The Artist Bible: Easter Sampl

Let no one caught in sin remain Inside the lie of inward shame We fix our eyes upon the cross And run to him who showed great love And bled for us Freely you bled, for us Christ is risen from the dead Trampling over death by death Come awake, come awake! Come and rise up from the grave! Christ is risen from the dead We are one with him again Come awake, come awake! Come and rise up from the grave! Beneath the weight of all our sin You bow to none but heavens will No scheme of hell, no scoffer's crown No burden great can hold you down In strength you reign Forever let your church proclaim Christ is risen from the dead Trampling over death by death Come awake, come awake! Come and rise up from the grave Christ is risen from the dead We are one with him again Come awake, come awake! Come and rise up from the grave -- And I saw him Death, with his mighty sting, Exhaling in every breath the plight he brings To the grave he gave victory Triumphing over life with the fear of endless sleep Endlessly we hide from our mortality Mortally wounded from birth We lie to ourselves from infancy Infinitely investing time in a life that will Inevitably be taken by this Incredible creature that now stands before me: Death He manifests himself on ordinary days His 6 foot stomach growls with hunger pangs For his meal, he cannot wait So we are forced to taste him even before the grave We are all dying, there is no other way I see him in Haitian and Japanese earthquakes He's Hating the Escapees of his cruel wakes I see him in poverty impoverishing the quality of life for regions that are reachable, and in those with the reach who find reason not to reach out to treat what is treatable I see him in disease taking life out of uninfected yet affected families I see him in oppression, pressing down on the oppressed and the oppressor I see him in depression, in Prozac and pain pills, in razor blades and bed-side wills I see him in abuse: physical, mental, emotional misuse I see him in spiritual confusion, material obsession, physical possessions I see him in marital transgressions, childhood remorse from an ugly divorce I see him in our slavery to appearances, appearing to care more about our images than those in dying villages I see him in our ignorance, ignoring truth for some comfortable inference I see his emergence in our churches as we pull out emergency verses as deterrents to religious differences, going on the defensive, defending our way of worship, making community worthless Death is killing us before we even enter the surface of the earth We are in the service of his words, "It is finished" the end of birth We cannot hide from his wretched curse For death and his grave we constantly rehearse Even God himself was coerced Divinity immersed itself in humanity Humbly taking on flesh, scorning vanity The world saw his way of life as insanity Insisting he cease speaking of this radical Christianity But Man found him guilty, accusing God of blasphemy Performing the ultimate usurpation by slaying Christ on Calvary But through their cowardly cross, Jesus embossed mankind with amnesty Championing over death with the beauty of his fatal injury And I know, Many still doubt, and rightfully so, bringing up this inquiry? What does that poor Jewish man dying on a Roman tree 2,000 years ago have to do with me? I reply simply: Christ came and died to marry his bride to be, And though Death could kill the groom, it could not kill the ring God made us one with Christ and life in matrimony's cling Now, the undying church, his ever-living wife can sing Oh Death, where is your sting? Oh Grave, where is your victory? For we have risen above your misery! We will not succumb to your finality! We have overcome your infamous mystery! In the infinite reign of Christ's ministry! For we are the resurrection The insurrection of fatality! We are the risen deity, the intersection of a dead yet living body! We live through imperfections, for we died to become holy! We cannot be contained by the mouth of the grave We are the willing slaves to the one who rose from the garden cave We have passed through death to new birth We gave the grave to the earth And we claim today the cross' worth The body of his rising We are the risen church. -- Christ is risen from the dead Trampling over death by death Come awake, come awake! Come and rise up from the grave Christ is risen from the dead We are one with him again Come awake, come awake! Come and rise up from the grave Oh death! Where is your sting? Oh hell! Where is your victory? Oh Church! Come stand in the light! The glory of God has defeated the night! Oh death! Where is your sting? Oh hell! Where is your victory? Oh Church! Come stand in the light! Our God is not dead, he's alive! He's alive! Christ is risen from the dead Trampling over death by death Come awake, come awake! Come and rise up from the grave Christ is risen from the dead We are one with him again Come awake, come awake! Come and rise up from the grave