Sarah Craig, in partnership with “The Living Nativity”, and Greater Sudbury’s Santa Clause Parade join in celebrating the release of a new Christmas single this 2022 Holiday season: The Light Has Come! Written by singer/songwriter Sarah Craig, The Light Has Come triumphantly proclaims the joy of the Christmas story in the style of Handel’s Soulful Messiah (Quincy Jones) Produced by All Nations Pastor Sean Morton, this recording is part of an updated soundtrack for the 35th anniversary production of The Living Nativity.
And even Santa himself is clapping along to this bright gospel anthem. The jolly old elf personally asked Sudbury jazz sweetheart Sarah Craig to be Musical Grand Marshall of the 2022 Santa Clause Parade!
Read from Sarah herself about how this wonderful new addition to our Christmas playlists came to be!
The Light Has Come is based on Isaiah 9: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned…for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.”
WRITING THE SONG:
About 10 years ago I completed an internship at The National House of Prayer (NHOP) in Ottawa. In a small group we were given the exercise of taking a scripture and singing a NEW SONG to the Lord. We were a motley crew, among us an older gentleman, Howie, who had served for many years as advisor at parliament. This fellow was not very musical, to say the least, but He boldly rose to the task and began to rap the scripture Isaiah 9. ‘There was a people, they walked in darkness…but the light has come” I just mimicked Howie’s funny little rap singing it in a gospel-style, “But the Light, The Light has Come”!
SHARING THE SONG:
Fast forward to a month before our release date, a decade after this song was written at NHOP. I met up with the new NHOP directors a conference in Ottawa. To strike up a conversation I mentioned I was releasing a song that I had written in the prayer-room of their ministry! “Would you like to hear the song, or better yet would you like to HAVE this song for your Christmas mailout? “, I offered. Chris and Marilyn were immediately ecstatic. It was like a Christmas gift TO THEM that they could share with all involved in NHOP. They had envisioned last Christmas a BIG BLESSING for those involved in their ministry and I was handing them a professionally produced, unique gift handcrafted just for them!
Phillipians 4:19 says “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”
TEAM WORK:
This dynamic of how WE do what GOD is asking us to do each day, and then it seems God’s grace hands us a gift to supply our needs and sometimes to supply dreams too! The production by Pastor Sean Morton and use of the song in the Living Nativity soundtrack are one of these gifts graciously handed to me ‘according to the riches of his glory’.
Just when we feel DEMOTED sometimes God is emptying out the garbage for a new season of PROMOTION. In September of 2022 I finally put on the shelf the release of a full album I recorded in Nashville 3 years earlier. I knew ‘the Nashville Session’ was a solo effort and I laid it down for many new projects with team momentum. I made that hard decision not to go forward with the album release . The next week, through the team at All Nations Church, The Light Has Come Christmas release was envisioned and created. As we look into a new season, don’t be afraid to diminish. This is repositioning you for your NOW blessing God has for you in His kingdom!
Amidst the darkness this December, let’s sing together with Sarah Craig and the All Nations Collective: THE LIGHT HAS COME!
The Light Has Come is available for download on iTunes, Spotify and all other digital platforms now!
