This page is provided so that you can hear the tunes of items which we use in church. Mostly they are written by the vicar. Please note that they are copyright - we are very happy to give permission to you to use them, but we would like to hear about it. Please include any use on your Christian Copyright Licence returns.
Down this page:
- the words,
- the story,
- the sheet music,
- media player.
Jesus, light the fire
Jesus, light the fire
God spoke his word to Abraham:
"Almighty Sovereign Lord I am.
In you all nations shall be blessed
I'll send my Son to give them rest."
He's the one that we desire -
worship Jesus, lift him higher:
it's time to set the world on fire!
God called Isaiah, made him burn,
gave him a heart of love to turn
the people from their lives of sin,
and look to Christ to come within.
He's the one who can inspire -
worship Jesus, lift him higher:
it's time to set the world on fire!
Worship Jesus, he's Lord and King:
Lift your heart up, rejoice and sing,
Jesus is coming,
Jesus will soon be here,
Jesus, Emmanuel,
God with us, bringing him near!
When John the Baptist came, he warned
of judgement on all those who scorned
for Jesus would baptize with flame
and save the ones who call his name:
He's the one that we require -
worship Jesus, lift him higher:
it's time to set the world on fire!
The Spirit came upon his Mum,
so she could bear the Holy One:
Emmanuel, God come to bless
to die for us in our distress.
In him we will not expire -
Jesus saves, we'll lift him higher:
it's time to set the world on fire.
Come on, people, light the fire,
Jesus is the light: the fire,
He's the only true live wire,
He's the one that we admire,
Glory is his true attire,
Praise his name and lift him higher,
It's time to set the world on fire!
Words copyright © John Hartley 2005.
Story behind the song
This is a light-hearted attempt to do something a bit different for the lighting of the "advent candles" which takes place on the four Sundays before Christmas. "Does anyone know of an incendiary tune I could use for the advent candles?" I asked on an e-mail chat list? "Why not try 'Come on baby, light my fire'?" replied a friend.
So here it is. But for copyright reasons I'm not reproducing the tune here, and the links to the music at the top and bottom of this page are disabled. You can find the tune by doing an internet search if you really want to - for instance at this link or this link - both of which I found by doing a Google search on the three items "Light my fire", "The Doors" and "midi". If you're trying to fit the words to the music you'll notice that (a) I've shortened the "bridge" between verses 2 and 3 by a few lines, (b) I've added an extra verse (the original moves straight from verse 3 to the finale), and (c) I've shortened the finale slightly. I'm sure you could do the same with a bit of creativity (or contact me if you get stuck!).
The four "Advent candles" of the church's traditional "Advent ring" refer to groups or individuals who point us to Jesus: the patriarchs, the prophets, John the Baptist, and Mary his mother. (There are some other schemes, but this is the one which seems to have the widest support.) In each verse I've tried to bring out this connection, and leap from the individual concerned to Jesus who is the true light.
John Hartley
Windows Media Player. When you click the left-hand "play" button your computer should have started to play the tune. If it didn't, you might be able to get the tune by clicking here, or by right-clicking the link, choosing "save target as", saving it onto your computer, and then opening it with a music-playing program.
Please remember that a midi file of a tune isn't supposed to be a state-of-the-art musical arrangement - it is only supposed to give a basic idea of how the tune goes. Any reasonable organist / keyboard player / music group could make it sound far better.