Death Has Lost Its Sting

Written by Pastor Peter Hanson

Thine is the glory, risen, conq’uring Son;
Endless is the vict’ry thou o’er death hast won!
Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
Kept the folded grave clothes where thy body lay.

Thine is the glory, risen, conq’uring Son;
Endless is the vict’ry thou o’er death hast won!
—ELW 376

I imagine that we all have our favorite hymns for different seasons of the church year: this is my favorite Easter hymn. In fact, I have often said that it doesn’t quite feel like Easter to me until I’ve sung this hymn. At the same time, I don’t exactly know why; there are other hymns whose melody is as stirring, whose words are as memorable, whose theology is as solid. I’m willing to admit that it has much to do with familiarity—nostalgia, even—for what I believe Easter is.

Last year, many church leaders said that this was “an Easter like none other.” That seems less true this year, as Easter is actually more like last year than like any others prior to that! Once again, we will miss being together in the same place. We will miss shouting out “Christ is risen, indeed, Alleluia” in the echo-y space of the sanctuary. We will miss singing this hymn (and many others), backed up by the organ, the choir, maybe some brass. We will miss greeting one another in person, wishing one another a “Happy Easter.”

Let us not, however, miss the central message of Easter: that Jesus Christ is risen, indeed. That death itself has been defeated and never more holds sway over us. That we have been raised with Christ, given new life to be lived abundantly with and for our neighbors. That the glory belongs not to us, but to Jesus, the risen, conquering one. 

“Let the church with gladness hymns of triumph sing, for the Lord now liveth, death has lost its sting.”

Alleluia. Amen. ​