Our Team's Favorite Songs for Easter

Easter is an important holiday on the Christian calendar and worship leaders can always find a strong selection of Easter worship songs at Worship Artistry.

We love them all but we've got our favorites. We asked all our teachers to share what their favorites are and why.

Chris Lockwood, Vocals Instructor

Graves Into Gardens is my top Easter pick. I love running, and my favorite time of year to run is springtime. The temperature is perfect, the sun reintroduces itself to the world after a long hibernation during the winter months, baby birds sing a new song, the grass turns green, the trees bud, the flowers bloom, it’s basically a celebration of life! Life is in the air, new life, all that was dead is now alive. What was once cold, dark, and bleak was simply awaiting its season of renewal and redemption.

What a perfect time of the year to celebrate Easter! Much like the sun bursting through the winter darkness to revive the earth to life again, the begotten Christ steps into our world, illuminating the light of life and bearing the heavy burden of humanity’s sin. God truly turns ‘graves into gardens’, and, just as the baby sparrow sings for the first time, we together can now sing a new song:

You turn mourning to dancing
You give beauty for ashes
You turn shame into glory
You're the only one who can
 
Where there once was darkness is now is light, where there was once hopelessness is now infinite possibility, and where death may have reigned before now eternal life comes bursting forth through the risen Savior, Jesus Christ. 
 

Sidney Joseph, Drums Instructor

I really love Christ Our Hope in Life and Death. It is a beautiful modern hymn full of God’s eternal truth; the lyrics are especially powerful pointing us to the cross and resurrection life of Jesus, who, no matter the season, is our hope in both life and death. It's also a great challenge for the drums.

Daniel Ornellas, Bass Instructor

I love the song Forever because it encompasses the whole Easter story. The redemptive victory of Christ over death is so powerful. Beyond the melody and lyrics, I have a special attachment to it because I had the honor of producing the song in Portuguese!

Jason Houtsma, Guitar Instructor

Christ The Lord Is Risen Today is one of those songs I have to do every year. It's always been hard for me to sing well, and was a song I couldn't wait to get past in the set. Definitley not where you want to be when leading worship. NCC Worship has a version called Christ The Lord Is Risen Today (He Is Not Dead). It's in an easy key, has a driving, medium tempo beat and a chorus that gives you a chance to breathe between long winded verses. The lead guitar riffs are really tasteful too.

Ryan King, Keyboard Instructor

The song Living Hope holds a special meaning to me for the Easter season. This time in 2020, everything shut down due to COVID. My church had huge plans for our Easter service and unfortunately had to revamp everything to move online. Palm Sunday was our last in-person meeting and we did a very low-key, acoustic set. I lead from the acoustic guitar and Living Hope was our final song. The Holy Spirit showed up in a real and manifest way that we had not experienced in a long time.

As we were singing Living Hope, the Lord began to move during the song; people came to the altar. Hands were lifted that I had not seen lifted before. As we came to the end of the song, the congregation kept singing the chorus, "hallelujah praise the one who set me free… ". They must've sang the chorus another three times or more without our prompting. They were following the move of the Holy Spirit and it was amazing; I'll never forget that moment. 

Joy Lockwood, Vocals Instructor

Easter weekend is a cherished celebration at our house. Because of the cross and the empty tomb, we can walk in life and life abundantly. Every battle–past, present, and future, belongs to the Lord. My favorite Easter song as of late has been Battle Belongs.

Two years ago, on the Saturday of Easter weekend, we almost lost our baby boy. He was six days old and completely stopped breathing for what seemed like hours. Even after EMTs and rescue workers worked with him, he would not rouse or wake up, and did not wake up until later in the ER. Chris was at church, my other kids were with my in-laws, and I was alone. I was seized with fear. I truly could not form any eloquent prayers in the moments that followed. The only prayer I could eek out was simply: “God!”.

The lyrics of the bridge of Battle Belongs read:

Almighty fortress, You go before us
Nothing can stand against the power of our God
You shine in the shadow, You win every battle
Nothing can stand against the power of our God
 
“You go before us.” God was before me in those moments. In the worst moment of my life, He was already there. “You shine in the shadows”. I was alone, but His glory and His presence held me and rescued my baby boy. I went home from the hospital on Easter Sunday afternoon, with my sweet baby, rejoicing in the healing power of Jesus that conquered the grave! 

I dealt with fears following that episode and other breathing episodes that followed. In the shower or in any quiet moment, fear would creep in and I would relive those moments. But even fear belongs to God! We can send our fears to Jesus, He can take them. In the night, we can choose to sing because “nothing can stand against the power of our God”. 

What I saw as a nightmare, He saw as a rescue. God wins every battle, the battle belongs to Him. “There is nothing to fear now for I am safe with You”.

Be encouraged this Easter! We have so much because of the cross and the empty tomb. If we believe that battle was won, we believe that the battles of our lives–the mundane daily battles and the battles for our very breath are won through the power of our God!

Conclusion

Jesus is alive and continues to move in our midst. Let's not let the stress of a church gathering distract us from celebrating the One we worship. 

Explore all the Easter songs available on Worship Artistry.  

Kristina Kislyanka is the Marketing Manager, podcast co-host and sometimes vocalist at Worship Artistry. She is the Worship Pastor at her church in Washington state. She’s passionate about songwriting, producing music, and growing community within the Church. 

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