Awake, awake, my heart, and sing!
For Christ is ris’n today!
Behold a gleam of angel wings;
The stone is rolled away!
Awake, awake, my heart, and sing!
The gloom of death is o’er;
And Mary hastes, the news to bring,
He lives forevermore!
Awake, my heart, the morn is bright,
All doubt and fear is o’er!
For Christ is ris’n in power and might,
He lives forevermore!
Behold the joyous Easter day
That brings the news to earth
Of Easter morning far away,
When life from death had birth.
Alice J. Cleator, 1900; alt.
Tune: MAGNIFY (G.M.)
Calvin W. Laufer, 20th cent.
P.S. The fourteenth-century fresco above is from one of the chapels in the Santa Maria Novella convent in Florence. The artist Andrea da Firenze depicts scenes from the Resurrection, including the women coming to the empty tomb on the left side, and Mary's encounter with Jesus on the right.
Ten (Liturgical) Years Ago: Christ is risen! Alleluia!
Nine (Liturgical) Years Ago: The strife is o'er, the battle done
Seven (Liturgical) Years Ago: Jesus Christ is risen today
Six (Liturgical) Years Ago: Lift your voice rejoicing, Mary
Three (Liturgical) Years Ago: Christ Jesus lay in death's strong bands
Two (Liturgical) Years Ago: Jesus Christ is risen today (but not the one you think!)
The season of Easter links resurrection with new life and rebirth, and sometimes with the season of spring as well. It's been a long winter in many places in the US and we're ready for all these things, so I like that we have several more weeks of the Easter season.
A trip to a local library book sale yesterday yielded two interesting hymnals, one of them being Hymns of the Kingdom of God (1910), edited by Henry Sloane Coffin and Ambrose White Vernon. This was a nondenominational hymnal, described in the Preface as "a small collection of large hymns" (small in its own time, perhaps, but it includes 488 hymns, which we probably wouldn't call small today). Coincidentally, the Preface is dated Easter 1910, and so I looked for something new and different (to me) for the season. The thing I like about today's text is that it's not just about the Easter story, it's about going out and telling the good news of the resurrection.
Proclaim to all, both far and near
That Christ is ris'n again;
That he is with us now and here,
And ever shall remain.
And what we say, let all this morn,
Go tell it to their friends,
That soon in every place shall dawn
Christ's reign, which never ends.
The earthly paths that Jesus trod
To heav'n at last shall come,
And all who hearken to the Word
Shall reach God's promised home.
He lives! His presence has not ceased,
Though foes and fears be rife;
And thus we hail in Easter’s feast
A world renewed to life!
Friedrich von Hardenberg, 1799;
tr. Catherine Winkworth, 1858; alt.
Tune: MAGNIFY (C.M.)
Calvin W. Laufer, 20th cent.
OK, the word "rife" is probably not the most user-friendly of terms, and I'm not sure modern hymnwriters should use it, but I do like the rest of that stanza.
I've had a copy of this hymnal downloaded from the internet for some time, but there's really no more convenient substitute for holding the book in your hand and leafing through it.
In the spirit of Eastertide I hope to bring some new life of my own to the blog here. Hope someone out there is still listening.
In many churches today one of the assigned readings was Psalm 34. Today's hymn by Presbyterian hymn writer and composer Calvin Laufer is not really a paraphrase of that psalm, but it takes some of its language as a starting point.
O magnify the Lord with me,
All ye that bear God's name;
Whose faithfulness and sovereignty
Forever are the same.
God is the soul’s unfailing spring,
Its full orbed summer noon;
The autumn of its harvesting,
Its winter’s restful boon.
All times and seasons of the soul,
Revolve God's will around;
The universe itself pays toll
To make its life abound.
So is its life secure and free
Because God leads the way;
At length it shares eternally
With God the perfect day.
O sing with me, both young and old,
Of God's unchanging ways;
And let God's goodness manifold
Forever be our praise.
Calvin W. Laufer, 20th cent.; alt.
Tune: MAGNIFY (C.M.)
Calvin Weiss Laufer (1874-1938) was for many years the editor of musical publications for the Presbyterian Board of Christian Education and worked on several hymnals and songbooks, including the denomination's Hymnal of 1933. Unfortunately, his hymns are no longer much used; I believe that only his tune HALL is included in Glory to God, the new Presbyterian hymnal coming out next year.
