I Serve a Risen Savior

I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today

Author: A. H. Ackley (1933)
Tune: ACKLEY (Ackley)
Published in 155 hymnals

Audio files: MIDI, Recording
Representative text cannot be shown for this hymn due to copyright.

Author: A. H. Ackley

Alfred Henry Ackley was born 21 January 1887 in Spring Hill, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest son of Stanley Frank Ackley and the younger brother of B. D. Ackley. His father taught him music and he also studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary in Maryland and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1914. He served churches in Pennsylvania and California. He also worked with the Billy Sunday and Homer Rodeheaver evangelist team and for Homer Rodeheaver's publishing company. He wrote around 1500 hymns. He died 3 July 1960 in Los Angeles. Dianne Shapiro (from ackleygenealogy.com by Ed Ackley and Allen C. Ackley) Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: I serve a risen Savior, He's in the world today
Title: I Serve a Risen Savior
Author: A. H. Ackley (1933)
Meter: 7.6.7.6.7.6.7.4 with refrain
Language: English
Refrain First Line: He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today
Publication Date: 1933
Notes: Spanish translation: See "Al Cristo vivo sirvo El en el mundo está" by George Paul Simmonds; Swahili translation: See "Yesu Bwana Mwokozi, aishi milele"
Copyright: © 1933. Renewed 1961 Word Music, LLC.

Notes

Scripture References:
ref. = Luke 24:6

Written by Presbyterian minister Alfred H. Ackley (b. Spring Hill, PA, 1887; d. Whittier, CA, 1960), both text and tune were published in the Rodeheaver hymnal Triumphant Service Songs (1933). (Rodeheaver was a gospel song publisher.) As told by hymnal editor George Sanville, the following incident provided the spark for Ackley's inspiration: a young Jewish man asked evangelist/musician Ackley, "Why should I worship a dead Jew?" To which Ackley replied,

But Jesus lives! He lives! I tell you. He is not dead, but lives here and now. Jesus Christ is more alive today than ever before. I can prove it by my own experience, as well as by the testimony of countless thousands.

Sanville goes on to explain,

Mr. Ackley's forthright, emphatic answer, together with his subsequent triumphant effort to win the man for Christ, flowered forth into song and crystallized into a convincing sermon on "He lives!" . . . The scriptural evidence, his own heart, and the testimony of history matched the glorious experience of an innumerable cloud of witnesses that "He lives," so he sat down at the piano and voiced that conclusion in song.
-Forty Gospel Hymn Stories, 1943

Ackley wrote the words and/or tunes to at least a thousand gospel songs and hymns in collaboration with his brother Bentley. Trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London, he was an accomplished cellist. Ackley graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary in Maryland and served Presbyterian churches in California and Pennsylvania. In addition to writing his own hymns, he edited hymnals and gospel song¬books for the Rodeheaver Publishing Company.

Liturgical Use:
Easter; equally useful on many other occasions of worship.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune

ACKLEY (Ackley)

Composed in gospel-song style, ACKLEY is supported by a simple harmonization intended for part singing. Some rubato may be observed in the refrain's final line. Observe two pulses per bar. --Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1987

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Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 44 of 44)

Baptist Hymnal 1991 #533

First Baptist Favorites #27

Hymns of the Christian Life #498

New Songs of Inspiration (vol. one) #84

Rock of Ages A Worship and Songbook for Retirement Living #57

Sacred Selections for the Church #154

The Christian Life Hymnal #526

Worship and Rejoice #302

Worship His Majesty #264

Total Praise #269

African American Heritage Hymnal #275

Santo, Santo, Santo #198

The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration #220

Text InfoTune InfoAudio

Psalter Hymnal (Gray) #405

CCLI Top 100 #90

The New National Baptist Hymnal (21st Century Edition) #119

The Celebration Hymnal #368

Church Gospel Songs and Hymns #68

Worship and Service Hymnal #257

Hymns of Faith #167

Moravian Book of Worship #792

Audio

The United Methodist Hymnal #310

One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism #337

Chalice Hymnal #226

Praise for the Lord (Expanded Edition) #220

Audio

Lift Up Your Hearts #365

Lift Every Voice and Sing II #42

Ambassador Hymnal #527

Hymns for a Pilgrim People #206

Rejoice Hymns #327

The Covenant Hymnal #253

The A.M.E. Zion Hymnal #187

The Worshiping Church #248

Celebrating Grace Hymnal #622

Songs of Zion #30

Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal #251

Baptist Hymnal 2008 #269

Complete Mission Praise #295

Praise y Adoración #261a

Soul-stirring Songs and Hymns (Rev. ed.) #31

Sing Joyfully #285

Audio

With Heart and Voice #105

The Song Book of the Salvation Army #334

Audio

Praise! Our Songs and Hymns #550

Include 111 pre-1979 instances
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