May the light of God’s love push back the darkness.

But we are all one in Jesus Christ.

But we are all one in Jesus Christ.

But we are all one in Jesus Christ.

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name,

he gave the right to become children of God.

—John 1:9, 12, NIV

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you,

that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.

If we say that we have fellowship with him

while we are walking in darkness,

we lie and do not do what is true;

but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light,

we have fellowship with one another,

and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

—1 John 1:5-7, NRSV

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness

but will have the light of life.”

—from John 8:12, NIV

Now to God who is able to strengthen you

according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ,

according to the revelation of the mystery

that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed,

and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles,

according to the command of the eternal God,

to bring about the obedience of faith—

to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ,

to whom be the glory forever! Amen.

—Romans 16:25-27, NRSV

As we leave this service of worship,

let us go as the Magi left the infant Jesus,

rejoicing on our way that we have seen the living Lord,

ready to return to our daily life and work,

spreading the good news of Jesus the Christ.

Receive now these words of promise and blessing

from our Lord Jesus Christ:

Remember, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.

Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Do not be afraid.

I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness

but will have the light of life.

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.

Abide in my love.”

Thanks be to God.

And let all God’s people say:

—from Matthew 28:20; John 14:27; 15:8; 8:12

Everlasting God,

you brought the nations to your light

and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Fill the world with your glory,

and show yourself to all the nations,

through him who is the true light

and the bright morning star,

Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever. Amen.

You may want to go straight from “Jesus, Jesus, Oh What a Wonderful Child” into “Jesus, the Light of the World.” A transition for doing just that was written by Diane Dykgraaf, assistant to the editor for Lift Up Your Hearts hymnal.

 

“Jesus, the Light of the World” is a great blending of a traditional carol with a little soul. Words from Charles Wesley’s well-known carol “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” are interspersed with the refrain “Jesus, the light of the world.” The song concludes with the chorus, “We’ll walk in the light, beautiful light. . . .” The resulting message is that the Christmas story isn’t so much about a baby as about the difference that baby makes in the world around us and, indeed, the beauty of his mercy in our own lives. Textually it complements the message of “Jesus, Jesus, Oh What a Wonderful Child,” which speaks of the new hope and life we have in Christ.

 

Charles Wesley’s text was originally ten stanzas long, and went through many iterations to become what we now know as “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” This arrangement includes only the first stanza and the first half of the second and third—thus missing some of the incarnational imagery that is so strong in the traditional carol, but filling that hole with the message of Jesus as the light. While this song is appropriate for Christmas, it is equally appropriate for Epiphany or any other time when the focus is on Jesus as the light.

(from Reformed Worship, Issue 105)

Several members of the Wesley family are significant figures in the history of English hymnody, and none more so than Charles Wesley (b. Epworth, Lincolnshire, England, 1707; d. Marylebone, London, England, 1788). Charles was the eighteenth child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, who educated him when he was young. After attending Westminster School, he studied at Christ Church College, Oxford. It was there that he and George Whitefield formed the Oxford "Holy Club," which Wesley's brother John soon joined. Their purpose was to study the Bible in a disciplined manner, to improve Christian worship and the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and to help the needy. Because of their methods for observing the Christian life, they earned the name “Methodists.”

 

Charles Wesley was ordained a minister in the Church of England in 1735 but found spiritual conditions in the church deplorable. Charles and John served briefly as missionaries to the British colony in Georgia. Enroute they came upon a group of Moravian missionaries, whose spirituality impressed the Wesleys. They returned to England, and, strongly influenced by the ministry of the Moravians, both Charles and John had conversion experiences in 1738. The brothers began preaching at revival meetings, often outdoors. These meetings were pivotal in the mid-eighteenth-century "Great Awakening" in England.

 

Though neither Charles nor John Wesley ever left the Church of England them­selves, they are the founders of Methodism. Charles wrote some sixty-five hundred hymns, which were published in sixty-four volumes during his lifetime; these include Collection of Psalms and Hymns (1741), Hymns on the Lord's Supper ( 1 745), Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1753), and Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780). Charles's hymns are famous for their frequent quotations and allusions from the Bible, for their creedal orthodoxy and their subjective expression of Christian living, and for their use of some forty-five different meters, which inspired new hymn tunes in England. Numerous hymn texts by Wesley are standard entries in most modern hymnals; fourteen are included in the Psalter Hymnal, 1987.

 

Charles's elder brother John also studied at Christ Church College, Oxford, and was ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1728. A tutor at Lincoln College in Oxford from 1729 to 1735, Wesley became the leader of the Oxford "Holy Club" mentioned above. After his contact with the Moravian missionaries, Wesley began translating Moravian hymns from German and published his first hymnal, Collection of Psalms and Hymns, in Charleston, South Carolina (1737); this hymnal was the first English hymnal ever published for use in worship. Upon his return to England in 1738 Wesley "felt his heart strangely warmed" at a meeting on Aldersgate Street, London, when Peter Bohler, a Moravian, read from Martin Luther's preface to his commentary on the epistle to the Romans. It was at that meeting that John received the assurance that Christ had truly taken away his sins. That conversion experience (followed a few days later by a similar experience by his brother Charles) led to his becoming the great itinerant evangelist and administrator of the Methodist "societies," which would eventually become the Methodist Church. An Anglican all his life, John Wesley wished to reform the Church of England and regretted the need to found a new denomina­tion. Most of the hymnals he prepared with his brother Charles were intended for Christians in all denominations; their Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists (1780) is one of the few specifically so designated. John was not only a great preacher and organizer, he was also a prolific author, editor, and translator. He translat­ed many classic texts, wrote grammars and dictionaries, and edited the works of John Bunyan and Richard Baxter. In hymnody he is best known for his translation of selec­tions from the German hymnals of Johann Cruger ('Jesus, thy boundless love to me"), Freylinghausen, and von Zinzendorf ('Jesus, thy blood and righteousness"), and for his famous "Directions for Singing," which are still printed in Methodist hymnals. Most significant, however, is his well-known strong hand in editing and often strengthening his brother Charles's hymn texts before they copublished them in their numerous hymnals.

Almost nothing is known about George D. Elderkin (b. 1845; d. 1928). There was a George D. Elderkin Publishing Company in Chicago which published four collections of gospel hymns entitled The Finest of the Wheat. Book Three (1904) includes 259 songs, including music by both George D. and George W. Elderkin, “for prayer and evangelistic meetings, church and missionary services, Sunday schools and young people’s societies,” and was edited by Geo. D. Elderkin, C. C. McCabe, Wm. J. Kirkpatrick, H. L. Gilmour, G. W. Elderikn, and F. A. Hardon.” It was hardbound, and sold for 30 cents per copy, postpaid.