by Martin Gaskell
At Bonny Doon Church before the COVID-19 pandemic, when we were meeting inside in person, a pair of candles was always lit at the front of the sanctuary at the start of Sunday morning services. In fact, if you go into almost any church around the world, there is a good chance that candles, or perhaps oil lamps, will be lit during the service. Why do churches do this? The answer is that the lighting of candles and oil lamps has long been symbolic. Jesus said “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” [John 8:12, NASB]. The lighting candles thus reminds us of the One who is the light of the world.
This week’s virtual choir piece is about Jesus being the light of the world. The text goes back to what is considered to be the first Christian hymn in the modern sense of the word, the ancient Greek hymn Phos Hilaron. It is the earliest known Christian hymn text still in use that comes from outside of the Bible. We don’t know who wrote Phos Hilaron or when, but it was already an old hymn by 300 AD. One of the three other companion hymns collected with Phos Hilaron is thought to date back to 150 AD. These four hymns were for use in worship at different times of day. Phos Hilaron was sung at the lighting of candles at the end of each day. Phos means “light” (a root of our English word phosphorescence) and hilaron means “glad”, “joyful” or “propitious” (benevolent). We don’t know what the original tune was, but we are singing a setting by the contemporary American composer, Gregory Norbet. His wife, Kathryn Carrington, made an English adaption from the Greek words.
The images in the video are of the candles at the front of Bonny Doon Church.
At Bonny Doon Church before the COVID-19 pandemic, when we were meeting inside in person, a pair of candles was always lit at the front of the sanctuary at the start of Sunday morning services. In fact, if you go into almost any church around the world, there is a good chance that candles, or perhaps oil lamps, will be lit during the service. Why do churches do this? The answer is that the lighting of candles and oil lamps has long been symbolic. Jesus said “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” [John 8:12, NASB]. The lighting candles thus reminds us of the One who is the light of the world.
This week’s virtual choir piece is about Jesus being the light of the world. The text goes back to what is considered to be the first Christian hymn in the modern sense of the word, the ancient Greek hymn Phos Hilaron. It is the earliest known Christian hymn text still in use that comes from outside of the Bible. We don’t know who wrote Phos Hilaron or when, but it was already an old hymn by 300 AD. One of the three other companion hymns collected with Phos Hilaron is thought to date back to 150 AD. These four hymns were for use in worship at different times of day. Phos Hilaron was sung at the lighting of candles at the end of each day. Phos means “light” (a root of our English word phosphorescence) and hilaron means “glad”, “joyful” or “propitious” (benevolent). We don’t know what the original tune was, but we are singing a setting by the contemporary American composer, Gregory Norbet. His wife, Kathryn Carrington, made an English adaption from the Greek words.
The images in the video are of the candles at the front of Bonny Doon Church.
No comments:
Post a Comment