Christ is alive! Let Christians sing

Christ is alive! Let Christians sing. Brian Arthur Wren* (1936- ). Written in April 1968, to be sung on Easter Day, ten days after the assassination of Martin Luther King: ‘The hymn tried to express an Easter hope out of that terrible event, in words which could hopefully be more widely applied’ (Faith Renewed, 1995, note to hymn 1). It was revised three times (1978, 1988-89, 1993). The first revision removed the ‘he/man’ images (‘His cross stands empty to the sky’) and the original imagery of the final stanza: Christ is alive! Ascendent Lord,  He rules the world his Father madeTill, in the end, his love adored  Shall be to every man displayed. The second sought ‘for better vocabularies...