Today’s song, continuing the Candlemas theme, is “New light has dawned, the son of God is here” by Paul Wigmore. In terms of Biblical stories of Jesus, the first three verses cover the incarnation, the announcement to the shepherds (but surprisingly not the magi), the presentation to Simeon (meriting its inclusion among hymns for this season) and the later episode where the adolescent Jesus debates theology with the Temple priests in Jerusalem. The common thread is that anyone who encounters Jesus encounters light, whether through a prophetic word or an apparition of angels.
The qualities of the Christ-light are listed here: it is “a holy light no earthly light outshines”, “the light that casts out fear”, “the light that evil dreads and love defines”, “the light of glory”, and quoting Simeon “the light to lighten gentile eyes”. The fourth verse is our response to Christ as we acclaim him “the light who came to us on earth”.
But what does the “light of Christ” mean to us ordinary believers who haven’t met an angel or had an extraordinary gift of prophecy? It’s hard to put into words but here’s the best way I can express it: when Christ is present in my life, there is an optimism to life, a sense that whatever ups and down I experience in physical health or the stresses of work, something or someone is ‘shining down on me’. When I experience this, even if I shut my eyes so that I see no natural light, it is as if I’m still in a well lit room, not a dark one. Does that tally with Wigmore’s description? Fairly well – it certainly casts out fear, or at least anxiety, it can be glorious, and lightens the eyes of this particular gentile. But what about “the light that evil dreads and love defines”?
This light is not something I experience all the time. Most Christians will agree that love for God is like love for your partner in that after the first few years of excitement, the relationship can easily be taken for granted and the spark of love goes out – not that you dislike your partner or Lord or want to disown them, just that the light of love has gone dim. That’s why the last lines of the hymn ask Christ to “renew the faith you gave at our new birth, destroy the dark, and let your light come in”.
I’m attending a ‘quiet day’ tomorrow, usually held in a retreat centre but this time with the devotional talks on Zoom and time away from the computer to reflect at home in between them. I pray Christ will enlighten me again, and pray that for you too.
I was a bit surprised by the way this hymn turns into a Cook’s Tour of Luke 2, in that verses 2-3 skip through the shepherds, the Presentation and the 12-year-old Jesus in the temple … was Paul trying to write a summary in song? But if so, surely he wouldn’t have chosen “light” as the theme of verses 1 & 4, as “light” is really a theme of John’s Gospel rather than Luke’s (Luke only once uses the word “light” to describe Jesus – in Lk 2:32)?
And I wondered about some of the phrases. In what way does love “define” the light (v1)? (I am a mathematician by background, and we mathematicians have a respect for definitions and theorems which flow from them.) Is it “light that casts our fear”? (I thought it was love that casts our fear – 1 John 4:18.) Is it right to describe light as “dawning” in Jesus’ eyes in Luke 2:47? – surely the passage really implies that Jesus already had amazing understanding rather than that he was learning amazing understanding on this occasion? (The bit about his growing in wisdom, Lk 2:52, is specifically NOT within the story of his visit to the temple, but after it.)
I confess I found John Barnard’s tune a little unintuitive (and also his tune to 292 “Love is the touch”, to the same meter, later), and needed to persist with it before being able to sing it competently. It has three places where the melody leaps unexpectedly out and then back into the expected range. I’m not really sure that the suspensions were all warranted, and there are definitely places where the harmony seems over-complicated for the effect. And it shows that John is an organist rather than a pianist – there are two chords in which the tenor lies in the gap between the player’s hands unless the feet have taken the bass. I agree with John that the church needs more good 10.10.10.10 tunes, and that 12-bar 4/4 tunes with dotted minims at the ends of the lines (i.e. the lines each occupy three bars) are a feasible solution to this need … and maybe John would agree with me that this quest is ongoing?