Because you live, O Christ

Because you live, O Christ. Shirley Erena Murray* (1931–2020). The author described the impetus for this hymn: ‘The creative irritant to write this came from the outdated words in our parish hymnbook and my love of this great tune. I wanted a fresh expression of community joyfulness, with light, color and the vision of the covenant rainbow through the Resurrection’ (Murray, 1992, Notes). The tune is the buoyant 17th-century Dutch melody VRUECHTEN, music usually associated with Easter, most often with ‘This joyful Eastertide Away with sin and sorrow’* (1894) by George Ratcliffe Woodward* (1848–1934). It may have been Woodward’s text that Murray found ‘outdated’ and in need of ‘a fresh...

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