Christ the Lord is Risen Today!

Easter Sunday! I love worshipping with my church, but I especially love it on the day when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ. My music minister tells me that it was customary at some point in church history for the leader to call out, "He is risen!" and the congregation to respond, "He is risen indeed!" We like this tradition, so we do it at our church every Easter. Such an exclamation expresses the joy of one simple but life-changing truth. It is life-changing because death is the great equalizer, and the great inevitable for all of us, and yet, it is not unconquerable, because God has power over it. I gotta say it - Hallelujah!

Apparently Charles Wesley felt the same impulse, because he punctuated each line of his hymn, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today," with an "Alleluia," which is the holy equivalent to "woohoo" and actually means "Praise God." So when you hear someone say alleluia instead of "woohoo," or "great!" they're not just trying to be stuffy, they're being specific in directing their praise.

I'd like to interpret a few of the alleuias in "Christ the Lord is Risen Today," because I think I can. Someone else might choose different lines or interpret them differently, and that would actually be great. Being different or seeing things from a different angle doesn't make us contradictory or prevent us from getting along. This is my blog, though, so I'm going to tell you which of the alleluias really swelled in my heart.

Lives again our glorious King!
Alleuia! He did not stay dead!
Where, O Death, is now thy sting?
Alleluia! That was a line from scripture. Nicely rhymed.
Love's redeeming work is done
Alleuia! God loved us enough to bring us back to Him, and the project of forgiveness is complete!
Fought the fight, the battle won!
Alleluia! I could not have won that battle on my own.
Made like Him, like Him we rise,
Alleluia! But wait a minute, there's some serious theology packed in this tidy little line. I think it means that when we become Christians, that is, when we accept God's gift and God's authority, we become like his son, Jesus, somehow. And the Bible says that one day the dead in Christ - Christians who died - will be brought back to life and given new bodies, like Christ was. It's even too complicated for me, but it sets up this next line:
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies
Alleuia! When a writer deliberately omits conjunctions from a series it's called "asyndeton," and it is often done at the end of speech or other discourse. This is the last line of the song, and it's a big finish. Forgiveness comes through the cross. The grave proves that the work of sacrifice was complete. As Christ was resurrected, so will we be one day. No need for extra padding of conjunctions to make it seem significant - the cross, the grave, the skies. What can we get that is worth more that that? Alleluia!

Happy Easter.

KMM

Music: Lyra Davidica