Today’s hymn choice from Sing Praise is “If Christ had not been raised from death” by Christopher Idle, which can be sung to either of the tunes to the older hymn “I heard the voice of Jesus say”. It is based on 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and the three verses all start with “If…”, changing in the second half of the verse to “But…”. This “if/but” language makes clear the distinctions between those who have faith in Christ and those who don’t.
In verse 1, “If Christ had not been raised” (in which case all religious activity is meaningless) is countered with “but now the Lord is risen indeed” (the common Easter acclamation) which means that “in Christ we are forgiven”. In verse 2, “If Christ still lay within the tomb” (meaning death is the finality it appears to be) is opposed with “But now the saviour is raised up”. The reality of physical death and separation is acknowledged as it should be, while also believing in a future life: “when a Christian dies we mourn, yet look to God in hope”. Verse 3 starts with “If Christ had not been truly raised”, the implication of which is that all our proclamations of everlasting life are lies. But… “now our great Redeemer lives, through him we are restored”.
These three affirmations of the truth of the Resurrection are shown to lead to forgiveness, a promise of eternal life, and restoration to God’s fellowship in the here-and-now, instead of guilt, death as the end of our being, and separation from God (logically, verse 3 might come before verse 2). That affirmation of relationship is at the core of Christianity, rather than any rules and regulations.
In the Sing Praise book this hymn is set to the tune “Kingsfold”, but when I saw the structure of the verses – with their first halves on what would have been the case had Christ not been raised from the dead, and their second halves on the contrast seeing as Christ was raised – I realised that Christopher would never have had “Kingsfold” in mind when he wrote it. Surely it required a tune in the style of “St Andrew of Crete” (A&MR 91) which J B Dykes wrote to J M Neale’s “Christian, dost thou see them?” And sure enough, Christopher replied by saying he’d had in mind “Vox Dilecti” (also by J B Dykes A&MR 351). Christopher said “My musical friends are very snooty about that tune, but they have yet to suggest (or compose) a better match.” So I thought I’d sing it as Christopher would have wanted.
I think it’s very good hymn, and it brings a much-needed breath of fresh air into theological circles. I suppose it is possible that the case is pressed too hard – in v3, for example, surely one could say that Jesus’ words would deserve to be remembered even if he hadn’t been raised; just as there are many other worthwhile words spoken by mortals, both sacred and secular, which deserve remembrance. But in general terms, people like John Hick and the Rt Rev’d David Jenkins need reminding of Paul’s words: theology as an academic exercise is futile unless it actually works. And I think Christopher is particularly successful towards the ends of v1 and v2 in expressing this: the Gospel has the power to meet the needs of people who need real forgiveness, and it has the power to give hope to the bereaved, and both of these powers derive from the fundamental fact that Christ did not stay dead but rose to life.