Scripture References:
st. 1 = Zech. 8:18-23

Brian A. Wren (PHH 311) wrote the text in Hockley, Essex, England, during April of 1968. Wren writes:

It was written for Easter Sunday, two weeks after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I could not let Easter go by without speaking of this tragic event which was on all our minds. . . . The hymn tries to see God's love winning over tragedy and suffering in the world. . . . There is tension and tragedy in these words, not just Easter rejoicing.

First published in the British supplement New Church Praise (1975), the text was revised by Wren in 1978.

"Christ Is Alive" is a joyful celebration of Christ's resurrection (st. 1) and of his personal rule in a human world in which pain, war, and injustice abound (st. 2-4). Christ’s transcendent and immanent reign is empowered by the Holy Spirit and will ultimately bring about a new creation (st. 5).

Liturgical Use:
Easter; Ascension; other worship services that focus on contemporary human conditions.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

TRURO is an anonymous tune, first published in Thomas Williams's Psalmodia Evangelica, (second vol., 1789) as a setting for Isaac Watts' "Now to the Lord a noble song." Virtually nothing is known about this eighteenth-century British editor of the two-volume Psalmodia Evangelica, a collection of three-part psalm and hymn tunes for "Churches, Chapels, and Dissenting Meetings in England, Scotland, and Ireland." The tune is named for an ancient city in Cornwall, England, famous for its cathedral and for its pottery.

TRURO's opening phrase ascends the octave. The entire tune is influenced by George F. Handel's style and bears relationship to similar tunes (see comments at PHH 412). Sing stanzas 1 and 5 in unison, stanzas 2-4 in harmony with stanza 4 unaccompa¬nied. Use clear articulation on the organ and a moderate tempo. Try also to frame the singing of this hymn with "Clap Your Hands" (166); that rendition would be very fitting for Ascension services. Wren believes that more meditative tunes than TRURO are also appropriate for this text; try the familiar ROCKINGHAM (178).

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook