How do we receive an Easter message of hope when we’re struggling? Here is a hymn for all those churches finding their ways into new expressions of ministry and all the folks weary from personal and political challenges. I wrote it with inspiration from the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ which is using this theme for our 2023 Annual Meeting.

The wonderful Southern Harmony tune RESTORATION is most often paired with the text “Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy” which creates a dialogue between an exhorter (verse) and a believer (refrain). You can hear a version of that pairing here:

This new text for that tune plays with the pattern, with the people (verse) asking for help from Christ, who responds with encouragement (refrain).

Find the hymn here! It can be reproduced for a congregation using One License.