Suggested Hymns from HymnSite.com

Easter Sunday

Unifying Theme:
Christ is Risen!!
Scripture Theme Hymns
Acts 10:34-43
--or--
Isaiah 25:6-9
Preaching Christ to all
--or--
Rejoicing in the Lord's salvation
126: Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above
156: I Love to Tell the Story
295: In the Cross of Christ I Glory
369: Blessed Assurance
569: We've a Story to Tell to the Nations
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 The Lord's enduring love 420: Breathe on Me, Breath of God
645: O Perfect Love
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
--or--
Acts 10:34-43
Affirmation of the Resurrection
--or--
Preaching Christ to all
302: Christ the Lord Is Risen Today
303: The Day of Resurrection
315: Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain
John 20:1-18
--or--
Mark 16:1-8
The resurrection of Christ 64: Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty
157: Jesus Shall Reign
302: Christ the Lord Is Risen Today
303: The Day of Resurrection
306: The Strife is O'er, the Battle Done

Evening Lectionary

Isaiah 25:6-9 Rejoicing in the Lord's salvation 57: O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing
58: Glory to God, and Praise and Love
62: All Creatures of Our God and King
75: All People That on Earth Do Dwell
89: Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
98: To God Be the Glory
102: Now Thank We All Our God
701: When We All Get to Heaven
715: Rejoice, the Lord Is King
Psalm 114 Nature stands aside 144: This Is My Father's World
189: Fairest Lord Jesus
1 Corinthians 5:6b-8 Keeping the Festival in sincerity and truth 127: Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
510: Come, Ye Disconsolate
599: Break Thou the Bread of Life
613: O Thou Who This Mysterious Bread
614: For the Bread Which You Have Broken
618: Let Us Break Bread Together
623: Here, O My Lord, I See Thee
624: Bread of the World
627: O the Depth of Love Divine
631: O Food to Pilgrims Given
635: Because Thou Hast Said
Luke 24:13-49 Christ on the road to Emmaus 430: O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee
613: O Thou Who This Mysterious Bread

Featured Hymn
Jesus Shall Reign

Hymn #157
Text: Isaac Watts, 1674-1748
Music: John Hatton, d. 1793
Tune: DUKE STREET, Meter: LM

The world has surely been blessed through people who have answered God's call for their lives. The Old and New Testaments record God's glorious works throughout history, and God is not finished yet. He continues to work through His people today. We may be surprised by the people that God calls, but we cannot argue with the pure and timeless message that we receive when the Holy Spirit inspires God's messengers to share a special word.

This week's featured hymn was written by Isaac Watts (1674-1748). Religion and controversy were a part of Watts' life from the time he was a boy. His family participated in Christian worship with "Dissenters," who believed that the Church of England had not gone far enough in its break from Roman Catholicism. So deep and vocal was their conviction that Watts' own father was imprisoned twice for his religious views.

It seems that Isaac Watts himself might have been a bit of a handful in his youth. The story is told that young Isaac began giggling one day during family prayers. When his father asked what was going on, he explained that he had heard a sound, peeked to see what it was, and saw a mouse climbing a rope. Isaac converted the scene into a rhyming couplet:

A little mouse, for want of stairs,
ran up a pole to say his prayers.

His father was unamused and set to punishing his son. Even as Isaac was being swatted, his plea for mercy was formed again in rhyme:

Father, father, mercy take,
and I will no more verses make.

In time, this precocious child would become the author of an entire Psalter and at least 600 hymns. From age 20 to 22 he wrote the majority of his hymns for Hymns and Spiritual Songs that were eventually published in 1707-1709. Many of these hymns are still sung today, three hundred years later. Watts wrote fourteen verses to this week's hymn. Here are five that appear in The United Methodist Hymnal:

1. Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
does its successive journeys run;
his kingdom spread from shore to shore,
till moons shall wax and wane no more.
2. To Jesus endless prayer be made,
and endless praises crown his head;
his name like sweet perfume shall rise
with every morning sacrifice.
3. People and realms of every tongue
dwell on his love with sweetest song;
and infant voices shall proclaim
their early blessings on his name.
4. Blessings abound where'er he reigns;
all prisoners leap and loose their chains;
the weary find eternal rest,
and all who suffer want are blest.
5. Let every creature rise and bring
honors peculiar to our King;
angels descend with songs again,
and earth repeat the loud amen!

Happy Easter! Christ is risen. He reigns everywhere and forever. He reigns in somber worship, and He reigns in the giggles of a small boy. May He reign forever in our hearts, too.

God bless you--
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Passages suggested are from The Revised Common Lectionary: Consultation on Common Texts (Abingdon Press, 1992) copyright © by the Consultation on Common Texts (CCT), P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville TN 37203-0003. Reprinted with permission of CCT.