Today’s hymn is a modern one, but familiar to me: usually known as “Gather us in” as that phrase occurs three times, but the first line is “Here in this place new light is streaming”, which keeps us on the Epiphany season theme of light coming into the world. The theme of light recurs in the final verse – “Here in this place the new light is shining, now is the kingdom, and now is the day”.
The overall theme, though, is indeed that of being gathered in. The composer, Marty Haugen, is very much in the liberal / inclusive tradition of contemporary Christianity, and makes the point well here: in Christ everyone is gathered together: “the lost and forsaken, the blind and the lame … the young and the old … the rich and the haughty, the proud and the strong”. The light of Christ banishes the differences that have set people apart.
The third verse diverges from these themes of gathering and light, and is appropriate to include for the communion service or celebration of mass – something that many of us are missing at present in the Covid pandemic with its lockdowns and social distancing. At best we might be allowed to remove our masks for a moment to slip a consecrated wafer, dropped at arm’s length into the hand, into our mouths. But no sharing of the symbolic common cup, only a ‘spiritual’ partaking in the blood of Christ, and no chance of hugging a fellow worshipper at the Peace. Not knowing how long this will last, my choices of hymns on Sundays this year will include as many eucharistic songs as I can find in the book.
But the words of this verse remind us that the communion is not only for our own benefit: we are gathered in from our different backgrounds only to be sent out again together. We are invited here to sing “call us anew to be salt for the earth”, and “nourish us well and teach us to fashion lives that are holy and hearts that are true”. The Christians strengthened by the body and blood of Christ go out as one body to be of service in the world, in the light of his presence.
I didn’t know this hymn, and confess I found it quite difficult to learn to play and sing, as the tune lives in the borderland which bridges minor and major. But I’m grateful for the opportunity, and felt I learned something.
I first came across Marty Haugen’s hymns with a setting of Evensong which was used in the worship at a meeting I attended, and was quite impressed – and then later I came across his “Let us build a house” (the next hymn in the book, and we’ll sing it later in Stephen’s scheme) which we have used quite extensively at St Luke’s Eccleshill as a kind of manifesto for what we are trying to do in an All-Age church service. And I can see this hymn functioning the same way, as indeed it obviously does on Google’s top choice of YouTube version.
I have heard “Let us build a house” criticised then as mixing up aspirations and reality; and I can see the same problem with this hymn – for example, in the first couplet, is the darkness really vanished away here in this place? Or, in v4, is now REALLY the kingdom and the day, or would I just like it to be? I think we need to keep in mind that the real church can fail to mirror the aspiration, and sing the hymn as a petition rather than as an affirmation.
And I have a problem with the “inclusive church” wing of contemporary Christianity: it is strong on the fact that Jesus welcomed everyone, but weaker on the fact that he challenged everyone to be transformed and expected holiness and purity. So, in verse 2, are the singers singing lines 5-6 (Gather us in, the rich and the haughty … the proud and the strong) in a spirit of rejoicing in our richness and strength or in a spirit of contrition for it? I know how I’m singing it, but I’d have liked the text’s answer to be more explicit.
And I’m also puzzled by how we can “take the water” in the same breath as we “take the wine” and “take the bread” – isn’t baptism once for all? Or is “take the water” a hint that in some churches the wine is mixed with water before consecration? I guess I like my imagery a bit more nailed-down.
Nevertheless I found it a worthwhile effort to wrestle with the words and music of this hymn: to get into the pattern of the F-sharps and F-naturals, to play the unintuitive runs at the half-verse point, to remember to sing new words in lines 5-6 of verse 3, and include the extra syllables that pop into verse 4. Not a hymn for the beginner three-chord guitarist, this one!
Thank you!!1