You Are the Sun

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Today's entry was written by Catherine Crouch. Catherine Crouch is associate professor of physics at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and lives in Swarthmore with her husband Andy and their children Timothy and Amy.

Sara Groves’s song “You Are the Sun” is, quite simply, one of the best songs I’ve heard. It is built around an extraordinarily rich metaphor: Jesus Christ as the sun and the singer as the moon. The lyrics explore the many facets of the metaphor, and as they do so, resonate with manifold Scriptural images of Jesus and his people (not to mention the rhyme between sun and Son), from the Psalms to Revelation.

As a scientist, I find this song particularly compelling because not only is the science on which the song draws completely accurate, but the scientific understanding of the nature of the physical sun and moon is critical to how Groves plays out the metaphor. Our relatively contemporary knowledge that the sun is in itself a source of light, but the moon’s light is entirely reflected sunlight, is essential to her theologically profound description of following Jesus:

“I am the moon with no light of my own
Still you have made me to shine
And as I glow in this cold dark night
I know I can’t be a light unless I turn my face to you.
... Without you I’m a cold dark stone.”

The music is also outstanding...but for that I leave you to listen via the embedded video below.

You Are the Sun

By Sara Groves and Matt Bronlewee

You are the sun shining down on everyone
Light of the world giving light to everything I see
Beauty so brilliant I can hardly take it in
And everywhere you are is warmth and light

And I am the moon with no light of my own
Still you have made me to shine
And as I glow in this cold dark night
I know I can’t be a light unless I turn my face to you

You are the sun shining down on everyone
Light of the world giving light to everything I see
Beauty so brilliant I can hardly take it in
And everywhere you are is warmth and light

And I am the moon with no light of my own
Still you have made me to shine
And as I glow in this cold dark night
I know I can’t be a light unless I turn my face to you

Shine on me with your light
Without you I’m a cold dark stone
Shine on me I have no light of my own
You are the sun, you are the sun, you are the sun
And I am the moon