December 2: Your Light Has Come
♫ Music:
Monday, December 2
Title: YOUR LIGHT HAS COME
Scripture: Isaiah 9:2-3, Isaiah 60:1-3, John 8:12
The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; they will be glad in Your presence as with the gladness of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
Then Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."
Poetry:
[530]
by Emily Dickinson
You cannot put a Fire out—
A Thing that can ignite
Can go, itself, without a Fan—
Upon the slowest Night—
You cannot fold a Flood—
And put it in a Drawer—
Because the Winds would find it out—
And tell your Cedar Floor—
YOUR LIGHT HAS COME
As the daylight hours shorten through the Northern Hemisphere’s Advent, the promise of light is viscerally clung to. Of course, we have all sorts of ways of lighting our own paths. I attach a headlamp to my son’s stroller for a few laps around the neighborhood after dinner. I am all flashing lights and reflectors as I cycle to work early in the dark and fog. I keep the light on outside the front door for my daughter to come in by after youth group. I’ve put up lights just after Thanksgiving to welcome the Christmas season.
Anne Patterson’s 2013 installation Graced with Light in Grace Cathedral in San Francisco is a wonderful testament to the synesthetic reach of light. What are seen by many, initially, as beams of light are actually mile upon mile of hung satin ribbon – colors chosen to echo the stained glass window. These material hangings capture and reflect the inflow of daylight and nighttime illumination in a vibrating shimmer of ascent and descent in the vaulted Cathedral space. Whether prayers ascending (each ribbon has a written prayer from the community at its attached end) or divine grace descending, light fills the space of worship. The uncontainability of the elemental, captured in Emily Dickinson’s poem, speaks to the gospel hope our passages hold out: that the Light promised us this Advent cannot be put out even ‘Upon the slowest Night’ of darkness in which we walk.
Scottish classical composer James Macmillan offers us a motet, a short unaccompanied choral piece for liturgical use. O Radiant Dawn speaks of the one who is also named ‘Splendor of Eternal Light, Sun of Justice’. We cry out for his coming to us who are in darkness and experiencing the shadow of death. How splendid indeed that this Son of Justice comes to us in the person of God incarnate, the Son of God, who is the Light of the World. A light moreover not to dazzle or confound us, but in which we may walk in life.
Because the glory of the Lord has risen upon us in Jesus, Isaiah 60 goes on to say that, ‘The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.’ (v19, ESV) This Advent we cling in darkness to light; we cling amid trials and sins, sickness and death to life. Just so, the Son’s second advent of glorious new, radiant, resurrection dawn coming to all creation on the last day sees Isaiah’s promise recapitulated in the heavenly Jerusalem come down, which has no sun or moon ‘for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb’ (Rev 21.23, ESV). This Advent we hope for Jesus. It is only by his light that we may faithfully and humbly obey the prophet’s call to ‘Arise, Shine’ - not from or for our own glory but from the gracious self-giving of the Lord. In this way, we hope, the nations, our colleagues, our neighbors, our relatives and our children may see their and our light, and so meet their and our King. May the hope of the coming of his cosmic justice be received even in the humility of the mysterious righteousness of this Eternal Son born in flesh. Just as we look to the small babe of Bethlehem, and we make our small efforts to puncture the night’s darkness this season, may our paltry lights draw us and others to the true source of the light by which we live in hope! May, thus, our gladness, even in darkness, increase! Come, Lord Jesus!
Prayer:
Lord Jesus,
Help our eyes search
Toward the light of your coming.
Lead us by your light,
As we long for the light of the radiant, eternal dawn.
Guide our steps so that
We too may shine,
In your love,
for your glory,
Amen
Andy Draycott
Associate Professor of Theology and Christian Ethics
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Artwork:
Graced With Light (multiple installation views)
Anne Patterson
2013-2015
Installation of colored ribbon
Grace Cathedral in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
Artist Anne Patterson created Graced With Light, an installation inspired by music, as the 2013 Artist-in-Residence at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California. Twenty miles of colorful ribbon streamed down from the cathedral's vaulted ceiling arches, carrying visitors’ prayers, dreams, and wishes skyward. Immensely popular, Graced With Light, was extended four times and on display for almost two years in Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.
About the Artist/Photographer:
Anne Patterson (b. 1960) is a multi-disciplinary artist based in New York City. Her body of work consists of paintings, sculptures, and large-scale multimedia installations that combine sculpture, architecture, lighting, video, and music. Patterson’s installations have filled cathedrals, office buildings, and galleries across the country with miles of fabric, aluminum ribbon, and metal birds. Her theatrical and symphonic partnerships have included major venues across the United States including Lincoln Center, New York; Brooklyn Academy of Music; The Kennedy Center; and prestigious symphonies throughout the country. Patterson’s fine art has been exhibited in New York City; Providence, RI; Atlanta, GA; Sarasota, FL; and Seville, Spain. Her paintings and sculptures are in private, public, and corporate collections across the USA and London. She has been a visiting professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.
Artist website: http://www.annepatterson.com/
About the Music:
“O Radiant Dawn from The Strathclyde Motets” from the album O Radiant Dawn
Lyrics:
O Radiant Dawn, Splendour of eternal Light,
Sun of Justice:
Come, shine on those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death.
Isaiah had prophesied,
‘The people who walked in darkness have seen the great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.’
Amen.
About the Composer:
James MacMillan (b. 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor. He studied composition at the University of Edinburgh with Rita McAllister and at Durham University with John Casken, where he earned a PhD degree in 1987. MacMillan's music is infused with both the spiritual and the political. His Roman Catholic faith has inspired many of his sacred works including the Magnificat (1999) and several masses. After his formal studies, MacMillan returned to Scotland, composed prolifically, and became Associate Composer of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, often working on educational projects. MacMillan was composer and conductor with the BBC Philharmonic from 2000 to 2009, after which he took a position as the principal guest conductor with the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic.
https://www.boosey.com/composer/james+macmillan
About the Performers:
The international award-winning British vocal ensemble Apollo5 delights audiences with versatile and engaging concert performances by singing a repertoire ranging from renaissance, classical and contemporary choral music to folk, jazz, and pop. Frequently performing in their home, the city of London, they have sung in venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Kings Place, and the Barbican. Apollo5 sings throughout the UK, and has enjoyed giving performances in many European countries, the USA, and Asia. Apollo5 is part of the Voces8 Foundation, a vocal music education charity that brings the power of music to communities around the world. Apollo5 has released albums with Voces8 Records, including their new album O Radiant Dawn, which charted in the top 10 of the UK classical charts.
http://apollo5.co.uk/
About the Poet:
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (1830–1886) was an American lyric poet who lived in seclusion and commanded a singular brilliance of style and integrity of vision. Dickinson is widely considered as one of the two leading 19th-century American poets, alongside Walt Whitman. After studying at the Amherst Academy, she briefly attended the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before returning to her family's house in Amherst, Massachusetts. By the 1860s, Dickinson lived in almost complete isolation from the outside world, but actively maintained many correspondences and read widely. Dickinson’s poetry was heavily influenced by the metaphysical poets of seventeenth-century England, her reading of the Book of Revelation, and her upbringing in a Puritan New England town, which encouraged a conservative approach to Christianity. While Dickinson was extremely prolific as a poet and regularly enclosed poems in letters to friends, she was not publicly recognized for her poetry during her lifetime. It was not until after her death — when Lavinia, Dickinson's younger sister, discovered her cache of poems — that the breadth of Emily’s work became apparent. A complete collection of her poetry became available for the first time when scholar Thomas H. Johnson published The Poems of Emily Dickinson in 1955.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/emily-dickinson
About the Devotion Writer:
Andy Draycott
Associate Professor of Theology and Christian Ethics
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University
Dr. Andy Draycott is a British immigrant scholar living in Southern California with his family. He is a lifelong Charles Schultz’ Peanuts fan, enjoys reading novels and social history, cycling, running and baking. Currently, he is an Associate Professor of Theology and Christian Ethics at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology. He counts God’s blessings in Christ, in local church, in family life, and in delightful work colleagues.