Tag Archive for A Celebration of Life

A Celebration of Life

A Hymn for the Easter season

Recording
Printed Music

Death had mocked our deepest longings,
Death, the bitter end for all;
Nothing lasting, nothing higher
Till that Easter call:

Refrain:
He is risen!
Hallelujah!
Now the death that was our future
Is our destiny no more!
He is risen!
Hallelujah!
Now we share the holy majesty
Of Jesus Christ our Lord!

Joy and beauty, love and giving,
Life and light go on and on!
All that bound our fearful hearts to
Sin and death is gone!

Celebrate our endless future!
Celebrate our here and now!
Celebrate our noble purpose –
Love will show us how!

A Celebration of Life

Read the book of Ecclesiastes. It paints a thoughtful and poignant picture of life that inevitably ends in death. If everyone dies, if after all, death has the final word, what is the point?

Meaningless! Meaningless!…
Utterly meaningless!
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun;
all of them are meaningless,
a chasing after the wind.
(Ecclesiastes 1:2, 14, NIV) 

All our lofty virtues – wisdom, nobility, hope, love – are reduced to naïve self-deception. They are intended for a broader reality that simply doesn’t exist. Embrace the shallow and the temporary, for they are the only things that are real.

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead changes all that. It transforms the entire context and meaning of life on this earth. God’s life conquers death. Life and love, light and joy, blessing and beauty are eternal. Goodness makes sense. Self-sacrifice is not only noble but logical. It is turning loose of something good in order to grasp something greater.

As we accept a personal relationship of trust with our almighty, loving God, He shares His life with us. His Spirit becomes one with our spirit. We share His being, and though this body dies, His life, and His life in us, goes on forever. In fact, He guarantees us a new and more wonderful body, one designed for an eternity in His immediate presence.

Easter is the pivotal point of all human existence. As we simply trust our Creator, we become eternal, glorious creatures, sharing His life forever. The tyranny of death is shattered.

He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.
(Isaiah 25:7-8, NIV)

Celebrate! Celebrate Easter every day as it deserves to be celebrated: with praise, thanksgiving, joy, love, and lavish self-giving.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: A Celebration of Life
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics