Christ is Risen - Hallelujah

‘Thine be the glory,

Risen conquering Son,

Endless is the victory

Thou o’er death has won!’

What a great hymn! Hymn-writers have such a wonderful way with words and rhyme. I don’t know whether they set out to encourage others or whether their hearts are bursting with praise and the Holy Spirit gives them the words to roll into a song to bless others. Or whether it’s different motivation for each person.  But I do know that something extraordinary happens when we sing with others or alone especially when we are praising our Lord.

Today many of us will be watching services celebrating the crux of our faith -  Christ rising from the dead.  We may have no-one physically with us but our voices will join with others.  Or maybe our instruments will – I usually play the cello with our small group of musicians in my church, so last week for Palm Sunday I set myself up ready to do the same.  It wasn’t my best playing – it took time to find the right key and it’s less easy to play in time when the group is not near enough for the collective rhythm to be established.  But it felt more ‘normal’ to be doing something expressing my faith in my usual way.

And normal is what I crave in these days of self-isolating. Especially because, as a family, we are emerging into a new phase, my son James having died from a brain tumour in mid-March.  We are having to regroup as a family - almost impossible with 2 metres between us and no hugs. We sang ‘10,000 Reasons’ at the ‘close relatives only’ funeral we were still allowed at the Crematorium. And at that moment, we were united  - tearful together as we came to the last verse:

‘And on that day when my strength is failing,

The end draws near and my time is come,

Still my soul will sing your praise unending:

Ten thousand years and then forevermore.

Tentatively we have started meeting on Zoom and seeking out other new virtual venues to interact. Our family unity will rise up again. All across the world church families are already finding ways to love and sustain each other, whole communities are supporting each other and we join our voices to thank those who are working so hard to help the sick and vulnerable plus the many people quietly keeping our society going.

What about us as writers? Will there be lyric-writers and great tunes coming out of this pandemic? Will there be new words to sing proclaiming Christ’s love, miracles and the ongoing faith of his people?  Or great writing in other forms to help us rise above our circumstances as we look to the risen Lord?

Yes, I’m sure there will – and we can all be part of that. Let's pray for inspiration, pick up our pens and listen for God's leading. 

May God guide us in what and how we write for His glory, now and for evermore.

Annie Try writes Christian novels, the latest being 'Red Cabbage Blue', the third Dr Mike Lewis story. She is now working on a Grove booklet introducing spiritual imagery walks to use in groups or for personal prayer.