The Artist Bible: Easter Sample

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