A Hymn’s Argument
How “He Lives” illuminates the importance of lived experience and greater purpose
“He Lives” is a spirited hymn through and through - in regards to theology, musicality and origin. The origins of this particular featured hymn is a spicy one (seems to be a theme for my posts lately). The lyrics were actually born of an argument. A young Jewish student at an evangelistic revival asked the author of the hymn, Reverend Ackley, “Why should I worship a dead Jew?” Ackley’s response: “He lives! I tell you, He is not dead, but lives here and now! Jesus Christ is more alive today than ever before.”
He quite directly applies the New Testament biblical text featured in the lectionary in both the Episcopal church and the Lutheran church for this week:
“Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear…”
1 Peter 3:15-161
I found these words to be resonating in the hymn that came immediately after this lectionary reading… Great timing and a reminiscent message in the hymn, which I’m sure was a conscious choice by Reverend Jeanne Jacobson!
This may all sound well and good, and perhaps it resonates with you (which is great!), but if you know me, you know why I can empathize with the Reverend’s student more than the Reverend (if you are confused as to why this question resonates with me, well, get to know me), but I digress - this experience stuck with the Reverend and his wife encouraged him to put the words to music.
You can hear in the melody and passage that this hymn is particularly spirited - I would say because of the emphatic spirit in which it was conceived! It puts a little challenge on me as an organist to keep up with texture that’s much better on piano - in hindsight, perhaps I should have transferred it to piano. When you take a listen, you can hear a few tricky passages where I certainly miss a note or eight due to this texture originally being meant for the piano.
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I have some complicated feelings towards the origin of the words for this hymn, as I alluded to before - but one thing I think modern life misses the point of religious practice and community in some ways that the Reverend did well - emphasizing lived experience and what religion does for you, rather than the rational arguments it tries to make.
I think of Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth when I see the deep value of community, when it is healthy, and how those who found their places in religious communities have improved as a result. These communities of all faiths have found a higher purpose that inspired behavior that goes beyond “just get everything you can, do whatever you must to be remembered and look for the next dopamine hit at every turn.” Can we scientifically prove these tenets that has helped people move beyond empty nihilism? No. But we can see the positive effect these unprovable tenets have had on some. You can see that in the lyrics that Reverend Ackley himself penned:
In all the world around me I see His loving care,
And tho’ my heart grows weary I never will despair;
I know that He is leading thro’ all the stormy blast…2
We can’t prove tenets of many major religions or sets of beliefs in the world, but we see many doing great things in the world thanks to the power of myth and the lived experience as a result. According to Joseph Campbell, it shows how even though the truth may not be easily identifiable, it doesn’t mean it’s any less powerful:
“Mythology is not a lie, mythology is poetry, it is metaphorical. It has been well said that mythology is the penultimate truth — penultimate because the ultimate cannot be put into words. It is beyond words. Beyond images, beyond that bounding rim of the Buddhist Wheel of Becoming. Mythology pitches the mind beyond that rim, to what can be known but not told.”3
The lived experience of Reverend Ackley may be dismissible in what we consider to be “truth,” but it is his lived experience.
You ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart.
Don’t underestimate the power of lived positive experiences and how that can inspire others to be their best selves in the world.
https://centernet.pcusa.org/devotion/revised-common-lectionary/2026/05/10/
https://hymnary.org/text/i_serve_a_risen_savior
Joseph Campbell & Bill Moyers, The Power of Myth, Anchor Books, 2011 edition, p. 206.