Advent Music: There is a Light Upon the Mountains

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By David Burchfield

As we begin the season of Advent, we're hoping to use this blog space as another way to share stories, reflections, and devotions from the community and engage more deeply the themes of the season. Many of these blog entries will come from community members, and you're welcome to submit ideas! Reach out to David at david@missiodeislc.com if you've got something to share.

For our first entry, I wanted to look at this song that may be familiar to some of you as I first introduced it last Advent and have begun using it this year as well. Written by Wesleyan minister Henry Burton, "There's a Light Upon the Mountains" was set to new music by my friend Seth Slay at Bloom Church in Denver, where my wife Julie and I moved from. (You can hear Seth's demo for this and other songs, some of which I've also introduced at Missio, here).

Historically, Advent is the season of the Church where we join with Israel's long wait for the Messiah, preparing our hearts for his arrival on Christmas day. So often, we jump straight into songs of Christ's acclamation (Joy to the World, Go Tell it on a Mountain, etc.) from the beginning of Advent. For me, it has felt important and very rich to center into the spirit of waiting with hopeful expectation, especially at the beginning of this season. The story of our faith, and Israel’s long journey, is not one of constant arrival and satisfaction of need. Indeed, there are often long periods of uncertainty and yearning for wrongs to be made right, for needs to be met. Like God leading Israel through the desert in a pillar of cloud and fire, we look to encounter God even in the unfinished, deserted places of our lives.

I love how "There's a Light..." so powerfully conveys the expectation in the waiting and the hopeful promise of Christ's coming. Throughout the season of Advent, we'll continue to sing this and other songs of waiting, even as we begin to sing more full-on Christmas carols, beginning next week.

Here's the full text of the song, plus Seth's chorus at the end:

There’s a light upon the mountains,
and the day is at the spring,
When our eyes shall see the beauty
and the glory of the King;
Weary was our heart with waiting, and
the night-watch seemed so long,
But His triumph-day is breaking, and
we hail it with a song.
2
In the fading of the starlight we can
see the coming morn;
And the lights of men are pailing in
the splendors of the dawn;
For the eastern skies are glowing as
with lights of hidden fire,
And the hearts of men are stirring
with the acheof deep desire.
3
There’s a hush of expectation, and
a quiet in the air;
And the breath of God is moving in
the fervent breath of prayer;
For the suffering, dying Jesus is the
Christ upon the throne,
And the suffering of our spirit is the
suffering of His own.
4
He is breaking down the barriers,
He is casting up the way;
He is calling for His angels to build
up the gates of day;
But His angels here are human, not
the shining hosts above,
For the drum-beats of His army are
the heart-beats of our love.
5
Hark! we hear a distant music, and
it comes with fuller swell;
’Tis the triumph song of Jesus, of
our King Emmanuel;
Zion, go ye forth to meet Him,
and my soul, be swift to bring
All thy sweetest and thy dearest for
the triumph of our King.
Chorus
Behold our Savior Jesus Christ
Who came to bring us light
Who was, and is, and is to come
Our King, Immanuel

I hope that this song and our other communal practices lead to a rich season for you as we move with eagerness toward Christ's coming on Christmas.

Grace and Peace,

David

David Burchfield is the Worship and Arts Director at Missio Dei. You can contact him at david [at] missiodeislc.com.