Christ is Risen!
It has been ten years since I changed from a Baptist to an Episcopalian. I am now very steeped in the liturgy of the Episcopal church and can’t imagine Easter without the call of “Christ is risen!” and the response of “The Lord is risen indeed!”
There are some things, however, that I miss from my Baptist days. Perhaps the biggest on is the hymn Low in the Grave He Lay, by Robert Lowry. For those of you who don’t know the song, the verse verse and refrain are:
Low in the grave He lay, Jesus my Savior,
Waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes,
He arose a Victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!
The verse starts out low and sad, but then speeds up with the refrain. And to sing it right, you have to get a good glissando on the word “up”, starting down low and sliding up to the right note. It is embedded in my psyche as the sine qua non of Easter. It is a shame I can’t get it in the Episcopal church.
In any event, I want to wish a blessed Easter to all my readers. May the light of Christ shine on you this season!
On April 8th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
In my *Baptist* church this morning we also did the call “Christ is risen” and the response “he is risen indeed”
On April 9th, 2007 at 11:16 am
Sounds like the Baptist are picking up some liturgy. Now if I can just get the Episcopalians to pick up some Baptist hymns . . .
On April 12th, 2007 at 7:02 am
He is risen indeed!
We sang this song at ICF on Easter Sunday morning (yes, morning, and waking up early on Sunday morning was rather unpleasant = )).