Alleluia, Alleluia! Give Thanks Hymn History and Theology
"Jesus is Lord of all the earth"
- Written
- 1971
- Category
- Hymn
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Story
Alleluia, Alleluia! Give Thanks, also known as Alleluia No. 1, is Donald Emry Fishel's 1971 song of resurrection praise, baptismal new life, and Christian mission. Written with its own folk-influenced tune in Ann Arbor, it later crossed Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Reformed, Baptist, and other hymnal traditions.
Overview
Alleluia, Alleluia! Give Thanks, commonly published as Alleluia No. 1, is Donald Emry Fishel's 1971 song of resurrection praise, Christian confession, and mission. Its repeated alleluia response surrounds brief stanzas that proclaim Jesus as Lord, announce his death and resurrection, connect Christian life with participation in Christ, and call the church to joyful praise.
The song's theology is concentrated rather than elaborate. Its central claims are recognizably New Testament: Jesus is Lord, God raised him from the dead, believers share in Christ's death and new life, and the good news is to be proclaimed beyond the gathered church. The refrain turns these affirmations into corporate thanksgiving rather than leaving them as propositions alone.
Because the song is easily learned and repeatedly returns the assembly to a common response, it functions effectively as Easter praise, a baptismal or profession-of-faith song, a Gospel acclamation in some traditions, or congregational music during Communion. Its continuing copyright means that reproduction, projection, recording, streaming, or arrangement should be handled through the appropriate publisher or licensing service.
Historical Background
Donald Emry Fishel wrote both the words and melody of Alleluia No. 1 during the summer of 1971 while he was a student at the University of Michigan. Fishel's own account says that it was his first Christian song and that he wrote the initial form in about an hour. Hymnary and the Psalter Hymnal Handbook locate the composition in a house on Church Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which explains the alternate tune name CHURCH STREET found in some hymnals. The song was first sung in services of the Word of God Community, a charismatic Roman Catholic community that Fishel had joined.
Fishel later recalled that the first version contained four stanzas. While preparing for baptism, he added a new central stanza expressing participation in Christ's crucifixion and continuing life in him, drawing especially on Galatians 2:20 and the baptismal theology also found in Romans 6. This made the complete form five stanzas. Some later hymnals print only four, a shortening Fishel himself regretted because the baptismal stanza had been intentionally placed at the center of the song's structure.
The composition emerged during a period of rapid change in Roman Catholic congregational music after the Second Vatican Council. English-language worship increasingly made room for newly written vernacular songs, guitar accompaniment, recurring refrains, and styles influenced by contemporary folk music. Fishel's setting reflects that environment, but its history is also specifically tied to the charismatic Word of God Community. From 1969 to 1981 he served the community as music leader and orchestral conductor, and from 1973 to 1981 he worked as publications editor for the Word of God and Servant Music, preparing manuscripts and producing recordings.
The song was copyrighted in 1973. Historical hymnals variously credit The Word of God or Word of God Music, while current Hymnary and International Liturgy Publications materials identify the text and tune copyright with International Liturgy Publications. The publisher continues to sell Alleluia No. 1 in current choral, keyboard, instrumental, and congregational formats, confirming that the work remains actively administered and is not public domain.
Text and tune were created together by Fishel, but later musical forms should be distinguished from his original composition. Hymnals include harmonizations, descants, or arrangements by Betty Carr Pulkingham, Charles Mallory, George Mims, Dale Grotenhuis, Norman Warren, Randall DeBruyn, and other musicians. These are later settings of Fishel's melody. Hymnary normally calls the tune ALLELUIA NO. 1, while some Reformed hymnals use CHURCH STREET; metric descriptions likewise vary between 8.8 with refrain, 8.8.7.8.5, and irregular.
By the 1980s and 1990s the song had entered major denominational books beyond its Roman Catholic charismatic setting, including The Hymnal 1982, the Psalter Hymnal, The United Methodist Hymnal, The Presbyterian Hymnal, Lutheran and Baptist collections, and later ecumenical hymnals. Hymnary currently indexes the text in more than sixty hymnals. Its reception therefore documents genuine cross-denominational circulation, especially for Easter, resurrection, baptism, thanksgiving, proclamation, and the reign of Christ, without requiring claims that every tradition uses it with equal frequency.
Biblical Foundations
Romans 10:9 provides one of the song's clearest theological summaries: Christian confession joins the declaration that Jesus is Lord with faith that God raised him from the dead. The song likewise brings lordship and resurrection together rather than treating Easter as a general celebration of hope.
Philippians 2:9-11 expands the confession of Christ's lordship into a cosmic vision. Jesus is exalted, every knee bows, and every tongue confesses him as Lord. This provides a strong biblical foundation for the song's proclamation of Christ's sovereignty beyond the limits of an individual congregation.
Matthew 28:18-20 connects the risen Christ's universal authority with mission. The disciples are sent to all nations in the authority of the risen Lord. The song's outward movement from resurrection praise toward spreading the good news therefore belongs naturally to the Gospel's commissioning pattern.
Galatians 2:20 and Romans 6:4-5 illuminate the baptismal center Fishel intentionally added. Christian faith involves participation in Christ's death and new life: the believer's identity is reoriented around Christ, and baptism signifies burial and resurrection with him. This connection is particularly important historically because Fishel said he added the central stanza while preparing for baptism.
Revelation 19:1 places alleluia within the worship of heaven, where salvation, glory, and power are ascribed to God. The song's repeated acclamation therefore belongs to a biblical vocabulary of communal praise rather than functioning merely as a musical refrain.
Verse Explanation
The song is organized around a recurring congregational acclamation with short stanzas that develop the Easter message. Its opening movement confesses Christ's lordship, placing resurrection praise within the church's fundamental confession about Jesus rather than within a vague celebration of spring or renewal.
The next movement turns outward toward proclamation: what the church celebrates is good news intended for the world. At the center of Fishel's complete five-stanza design is the baptismal theme he added while preparing for baptism, connecting the believer's identity with Christ's death and continuing life.
The remaining movement looks toward the gift of life and culminates in direct praise of the living God and Savior. The overall progression is therefore confession, mission, participation in Christ, promise of life, and worship. Because the song remains copyrighted, this explanation intentionally describes its structure without reproducing or reconstructing its lyrics.
Theological Reflection
The song's principal confession is Christological: Jesus is Lord, risen from the dead, and sovereign over creation. The resurrection is not separated from lordship. Easter vindicates the crucified Christ and gives the church reason both to worship him and to proclaim him publicly.
A second theme is participation in Christ. Fishel's baptismal stanza moves the song beyond celebrating something that happened only to Jesus. Galatians 2 and Romans 6 describe believers as joined to Christ's death and resurrection so that Christian existence becomes new life in him. This gives the song a strong baptismal dimension even when it is sung outside an actual baptismal service.
The song also joins worship and mission. Praise of the risen Lord is immediately outward-facing: the good news is meant to be announced. Christian worship therefore becomes witness, not because congregational singing replaces evangelism, but because worship rehearses the message the church is sent to proclaim.
Finally, the repeated alleluia embodies thanksgiving as a communal practice. The refrain allows the gathered church to return again and again to the same resurrection acclamation while the stanzas provide different theological reasons for that praise. The simplicity is intentional: participation, memory, and corporate confession are central to the song's liturgical function.
Church Impact
Alleluia No. 1 moved from the charismatic Roman Catholic Word of God Community into a notably broad range of late twentieth-century hymnals. Donald Fishel's own biography identifies Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, and Roman Catholic books, while Hymnary also documents Presbyterian, Reformed, Baptist, Anglican, ecumenical, and bilingual collections. The text is currently indexed in more than sixty hymnals and the tune in more than fifty.
Important examples include The Hymnal 1982 of the Episcopal Church, the 1987 Psalter Hymnal of the Christian Reformed Church, The United Methodist Hymnal of 1989, The Presbyterian Hymnal of 1990, Baptist Hymnal 1991, Common Praise, Glory to God, Together in Song, and several Roman Catholic worship collections. These appearances demonstrate cross-denominational publication without proving identical local popularity everywhere.
Editors use the song most often for Easter and resurrection, but its documented classifications also include baptism, profession of faith, thanksgiving, praise, proclamation, evangelism, and the reign of Christ. Some traditions have used the refrain as a Gospel acclamation or during Communion, taking advantage of the simple response that the whole assembly can repeat while a cantor or soloist sings the stanzas.
The song's reception illustrates one path by which music associated with post-Vatican II Roman Catholic and charismatic renewal entered the broader English-speaking hymnal tradition. Its continuing publication by International Liturgy Publications and persistent appearance in newer hymnals also show that it remains an actively administered copyrighted work rather than merely a historical song from the 1970s.
Musical Notes
Fishel composed the melody together with the text in 1971. The standard tune name is ALLELUIA NO. 1, while CHURCH STREET appears as an alternate designation in some hymnals, recalling the Ann Arbor house where the song was written. The tune is refrain-centered, with the recurring congregational response framing the stanzas in an ABA-like pattern.
Metric classification varies among editors. Hymnary's text authority gives 8.8 with refrain, its tune authority lists 8.8.7.8.5, and several denominational hymnals simply call the meter irregular. These differences arise from how editors count the refrain and stanza phrases rather than from distinct compositions.
The early tune is associated with E major and triple meter, both congenial to guitar accompaniment in the folk-influenced worship culture from which the song emerged. Later hymnals transpose the melody to E-flat, F, and other keys. Instrumentation is equally flexible: guitar, piano, organ, flute, and light ensemble can all support congregational singing when the accompaniment does not overwhelm the refrain.
Later editions must be credited carefully. Betty Carr Pulkingham, Charles Mallory, George Mims, Dale Grotenhuis, Norman Warren, Randall DeBruyn, and others have contributed harmonizations, descants, or arrangements. Those materials may carry copyrights separate from the 1973 text and melody copyright. The original composition belongs to Fishel; the later settings belong to their respective arrangers.
Application
- Use the song during Eastertide to connect joyful praise explicitly with the confession that Jesus is Lord and has been raised from the dead.
- When using it at baptism or baptismal remembrance, connect the central baptismal theme with Romans 6:4-5 and Galatians 2:20 so resurrection praise includes the believer's call to new life.
- Let the song's missionary movement challenge worship that remains inward-looking: praise of the risen Christ should prepare the church to announce good news beyond the congregation.
- If only four stanzas are printed in a hymnal, explain that Fishel's complete form has five and that he intentionally placed the baptismal idea at its center.
- Keep later harmonizations, descants, and arrangements distinct from Fishel's original text and melody when giving musical credits.
- Verify licensing before reproducing, projecting, livestreaming, recording, or distributing the song because both text and tune remain under copyright.
Discussion Questions
- How do Romans 10:9 and Philippians 2:9-11 deepen the meaning of confessing Jesus as Lord in congregational song?
- Why is resurrection praise inseparable from mission in Matthew 28:18-20?
- What does Fishel's decision to add a baptismal stanza at the center of the complete song reveal about its intended theological structure?
- How do Galatians 2:20 and Romans 6:4-5 connect Christ's resurrection with the believer's daily life?
- Why can a simple recurring refrain be especially effective for congregational participation without being theologically empty?
- What is lost when hymnals omit one of the original five stanzas, and what responsibilities do worship leaders have when explaining an abbreviated version?
- Why should Fishel's original composition and later harmonizations, descants, and arrangements be credited separately?
Teaching Tips
- Introduce the song with its full historical identity: Donald Fishel wrote both text and tune in Ann Arbor in 1971, and the tune is known as ALLELUIA NO. 1 or CHURCH STREET.
- Use Romans 10:9, Matthew 28:18-20, Galatians 2:20, and Romans 6:4-5 to trace the song's progression from confession to mission to baptismal new life.
- Explain that Fishel's complete form has five stanzas and that he later recalled adding the central baptismal stanza while preparing for baptism.
- Teach the refrain first and keep the tempo moving so the recurring acclamation retains its character of joyful Easter praise rather than becoming heavy.
- When using a hymnal arrangement, check the score for separate arranger, harmonizer, or descant credits instead of attributing every musical detail to Fishel.
- Remind worship planners that the 1973 text and tune remain copyrighted and should be reproduced, streamed, or recorded only under appropriate permission or license.
Sources
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Donald E. Fishel — Compositions, including his account of writing Alleluia No. 1 in 1971
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Donald E. Fishel — Biography and musical career
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Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology — Don Fishel
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Discipleship Ministries, The United Methodist Church — History of Hymns: Alleluia, Alleluia! Give Thanks
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Hymnary.org — Text authority for Alleluia, Alleluia, Give Thanks
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Hymnary.org — Tune authority for ALLELUIA NO. 1
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Hymnary.org — Psalter Hymnal no. 402, CHURCH STREET and handbook notes
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International Liturgy Publications — Alleluia No. 1 current publisher listing
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International Liturgy Publications — Donald Fishel composer biography
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eBible.org — World English Bible Classic
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