He is Risen

He is risen indeed!

That familiar refrain began our sunrise service. How many times have I said that in the last fifty years?  And in how many churches?

I was raised in the United Protestant Church in Palmer, Alaska.  Maybe the only church in the history of Christianity that wasn't torn down or rebuild in a remodeling frenzy.  Probably not but I love that my childhood church that still looks like my childhood.

http://www.palmerlogchurch.org/index.html

Christ the Lord is ris'n today, Alleluia!

Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!

Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!

Sing, ye heav'ns, and earth reply, Alleluia! 

We sat in rows of warm wood benches-  when we stood, I examined the back of the man or woman in front of me. If the person in front of me was elderly and sitting, I could catch more than glimpses of the choir singing in their traditional burgundy robes.  It was the Matanuska farming valley of Alaska in the 1950's. Easter could bring either a late snow or the messy spring thaw. We wore "break up" boots to slog through the slush and muck of our farms. But on Easter Sunday, I wore  brand new, patent leather Mary Janes. White, of course. The season of white shoes had arrived.  The ruffle on my pastel anklets were folded down and my white, winter shins were bared to the spring sun.  

He is Risen! 

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! 

After we married, Bill and I had a new church with each new home- 

Gunnison, Colorado

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!

Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!

Dying once He all doth save, Alleluia!

Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!

 Community Baptist Church, Dumfries, Virginia. 

It was Easter Sunday, 1978 and I wore a wide brim straw hat from my wedding the previous year. This was not a church where women wore hats.  It made an unexpected impression and I learned a woman in a hat is considered to be ... well, not boring.  I have tried to live up to my reputation. 

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!

Foll'wing our exalted Head, Alleluia!

Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!

Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia! 

As we moved on, we found churches to celebrate Easter and Life. We worshipped in a wide spectrum of theologies and styles- wonderful fellowship in both formal, liturgical churches and institutional school facilities. We had Easter sunrise services on mountains, at beaches and in extinct volcanoes. 

And over and over we proclaimed, He is Risen!  He is Risen indeed! 

Down through the ages, the anthem rings. He is not dead. He has risen from the grave.  As I small child, I wiggled through sermons and dashed off to children's church. As a teenager, I rolled my eyes at the boring old songs and passed notes.  Old hymns made way to contemporary music and worship became alive in other ways.

But at Easter, I still hum "up from the grave He arose.... with a mighty triumph over his foes."


This year I celebrated Easter with family. Bill's brother, Ken, is the pastor of a small  church in southern Virginia. Terry is the much loved pastor's wife at their Stanleytown United Methodist Church. We've had a precious week together. And yesterday, the small geriatric congregation warbled through the traditional Easter hymns, gratefully following the lead of the hearty organ.  Then the choir sang their special music.  And it wasn't a traditional hymn.
Not yet.

In Christ Alone

by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

In Christ alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song;
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.


What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,

Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone! – who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe!

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones He came to save:

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied -

For every sin on Him was laid;

Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain:

Then bursting forth in glorious Day

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory

Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,

For I am His and He is mine -

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,

This is the power of Christ in me;

From life’s first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand;

Till He returns or calls me home,

Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand!

This is the song that we sang at my son's wedding, weeks later at my father's memorial service and three short months later at my husband's memorial service. It's fraught with meaning and emotions and it was several years before I could even remain in the same room when the opening chords began. My son and I would be walking down the hall to the sanctuary and if that song began, we would look at one another, and without a word, turn and head out for breakfast. Once with thousands of women at a conference, the familiar music started.  From my exposed seat on the floor of a sport's arena I couldn't stumble my way up all those stairs fast enough to escape the pain, my eyes too full of tears to see clearly. 


But yesterday was Easter once again and Ken sang In Christ Alone with his little choir just as he had at his nephew's wedding and his brother's funeral. During his sermon, he spoke with tears in his eyes of the vision of healing he had been comforted with before cancer extinquished the light of his brother's life. I sat on the front row and felt our pain and sorrow anew. But then he drew a deep breath and said with all his might, "But I know I will see him again". 

 Crown Him the Lord of life, 
 who triumphed o'er the grave, 
 and rose victorious in the strife 
 for those he came to save.

 
 His glories now we sing, 
 who died, and rose on high, 
 who died, eternal life to bring, 
 and lives that death may die. 

It's Easter.  Christ has conquered death and we can say- Hallelujiah! He is Risen! He is risen indeed; 
and He conquered the grave. The graves we have laid our loved ones in are temporary and we do not live in the land of the hopeless.  Life continues and it is good. And the day will come when this life will pass into the next and we will see face to Face the One who made the goodness possible.


Crown Him the Lord of Life, crown Him the Lord of Love. For....
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,

For I am His and He is mine -

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

He is Risen!