Third Sunday of Easter, April 30, 2006

The readings for the day were:
Acts 3:12-19
Psalm 4
1John 3:1-7
Luke 24:36b-48

We had a guest preacher from the Tower of Deliverance Church, and he preached from a different text - Mark 16:15-16 (King James Version)
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
So the hymns and anthems didn't match the sermon, but he was a powerful preacher and quite a change for our 90% white church.

Our first hymn was my favorite Ester hymn, one that is often neglected. We haven't sung it in our church for the past seven Easter seasons - Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain.

The hymn was written by John of Damascus in 750, making this one of our oldest hymns. It was translated by John Mason Neale in 1853. I think it is a wonderful commentary on the significance of Easter and the connection with Passover with Christ as the Paschal Lamb. The hymn tune is St. Kevin by Sir Arthur Sullivan. Sullivan always thought his church music and symphonic pieces were the only important things he did, and now few people remember that he composed anything but comic opera..

Come, ye faithful, raise the strain of triumphant gladness!
God hath brought his Israel into joy from sadness:
Loosed from Pharoah's bitter yoke Jacob's sons and daughters,
Led them with unmoistened foot through the Red Sea waters.

'Tis the spring of souls today: Christ hath burst his prison,
And from three days' sleep in death as a sun hath risen;
All the winter of our sins, long and dark, is flying
From his light, to whom we give laud and praise undying.

Now the queen of seasons, bright with the day of splendor,
With the royal feast of feasts, comes its joy to render;
Comes to glad Jerusalem, who with true affection
Welcomes in unwearied strains Jesus' resurrection.

Neither might the gates of death, nor the tomb's dark portal,
Nor the watchers, nor the seal hold thee as a mortal:
But today amidst the twelve thou didst stand, bestowing
That thy peace which evermore passeth human knowing.

Alleluia now we cry to our King Immortal,
Who triumphant burst the bars of the tomb's dark portal;
Alleluia, with the Son God the Father praising;
Alleluia yet again to the Spirit raising.

Our second hymn was Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee

The hymn was written by Bernard of Clairvaux in the twelfth century and translated by . Edward Caswall in 1849. The hymn tune is St. Agnes by John B. Dykes.

Jesus, the very thought of thee
with sweetness fills the breast;
but sweeter far thy face to see,
and in thy presence rest.

No voice can sing, no heart can frame,
nor can the memory find,
a sweeter sound than Jesus' Name,
the Savior of mankind.

O hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
to those who fall, how kind thou art:
how good to those who seek!

But what to those who find? Ah, this
nor tongue nor pen can show;
the love of Jesus, what it is,
none but who love him know.

Jesus, our only joy be thou,
as thou our prize wilt be;
in thee be all our glory now,
and through eternity.

The third hymn was Christ Is Alive. The hymn was written by Brian Wren in 1969. It is usually sung to the tune Truro.

Christ is alive! Let Christians sing.
The cross stands empty to the sky.
Let streets and homes with praises ring.
Love, drowned in death, shall never die.

Christ is alive! No longer bound
to distant years in Palestine,
but saving, healing, here and now,
and touching every place and time.

Not throned above, remotely high,
untouched, unmoved by human pains,
but daily, in the midst of life,
our Savior with the Father reigns.

In every insult, rift, and war
where color, scorn or wealth divide,
Christ suffers still, yet loves the more,
and lives, where even hope has died.

Women and men, in age and youth,
can feel the Spirit, hear the call,
and find the way, the life, the truth,
revealed in Jesus, freed for all.

Christ is alive, and comes to bring
good news to this and every age,
till earth and sky and ocean ring
with joy, with justice, love, and praise.