleven stanzas, but the last six are omitted in most contemporary hymnals. The “Alleluia” was added much later by editors for two purposes, as explained by the editors of the Psalter Hymnal Handbook, who write: “The ‘alleluias’ which remind us of the ancient Easter greeting, do more than interrupt the textual flow: they provide the framework for praising God with each line of text” (Psalter Hymnal Handbook).

Some hymnals leave out the original verse seven, which begins “Hail, the Lord of Earth and Heav’n!” This verse is included in the Psalter Hymnal, the Presbyterian Hymnal, the Lutheran Hymnal, and the United Methodist Hymnal.

Tune:

The tune EASTER HYMN first appeared in the 1708 collection Lyra Davidica. This form of the tune is described by the editors of the Psalter Hymnal Handbook as a “rather florid tune” (PHH). In 1749 it was altered into its spritely and upbeat present version by John Arnold.

The “alleluias” are what make this hymn so special, so they require some extra attention and emphasis. Try having a soloist or small group sing through each line and have the congregation join on the “alleluias” – at least for one verse, since your congregation will most likely want to sing the entire hymn. Otherwise, use a lighter accompaniment or sing in unison on Wesley’s text and pull out all the stops or add harmony on the “alleluias.”

When/Why/How:

This hymn, written by Wesley for Easter Day, is a perfect processional or song of celebration on Easter morning. It would be fitting to either open or close a service with this hymn, to come in and leave rejoicing in the victory of Christ. The hymn would also work well as a song of assurance, especially when the fourth verse is emphasized: “Soar we now where Christ has led, following our exalted Head, Made like him, like him we rise, Ours the cross, the grave, the skies. Alleluia!” Albert Bailey writes that in this verse, “we have the assurance, originally voiced by Paul, that all followers of Christ will conquer death as did their Master” (Bailey, The Gospel in Hymns, 101).

Suggested music:

Haugen, Marty. Jesus Christ Is Risen Today - for SATB Choir
Hobby, Robert A. Jesus Christ Is Risen Today - For Organ, Brass Quintet, and Timpani
Bisbee, B. Wayne. Jesus Christ Is Risen Today - For Congregational singing, with Organ, Brass, and Timpani
McDonald, Mary. Raise Your Joys and Triumphs High (A Hymn Concerto on "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today") - For Choir, Congregation, Piano, Organ, and optional Handbells and Brass
Hopson, Hal H. Concerto on "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" - For Choir, Congregation, Organ, Brass, and Timpani

Laura de Jong,
Hymnary.org

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Piano/Organ Rejoice, the Lord Is King! - Arrangements for Piano The Road to Redemption (Organ and Piano Duets for Palm Sunday to Easter) Praise...With Stringed Instruments More Piano/Organ...
Choral Risen Indeed! Risen Indeed! Raise Your Joys and Triumphs High (A Hymn Concertato on "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today") More Choral...
Instrumental An Easter Fanfare CONCERTATO ON "CHRIST THE LORD IS RISEN TODAY" Festive Hymn Settings More Instrumental...
Handbells HE IS RISEN Ring New Songs to the Lord, Vol. 1 (easy settings of praise and worship songs blended with traditional hymns) Ring New Songs to the Lord, Vol. 1 (easy settings of praise and worship songs blended with traditional hymns) More Handbells...
PowerPoint CHRIST THE LORD IS RISEN TODAY (Hymnal for Worship & Celebration 217) Christ the Lord Is Risen Today (Praise! Our Songs and Hymns 231-C) CHRIST THE LORD IS RISEN TODAY (Lift Up Your Hearts 182) More PowerPoint...

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Psalms and Hymns to the Living God (2023), p.341

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