Scripture Verse

The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. 1 John 2:8

Introduction

Words: Shir­ley E. Mur­ray, 1987.

Music: Vruech­ten 17th Cen­tu­ry Dutch tune. Har­mo­ny by Ali­ce Par­ker, 1969 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Park­er (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Shirley E. Murray (1931–2020)

Lyrics

Because You live, O Christ,
The gar­den of the world has come to flow­er;
The dark­ness of the tomb
Is flood­ed with Your re­sur­rect­ion pow­er.

Refrain

The stone has rolled away
And death can­not im­pri­son!
O sing this East­er Day,
For Je­sus Christ has ris­en,
Has ris­en, has ris­en, has ris­en!

Because You live, O Christ,
The spir­it bird of hope is freed for fly­ing;
Our cages of des­pair
No long­er keep us closed and life-de­ny­ing.

Refrain

Because You live, O Christ,
The rain­bow of Your peace will span cre­ation,
The co­lors of Your love
Will draw all hu­man­kind to ado­ra­tion.

Refrain