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.
Down this page:
- the words,
- the story,
- the sheet music,
- media player.
The original April Fool
The original April Fool
It was near the first of April
a foolish death occurred.
A carpenter was crucified:
the reason seemed absurd.
For God's a God of holiness,
and must condemn my sin;
so Jesus took my worldly mess:
a foolish deal for him?
April Fool! April Fool!
He met a death so cruel
to satisfy God's rule
and save me. April Fool!
It was on that first Good Friday
he hung and suffered there.
It should be me who bled and died,
not him. It was unfair.
But mercy for humanity
led him to take my place
and save me from eternity
in hell and in disgrace.
April Fool! ...
The idea, "substitution",
seems folly, strange and odd.
The wise men of the world deride
this foolishness of God.
But those who cannot masquerade
as righteous in God's sight
can see God's wisdom in this trade
of darkness for Christ's light.
April Fool! ...
Words and tune copyright © John Hartley 2006.
Suggested by 1 Corinthians 1:23-25.
Story behind the song
The idea that Jesus was the original April Fool is not new, and occurs in medieval literature in various ways (so I'm told). In particular the custom of sending someone on a useless journey, only for the person at the far end to send them back again, is said to have its origins in Pilate sending Jesus to Herod who promptly sent him back. More seriously the idea is suggested by St Paul's writing (1 Corinthians 1:23-25) of God's wisdom being wiser than the folly of men, and the gospel appearing folly but actually being the means of salvation for those who can see it. So the song attempts to unpack the folly of Christ dying in the place of a sinner - the doctrine of substitutionary atonement (whereby he becomes a substitute for us, taking punishment which should have been ours).
The song has been through a number of rewrites, and I am very grateful to friends on Christian Songwriting Organisation who have pointed out various faults with the earlier versions of this song: in particular its lack of focus on the main "April Fool" theme and the rather uneven style of the vocabulary. And I daresay it may yet go through further revisions - please write in if you feel you want to criticise it.
For the style of the music I owe a debt of gratitude to Sydney Carter.
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.