This page is provided so that you can hear the tunes of items which we use in church. Mostly they are written by the vicar. Please note that they are copyright - we are very happy to give permission to you to use them, but we would like to hear about it. Please include any use on your Christian Copyright Licence returns.
First tune,
Second tune.
Down this page:
- the words,
- the story,
- the sheet music,
- media player.
Alive, not just in heaven
It's the Lord!
"I have seen the Lord,"
said Mary to the_eleven:
she told them all that he had said,
for he was risen from the dead.
But they did not believe her word.
They thought he'd simply gone to heaven.
"We have seen the Lord,"
to Thomas from the_eleven.
"I'll not believe it," he replied,
"until I see his hands and side.
How can I take another's word
that he is here, not just in heaven?"
"Peter, it's the Lord."
The fishermen, all seven,
could hear him calling from the shore,
inviting them to fish for more:
they let down nets, obeyed his word,
and knew him there, not just in heaven.
"Saul, I am the Lord,
against whom you have striven.
Get up, for I have chosen you,
and you'll be told what you must do:
to all the world I'll spread my word,
for I am here, not just in heaven."
"Jesus Christ is Lord."
This faith we have been given.
Two thousand years since then are gone,
but millions since have known God's Son:
and we today believe this word
of Christ alive, not just in heaven.
Words and tune copyright © John Hartley 2006.
Based on Mark 16:11, John 20:24-25, 29, 21:4-7 and Acts 22:6-21.
Story behind the song
Like "Christ is risen, Alleluia", (click here), this song is an attempt to put some of the bible's material about the resurrection into song so that Christian people can be reminded of the basis of their faith that Jesus really rose. It takes the appearances of Jesus to Mary Magdalene, Thomas, Peter and Paul, and finishes with Jesus' challenge that "blessed are those who have not seen but still have believed."
I feel it is possible for us to sink into a mentality of "Everyone goes to heaven when they die, so isn't Jesus just the same as everyone else?" and "I can get the feeling of my deceased loved-one beside me wherever I am - isn't that the same as believing that Jesus is alive today?" The answer to both these questions is a resounding "NO!". The resurrection is not simply Jesus living in heaven, but being alive on earth and with us now.
I wrote the words and the first tune on "Low Sunday" - the Sunday after Easter Day. I wrote it to be part of our celebrations of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. The second tune came later as I wanted something rather less "four-square".
John Hartley
Windows Media Player. When you click the left-hand "play" button your computer should have started to play the tune. If it didn't, you might be able to get the tune by clicking here, or by right-clicking the link, choosing "save target as", saving it onto your computer, and then opening it with a music-playing program.
Please remember that a midi file of a tune isn't supposed to be a state-of-the-art musical arrangement - it is only supposed to give a basic idea of how the tune goes. Any reasonable organist / keyboard player / music group could make it sound far better.