Christ Is Risen, He Is Risen Indeed -- Keith and Kristyn Getty, Ed Cash

 

It’s a celebration, best used as the opening of a worship service. That’s how Keith Getty describes “Christ Is Risen, He Is Risen Indeed” that he and his wife Kristyn, and Ed Cash co-wrote in 2012, as a nod to their church fellowship’s historical roots and a reaffirmation of what matters most to such a group of believers. The title words of the song encapsulate what for centuries has been a traditional declaration and response by Christians each time they gather, but especially on the annual Easter Sunday, oftentimes captured in pictures or recreations of the event (see the Resurrection image here -- Icon of the Resurrection [depicting Christ having destroyed the gates of Hades and removing Adam and Eve from the grave. Christ is flanked by saints, and Satan is depicted as an old man bound and chained].) You may call it the Pascal greeting, or maybe the Easter Acclamation, but no matter how you identify it, this salutation is packed with meaning and an implicit acknowledgement: the Messiah’s rising supersedes all other events in one’s life. It’s just gotta be accompanied by an exclamation mark, or even multiple ones, since the phrase is actually two assertions…!!

 

Irish natives Keith, Kristyn, and their American collaborator Ed have taken straight from some 20 centuries of history the most important aspect of Christ’s life: his triumph over death. They had probably heard it themselves any number of times that they had gathered on Easter, and not unlike others, had decided that the magnitude of what they were celebrating could not be confined to that one special day of the year. Indeed, as they opened their bibles, they no doubt noticed that the events of that first Resurrection Day were not confined to just one of the books of the bible, but recorded in all four accounts of His revival. Particularly in the three accounts known as the synoptics (Matthew 2:6-7; Mark 16:6; and Luke 24:6), the first half of the song’s title phrase is told to unsuspecting women as the arrive at the tomb to tend to the dead man’s body. Shocked and amazed are perhaps too tame to describe what they must have felt when they heard this stunning news from angels that were there to greet them. The response phrase may originate with what two disciples heard from the 11 remaining Apostles when they returned to Jerusalem (Luke 24:34), following their own startling encounter with this risen Lord. None of us 21^st Century disciples have the advantage of eyeballing what those 1^st Century people did, obviously. But, we believe that day’s events have become the fulcrum of human history, and there’s just no way to overstate its impact, nor diminish our response. Calendars have been rewritten and countless lives have been upended ever since that day. Keith, Kristyn, and Ed have chosen ‘He’s alive!’ as their most potent phrase in the song, just one of many that recount what Christ accomplished for all time. It’s what can happen for all of us.

 

Try on some of these words and phrases that the three songwriters employ to re-tell the story: ‘…borne our sin through sacrifice’, and ‘conquer…sting of death’ (v.1); ‘joy awakes’…’dawning light’ (v.2); ‘doubt and darkness’ (until) ‘saw Him…hearts believed’ (v.3); ‘once bound by fear, now bold..’, and ‘life everlasting’ (v.4); and ‘power raised him…from the grave’, and ‘frees our hearts’ (v.5). The story does have its grim facts, but these are countered by the elation that thrills anyone who dreads the grave. So, a few ‘Hallelujahs!’ populate the lyrics, along with a reminder at the song’s end that Jesus hasn’t gone heavenward to merely sit and watch us, to be ‘glorified’ in a solitary way, but that ‘heaven’s gates are opened wide’. He’s done what only He could do, so you and I can join Him there. It makes you want to jump and shout. Indeed, He’s Risen, and He awaits us!  

  

 

 

See here for brief information on the phrase’s orgin: Where does the saying “He is risen; He is risen, indeed” come from? | GotQuestions.org  and here also: 'He Is Risen Indeed' - Meaning and Easter Origin (crosswalk.com)

 

Read about the song’s title history/meaning here: Paschal greeting - Wikipedia

 

Hear/see brief song story here at 2:00-2:17 of the video link: Bing Videos (Hymns for the Christian Life video)

See here for information about the Resurrection image: File:Resurrection (24).jpg - Wikimedia Commons  …Re: the copyright status of the image, the following statement accompanies it: I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In some countries this may not be legally possible; if so: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law. (Image date is 11 December 2009)

Christ Is Risen -- Matt Maher and Mia Fields

 

It might have been an Easter Sunday, but as easily could have been any Sunday that helped Matt Maher and Mia Fields generate a song that proclaims “Christ Is Risen”. But since the song was inspired by a 3^rd Century sermon by John Chrysostom (see image of this Archbishop of Constantinople here), which was prepared for an Easter celebration, we can feel certain that Matt and Mia were also focused on Easter, even if the premier of the song did not actually fall on that day in 2009 when this contemporary hymn was introduced. Matt relates that this was an extraordinary sermon, not necessarily because of the preacher’s skill, but instead because of the great truths he communicated that day. And so, this 21^st Century music-writing pair wanted to echo what John had said some 18 centuries earlier. One doesn’t need to embellish the events to underscore the gravity of what Jesus accomplished. Instead, Matt and Mia seem to want us to revel in what happened to Him. Experience the overflowing joy, while gathered with the church, that we will all one day heed His call to mimic this resurrection.  

 

Matt relates (see video link below, in which he talks about the song’s meaning) that his ancient brother’s words said much to encourage the believer, including that Jesus used ‘death to destroy death’; that ‘Hell was fooled when it swallowed Jesus’ – it thought it had a mere man, but instead ‘encountered God’. Hell ‘took in earth and encountered heaven’. And so, there are echoes of these stunning realities in the words that Matt and his collaborator Mia have composed, including the defeat of death’s sting that the Apostle Paul used in his own words (1 Corinthians 15: 54-55, which were, in fact, echoes of what Isaiah [25:8] and Hosea [13:14] said, centuries before him). And, by accessing a 3^rd Century sermon to spur their own lyrics, Matt and Mia have reminded today’s Christ followers that we can celebrate now, but also be struck that we’ll one day rejoice with those of John’s era – in fact all of the saved from all time. ‘Come and rise up from the grave’ is a refrain that is paired with the words ‘Come awake!’ throughout the song, as if we who are still alive are calling out to those who’ve gone on before us; or, maybe we’re all just previewing words that we will long to hear in our own futures – words that Jesus will proclaim in a loud voice, and which no one will be able to resist. When one ponders that all of the human race, from all the millennia that will have lived by Judgement Day, will be there to ‘come awake’, is a ‘Wow!’ really sufficient to express what we’ll all be experiencing? Matt says that the thoughts of Easter cannot be limited to just that particular Sunday, but that all Sundays are opportunities – mini-Easters – for the church to gather and remind each other of this hub of our faith. Indeed, the potency of Easter is so great, that it cannot, and should not be confined to one Lord’s Day of the year.

 

If Matt and Mia have it correct, perhaps we should be singing Easter-like songs every Sunday! (And, in fact, I think we do where I worship – how about you?) But, just on Sundays? No, every day of the year, even 24/7 would probably not be really enough to tell how important this Christ-rising actually is. One cannot get in touch with this completely until one approaches his own crossing over. Funerals have a unique way of bringing me as a mortal to this unavoidable reality, and they happen to take place on all kinds of days of the year, not just on Sundays. So, if death invades my existence on whatever days it wants to, I need Easter every day on the calendar to counter this. Keep a copy of an Easter song, like this one Matt and Mia have given, nearby. That’ll be my strategy, along with a bookmark to John Chrysostom’s words. As John said from Constantinople to complete his message all those years ago, For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first-fruits of them that have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.

 

See the song’s story here: Bing Videos

 

Read about the 3^rd Century church father here: John Chrysostom - Wikipedia

 

Read about the sermon that inspired the song here: Paschal Homily - Wikipedia

 

See information about the image here: File:Johnchrysostom.jpg - Wikimedia Commons …This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1929.

Beautiful Lamb – Gary Miller

 

Gary Miller really didn’t need to expound on why he chose to write some words about a rarely used name for the God-Son. At least, this name had been unusual – in fact, never-before used -- when one guy named John called Him the Lamb of God (John 1:29, 36), and then another John called out this Lamb in a great vision over 25 times (see Revelation, chapters 5 through 21). Could that have persuaded Gary that a “Beautiful Lamb” was worthy of a song in 1996? He must have also been very familiar with any number of pieces of artwork (like this Agnus Dei painting, shown here, by 17^th Century Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbaran) that spoke in brushstrokes of this God sent to earth as a lamb-like sacrifice. Like a masterpiece artist, God presented His own Son in such a provocative way that His life would motivate the human race, and draw our attention not only as an innocent offering, but more importantly as the Almighty Creator who was willing to rescue those He made. He decided, all on His own, to transform my filth with His purity.

 

Gary Miller had been intimately involved with music for many years by the time he wrote ‘Beautiful Lamb’, as a veteran 45-year-old acapella singer/songwriter/producer/recording engineer. And though his precise circumstance and motivation for the song in 1996 are not common knowledge, Gary’s Christian life certainly was not a mystery. One might even say his life was in the Acapella Company and especially one of its offshoots, Vocal Union, wherein his testimony lives on through so many songs which his fingers and his heart touched. That he died at age 60 (on March 12, 2011) while in the midst of this active music career probably made his departure so affecting for those who knew him best and worked so closely with him. (See the link to the video tribute to him below.) Looking at the words of the song he wrote, and a description of his life by family and friends, one could really say that this fellow tried, as well as any of us, to mirror the God he served in his life. ‘Sweet and gentle…’ is how one of his closest friends (Keith Lancaster) eulogized him, not unlike how Gary saw the Lamb in the lyrics he wrote 15 years before his premature death. ‘Gentle and merciful’, and ‘guiltless and pure’ (v.1) are the qualities of Jesus that stood out in Gary’s poetry, characteristics that played out in this Lamb’s actions – in ‘redeem(ing) us with His blood’, by ‘suffering great pain’ through His ‘wounds’ (v.2); all to ‘take our sins away’ (v.3). This gentle and sweet musician was a kindred spirit with the Savior whose personality so resonated with his own. One can imagine that Gary’s words must have flowed effortlessly, huh?

 

Jesus’ contemporaries seemed a bit skeptical the first couple of times that John the Baptist told others that this carpenter’s son named Jesus was the Lamb of God. In fact, only one of the four biblical biographers of Jesus (John) highlighted this naming episode for posterity, while the other three gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) seem to have forgotten it. Maybe they just didn’t yet get it, that a lamb could be so robust, so mighty to take away all sin. Lambs that you and I see are cuddly and cute, and one might even say attractive, but still fragile and weak. This Lamb of God is completely different, making beauty not just something soft and harmless. This beauty has incredible power. Gary Miller apparently got it, for he says in his song’s last line, after lauding Him as beautiful, the following two words -- ‘But Jesus…’. You may look upon Jesus and admire any number of his visible qualities, but His beauty goes deeper than that. This beauty saves, a beauty that Gary is fully understanding today.   

 

See  a 21-minute tribute to the composer at this link, including text in the first 20 seconds: Bing Videos  

 

Another brief obituary of the author-composer is here: https://christianchronicle.org/a-cappella-recording-artist-gary-miller-dies-at-60/

 

Read here some about the Acapella group and Gary’s membership in it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acappella_(group)

 

Read some about Gary Miller here also: https://www.acappella.org/about-the-artists/vocal-union/

 

See information about the painting here: File:Francisco de Zurbarán 006.jpg - Wikimedia Commons …The author died in 1664, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1929.