Lift Up Your Hearts unto the Lord

Lift up your hearts unto the Lord

Tune: SING ALLELUIA (Stassen)
Published in 11 hymnals

Audio files: MIDI, Recording

Representative Text

1 Lift up your hearts unto the Lord;
lift up your hearts unto the Lord.
Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah;
lift up your hearts unto the Lord!

2 In Christ the world has been redeemed,
in Christ the world has been redeemed.
Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah;
in Christ the world has been redeemed.

3 His resurrection sets us free,
his resurrection sets us free.
Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah;
his resurrection sets us free.

4 Therefore we celebrate the feast,
therefore we celebrate the feast.
Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah;
therefore we celebrate the feast.

5 Sing hallelujah to the Lord,
sing hallelujah to the Lord.
Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah;
sing hallelujah to the Lord.

Source: The Book of Praise #526

Notes

Immensely popular, this praise chorus has been included in hundreds of songbooks, both in North America and in other continents. Linda L. Stassen-Benjamin (b. Laporte, IN, 1951) originally composed what is now stanza 5 rather instantaneously (while she was in the shower!) in June 1974. The song was published and recorded by Maranatha! Music, a ministry of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California, of which Stassen-Benjamin is a member. Stassen-Benjamin was educated at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, and EI Camino College, Torrence, California. During the 1970s she sang and recorded for various ensembles, including David and New Song. Since 1981 she has been secretary, songwriter, and vocalist with New Song Ministries in Costa Mesa.

Following both oral tradition and the format in various published hymnals (including Hymns for Today's Church,1982), the Psalter Hymnal precedes Stassen-Benjamin's stanza with four other stanzas derived from early Christian liturgies and the "Easter Canticle," which quotes from 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 and 15:20-22. So the text contains biblical and liturgical phrasing familiar to all English-speaking Christians. Together these textual ingredients make a powerful praise chorus. Following the tradition of many praise choruses, other stanzas can be added, for example:

Jesus is risen from the dead!
Christ is the Lord of heav'n and earth.
Praise be to God forevermore!

Liturgical Use:
Before or during the Lord’s Supper; especially useful during Easter season; the “feast” in stanza 4 is clearly the Lord’s Supper, but it could also refer to other festivals of the church year.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune

SING ALLELUIA (Stassen)

Stassen-Benjamin's music appears in various collections with slight variations in the second part. The version here permits continuous singing of the two parts at the distance of one measure. The second part imitates the first part initially and again at the close, but the middle line of the second…

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Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 11 of 11)
Audio

Lift Up Your Hearts #844

Text InfoTune InfoAudio

Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #309

Renew! Songs and Hymns for Blended Worship #202

Santo, Santo, Santo #685

Sing With Me #184

Songs for Life #63

Text

The Book of Praise #526

The Worshiping Church #771

Together in Song #732

Audio

With Heart and Voice #65

Worship and Rejoice #120

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