6 inspirational songs for Palm Sunday

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, April 02, 2023

'Rejoice, the Lord is King'

A hymn from the prolific pen of Charles Wesley, brother to Methodism founder John Wesley, “Rejoice, the Lord is King” was written in 1746 and originally published in Hymns on the Great Festivals and Other Occasions.

Jarrod Johnston, formerly of the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, wrote that the hymn text reflected an “evangelistic focus” due to it being written around the founding of the Methodist movement.

“Since the early Methodists were calling people toward Christ, it is possible that this text is not so much for congregants in attendance but for people who do not yet know the majesty of Christ,” wrote Johnston, according to a post on the denomination's Discipleship Ministries page. “The text itself sums up in simple terms much of who we believe Christ was and still is: Christ is our Savior, King, and Judge.”