Stuart Townend's Blog

Keith Getty and I wrote “Joy has dawned” as part of a project we’ve been working on entitled “Creed” – a collection of new hymns and songs based on the themes of the Apostles’ Creed. Keith and I both share a passion to see churches singing songs full of truth, compositions that not only express our love and devotion to God, but also declare the wonderful truths of the faith – truths that form the foundation of our lives.

With that in mind, we realised that there was shortage on new material on a number of key themes – one being the Incarnation. We therefore set about trying to write what is essentially a Christmas carol, telling the story and significance of Christ’s birth, and this is the result.

There are parts of the Christmas story that are so familiar to us, we tend not to appreciate how extraordinary they are: the humble circumstances of the birth of the King of kings; His choosing to come into the world as a helpless, vulnerable baby; the prophetic significance of gifts from traveling astrologers; the list goes on…

It’s a song that lends itself to a variety of musical styles, from a worship band setting to a choral piece, perhaps even a Salvation Army band arrangement, and I hope it’s a useful addition to a church’s Christmas repertoire.

Stuart