When Mary went out to the tomb

When Mary went out to the tomb alone in darkness, burdened sore,

She saw the tomb was standing open, guarding stone in place no more.

She ran to tell what she had seen and two disciples made their way;

They saw the grave clothes lying there and wondered, but they did not stay.

 

But Magdalene remained in place, now even more consumed with grief,

Then in the tomb she saw two angels - wondrous sight beyond belief!

She turned and saw the gardener, or so she thought this man must be;

So sore confused and still in shock that Jesus there she could not see.

 

When still she could not see her Jesus, he then stopped and said her name;

Both strong and clear, it stirred her sight so she would never be the same.

He had to tell her not to cling, but gave her this as her reward;

To bear the news to his disciples, saying "I have seen the Lord!"

 

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, April 2025, after John 20:1-18.

MUSIC: Tune YE BANKS AND BRAES, Scottish melody.

 

 

Various necessities have slowed hymn-writing, but after a few weeks of intermittent work an Easter hymn is finally here. Somehow I have written two hymns on Mark's minimalist Easter account but none on any other gospel reports, so the text from John's gospel - the scripture the RCL always recommends - was chosen, with Mary Magdalene's role as first witness brought forward. 

When Israel's people fell away

When Israel's people fell away, complaining and aggrieved,

They begged for Moses then to pray their suffering be relieved.

Like all the serpents on the ground whose poisonous bite did kill,

He made a serpent out of bronze according to God's will.

 

Then Moses placed that snake of bronze upon a pole on high,

So those who suffered serpent-bite could see it and not die.

As Moses lifted up that snake out in the wilderness,

So was the Son of Man raised up, the Son of Righteousness.

 

God loved this fallen world so much his only Son he gave,

So those who followed would not die, but they the Lord would save.

God did not send his Son to earth to punish or condemn,

But so the world in all its fullness might be saved through him.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, February 2024, after Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-17.

MUSIC: Tune KINGSFOLD, English Country Songs, 1893; harm. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906.

 

 

So in considering the passage from John I wasn't optimistic about finding a way to a hymn text, but somehow the idea of dipping into the Numbers reading seemed to provide a "running start" to developing the fuller hymn. I never expected to find a way to set verse 16, but there it is.