Happy Easter Sunday to you, friends!
A bit of illness has changed our plans for this day, but “my heart overflows with a pleasing theme” (Ps. 45:1 — and really The Message translation is more appropriate here: “my heart bursts its banks”!) and it’s been doing so since this morning.
Lucy and I smiled at each other across the silent kitchen, and together we listened to the first strong, pulsing measures of the song we’ve been waiting to hear for all these long weeks: Andrew Peterson’s “His Heart Beats.” And in its wake all the truths from beloved songs are rising and resonating through this home today, utterly outshining and transforming all present circumstances, now and forevermore.
Christ is risen!
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He rises
Glorified in flesh
Clothed in immortality
The firstborn from the dead
He rises
And his work’s already done
So he’s resting as he rises
To reclaim the bride he won
His heart beats
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There in the ground His body lay
Light of the World by darkness slain
Then bursting forth, in glorious day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His, and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns, or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand
– “In Christ Alone,” Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
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Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer;
But this I know with all my heart:
His wounds have paid my ransom.
– “How Deep the Father’s Love,” Stuart Townend
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Though I have not seen Him
My heart knows Him well
Jesus Christ, the Lamb,
The Lord of heaven
I will be with the One I love
With unveiled face I’ll see Him
There my soul will be satisfied
Soon and very soon
– “Soon,” Brooke Ligertwood
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My life flows on in endless song;
Above earth’s lamentation
I hear the sweet, though far-off hymn
That hails a new creation
Through all the tumult and the strife,
I hear that music ringing
It finds an echo in my soul
How can I keep from singing?
– “How Can I Keep from Singing?”, attrib. Robert Wadsworth Lowry
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