Sunday, March 27, 2016
Easter Sunday
The heavens laugh! The earth doth ring with glory,
And all she bears within her lap;
Our Maker lives! The Highest stands triumphant
And is from bonds of death now free.
He who the grave for rest hath chosen,
The Holy One, sees not corruption.
O welcome day! O soul, again be glad!
The A and O,
The first and also last one,
Whom our own grievous guilt in death's own prison buried,
Is now torn free of all his woe!
The Lord was dead,
And lo, again he liveth;
As lives our head, so live as well his members.
The Lord hath in his hand
Of death and also hell the keys now!
He who his cloak
Blood-red did splash within his bitter passion,
Today will put on finery and honor.
Prince of being, mighty warrior,
High-exalted Son of God!
Lifteth thee the cross's ladder
To the highest honor's throne?
Will what thee once held in bondage
Now thy finest jewel be?
Must all these thy wounds of purple
Of thy radiance be the beams?
So therefore now, O soul to God devoted,
With Christ in spirit rise!
Set out upon the new life's course!
Rise, leave the works of dying!
Make thine own Savior in the world
Be in thy life reflected!
The grape vine which now blooms
Puts forth no lifeless berries!
The tree of life now lets its branches flourish!
A Christian flees
Full speed the tomb and dying!
He leaves the stone,
He leaves the shroud of error
Behind him
And would with Christ alive abide.
Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata 31 for Easter Day
German Text by Salomo Franck, 1715
Translation Copyright Z. Philip Ambrose
Web publication: http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach
