Mary, you were there

Resurrection Sunday

1. Mary, you were there on the mount of crucifixion
Standing by the feet of our Lord
Did you ever doubt in the hope of resurrection
Before the gardener called your name?

Doubt can cloud our faith and lead to absence and confusion
But resurrection Sunday will come.

2. Thomas, you weren't there when Jesus stood among them
Saying 'Peace be with you my Friends'
Doubt turned to belief when He came and called you forward
Enough to say 'My Lord and my God'

(Refrain)

3. You who walked the road to Emmaus in confusion
Failed to see Christ there by your side
Only in the breaking of bread were your eyes opened
'Risen indeed' was what you cried

(Refrain)

4. Come Lord into hearts where the doors are locked and bolted
Risen Christ stand now in this place
Help us choose the path that will lead to faith and freedom
Removing stones of doubt in the way.

Call us by our names so we may know that you are risen
For resurrection Sunday is here.

Words and music ("Resurrection Sunday"): © 2014 Rachael Prince

Metre: Irregular with refrain

Download words and tune as a PDF

More information

Encountering Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-35)

Rachael says that this hymn, although written at Easter time in 2014, “came out of conversations about doubt” with friends. “When we are in that situation we are like those on Easter Saturday who were living in a place of confusion and the absence of Christ. They, like us, need to hear Christ call us by our names.”

In the first three verses of the hymn, Rachael explores the sense of disorientation that accompanied the momentous events of Easter weekend. Outside the empty tomb of Jesus, Mary doesn’t know what to think (John 20: 10-18); Thomas refuses to take the word of his fellow disciples that the risen Jesus has appeared to them (John 20: 19-29); and the friends walking along the road to Emmaus simply don’t see what is before their very eyes (Luke 24: 13-35). But out of each of their personal encounters with the risen Jesus hope arises and a way of moving forward.

These are stories, suggests Rachael (v.4), in which very human reactions mirror our own doubts and hesitancy. Like the room in which the first disciples hid from the outside world, our own hearts, she says, may also at times be “locked and bolted”. Our prayer is that the risen Christ can help us through such times, supporting us to “choose the path that will lead to faith and freedom”.

Rachael Prince is a minister in the High Wycombe Circuit where she looks after four churches. Before entering the presbyteral ministry, she was a freelance musician in and around Oxfordshire.