Christ the Lord Is Risen Today

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Christ the Lord Is Risen Today is a well-known Easter hymn. Most of its stanzas were written by Charles Wesley in 1739, and it first appeared as Hymn for Easter Day in Hymns and Sacred Poems by Charles and John Wesley. It later became a staple in many hymnals and is often used as a processional song on Easter Sunday.

The hymn’s fame comes in part from the line of Alleluias that many singers added after each line. An unknown author likely chose to add these Alleluias to fit the familiar Easter tune. The result is twenty-four Alleluias in total, which helped the hymn become a centerpiece of Easter celebrations in many churches.

Original publication and development
- Wesley wrote the hymn in 1739, and it was first sung at The Foundery Meeting House after he adapted it for the early Methodist movement.
- It was published in 1739 with eleven four-line verses. Over time, it was shortened and altered for different hymnals, including a 1769 edition by Martin Madan that removed several verses.
- The hymn gained popularity in the Church of England around 1780 and later became widely used in Methodist worship. It was regularly added to Methodist hymnals again by 1831.

Text, themes, and sources
- Each verse focuses on the Resurrection of Jesus, drawing from the Gospel story in Matthew 28:1-10 and echoing lines from the Psalms and Revelation.
- The final verse speaks to four duties for Christians: to know God, to witness to God, to praise God, and to love one another.
- The text is influenced by an earlier Latin hymn, Jesus Christ Is Risen Today, from Lyra Davidica (1708), which appeared in later hymnals with Wesley’s verses added.

Tunes and musical history
- The hymn was paired early with the tune Maccabaeus from Handel’s works in Harmonia Sacra (1754), which gave it a strong, triumphant feel.
- Today, two tunes are most commonly used: Easter Hymn (the popular pairing) and Llanfair, composed by Robert Williams. Other tunes such as Orientis Partibus, Savannah, and Resurrexit have also been used.
- There has been some confusion over authorship and attribution for the Easter Hymn tune, which remains anonymous in early sources.

Adoption and modern usage
- The hymn has been embraced beyond Methodism and Anglicanism, including by Baptists and Presbyterians, and even in the Latter-day Saints’ hymnal (though with three verses and altered text).
- In 1989, the United Methodist Hymnal made a gender-neutral change in the second line of the first verse (“Earth and Heaven in chorus say” instead of “Sons of men and angels say”). Some other denominations have adopted this version.
- Contemporary composers, such as John Rutter (2016), have written choral arrangements using the Easter Hymn tune.

Christ the Lord Is Risen Today remains a defining Easter anthem, celebrated for its joyful proclamation of the Resurrection and its enduring influence on Christian worship.