However, today was the first major feast with their “new” hymnals. When they surrendered their building to the rump ECUSA parish, they also surrendered their copies of Hymnal 1982. Since then, they tried to make do with the LCMS Lutheran Service Book, but it was just enough different to be confusing.
When it came time to buy their own hymnal, they had a choice — but it was no choice at all. Using Hymnal 1982 had always struck me as incongruous at the only Rite I ACNA parish in San Diego. So they took donation to buy copies of Hymnal 1940 and the solicitation was oversubscribed. (We bought five). Even today, with more than 80 in the sanctuary, they didn’t even use half their collection of brand new hymnals.
(I’d like to think this was a trend, but before the Schism II exodus in San Diego there were only two Rite I parishes — Holy Trinity in San Diego and St. Michael’s in Carlsbad — and St. Michael’s decided to split rather than leave.)
Unlike our previous visits at Christmas, the traditional language felt right in conjunction with the “bells and smells” traditional liturgy and theology. They scheduled three familiar Easter hymns: “Jesus Christ is ris’n today” (#85), “The strife is o’er, the battle done” (#91) and “He is risen, He is risen” (#90). (My wife would have liked some Vaughan Williams, but as visitors we can’t tell them what to do.)
The difference was immediately apparent when we sang the first verse of the final hymn (H40: #90), to Joachim Neander’s best-known tune:
He is risen, he is risen!So unlike in my least favorite hymnal, Mrs. Alexander’s lyrics to her best-known hymn were presented with her original intentions preserved.
Tell it out with joyful voice:
he has burst his three days' prison;
let the whole wide earth rejoice:
death is conquered, man is free,
Christ has won the victory.
Her 1846 lyrics were published in Verses for Holy Seasons, a book of poetry for children’s christian education. It seems to have been introduced to Anglican worship in her native Ireland with the The Church Hymnal (1874) by the Church of Ireland. The Hymnal 1940 Companion says us ’Mericans picked up the hymn with Hymnal 1874 and remarks that the differences are minor except for the omission of Alexander’s second verse. The first appearance in the Church of England appears to be in 1906 The English Hymnal (#132).
Hymnal 1940 and TEH use the same words, except that TEH are missing the 4th verse. Both seem to be (as promised) minor changes to Mrs. Alexander‘s words of 166 years ago:
| Verses for Holy Seasons (1846) | Hymnal 1940 |
|---|---|
| He is risen, He is risen, Tell it with a joyful voice, He has burst His three days' prison, Let the whole wide earth rejoice ; Death is conquered, man is free, Christ has won the victory. Come, ye sad and fearful-hearted, With glad smile and radiant brow ; Lent's long shadows have departed, All His woes are over now, And the Passion that He bore ; Sin and pain can vex no more. Come, with high and holy hymning Chant our Lord's triumphant lay; Not one darksome cloud is dimming Yonder glorious morning ray Breaking o'er the purple East; Brighter far our Easter feast. He is risen, He is risen, He has oped the eternal gate ; We are free from sin's dark prison, Risen to a holier state, And a brighter Easter beam On our longing eyes shall stream. | He is risen, he is risen! Tell it out with joyful voice: he has burst his three days' prison; let the whole wide earth rejoice: death is conquered, man is free, Christ has won the victory. Come, ye sad and fearful-hearted, with glad smile and radiant brow! Lent's long shadows have departed; Jesus' woes are over now, and the passion that he bore-- sin and pain can vex no more. Come, with high and holy hymning, hail our Lord's triumphant day; not one darksome cloud is dimming yonder glorious morning ray, breaking o'er the purple east, symbol of our Easter feast. He is risen, he is risen! He hath opened heaven's gate: we are free from sin's dark prison, risen to a holier state; and a brighter Easter beam on our longing eyes shall stream. |
Hymnal 1982 (#180) includes the full harmony for the hymn, and makes only one editorial change: due to the M-word, the first verse becomes “we are free.” Although it sticks in my craw every time I have to sing it, it is admittedly a relatively minor attack by the PC police. (Given that a woman wrote “man is free” in a children’s hymn, this would suggest her original language was intended to be inclusive, referring to the human race.)
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