Advent Day 16: Light of the World | Bright Morning Star | Dayspring from on High | Sun of Righteousness

The Sun, Edvard Munch, 1910–1911. Oil on canvas, 14.9 x 25.5 ft. University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. Public Domain.

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” from the album Christmas with the Chosen. Performed by Matt Maher, lyrics by Charles Wesley and George Whitefield with additional lyrics by Matt Maher, music by Felix Mendelssohn.

“Shine Jesus Shine” from the album The Very Best of Graham Kendrick. Composed and performed by Graham Kendrick.

Poetry:

“Morning Star”
by C. D. Wright

This isn’t the end. It simply
cannot be the end. It is a road.
You go ahead coatless, light-
soaked, more rutilant than
the road. The soles of your shoes
sparkle. You walk softly
as you move further inside
your subject. It is a living
season. The trees are anxious
to be included. The car with fins
beams through countless
oncoming points of rage and need.
The sloughed-off cells
under our bed form little hills
of dead matter. If the most sidereal
drink is pain, the most soothing
clock is music. A poetry
of shine could come of this.
It will be predominately
green. You will be allowed
to color in as much as you want
for green is good
for the teeth and the eyes.

The Light of the World

In the beginning, God spoke “Light!” bringing order to a formless, empty, chaotic void. In the beginning, also, was the Word, who, when the time was right, entered into the formless, empty, chaotic void of our sin and brokenness, bringing Light to our World.

Edvard Munch captures the breath-taking awe of the rising sun over a rocky Norwegian coastline in his most famous work,The Sun. Vitality, energy, and life radiate from his mural, which serves as a centerpiece at an assembly hall in the University of Oslo. His painting is bright, vibrant, “a poetry of shine” (to borrow Wright’s words) over a fresh, beauty-soaked world. This could be a rendering of that very first sunrise flowing from our God’s creative Word.

As I reflect on the vibrant colors and radiating brushstrokes of Munch’s painting, I find myself more and more longing for the awe and beauty of God’s ordering Word to break into what feels like a particularly chaotic and confusing time. Perhaps it’s our 24-hour access to national and global headlines and images, with that accompanying sense of powerlessness and even despair over the ways people treat each other and the ways systems dehumanize. Or perhaps we really are living in a time of upheaval, where what is True and Real seems especially obscured by competing truth-claims and power structures.

Wright’s “Morning Star” gazes unflinchingly at what could be this despairing moment--the end of our own lives or our lives as we know them, where “sloughed-off cells / under our bed form little hills / of dead matter”––and, miraculously, finds hope, where we become rutilant (glowing), painting with a green that marks the vibrancy of life.

Our hope, Scripture reminds us, sometimes comes at the darkest hour, just before dawn. Into the disorder, chaos, and despair, when things seem to be at their worst, Jesus comes: our Bright and Morning Star appears to end the night (Revelation 22:16-17); our Dayspring, our Dawn from on high brings light that guides us into peace (Luke 1:78-79); our Sun of Righteousness brings healing in His wings (Malachi 4:2).

During Advent, our longing for Jesus’ return amplifies as we look toward our Christmas celebration, where Jesus, the Light of this World, first broke in. We sing “Glory!” with the heralding angels and find healing in His wings, even as we long for His bright, orienting light to dawn once more and vanquish our world’s confusion and disorder, to “flood the nations with grace and mercy.” Advent invites us to sit for a while in our longing and our joy, allowing the Light to overcome our darkness, bring order to our chaos, and envelope our world in His peace.

Prayer:
Light of the World, who spoke “Light” and vanquished darkness, we sit for a moment in this Advent season with both longing and joy. With great joy we praise you for coming to us as Jesus, enfleshed as our Immanuel, bringing light and life to all who seek you. And we long for you, Sun of Righteousness, to flood our world with grace, mercy, and everlasting peace. As we sit in the “already and not yet” of your life-giving Light, bathe our hearts and minds in the steadfast hope of your everlasting love.
Amen.

Dr. Lisa Igram
Assistant Professor of Theology
Rosemead School of Psychology
Office of Student Wellness
Biola University

For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, please visit our website via the link in our bio.