If you listen to a lot of Christmas music like I do, particularly played on the classical music stations, you’ve no doubt heard a delightful carol from contemporary British composer, John Rutter. It’s called Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day. You can listen to it here (it’s worth it!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRitP2EB9QA
I’ve heard it for years and love the bright, lilt. But only this year did I start wondering, what does it really mean? I suspected the “dancing day” was some medieval wedding tradition but couldn’t figure how it had anything to do with Christmas! How wrong I was!
Music historians say the carol indeed has medieval roots, perhaps extending back to the 1500s. But when I started reading the words I was stopped in my tracks:
Tomorrow shall be my dancing day;
I would my true love did so chance
To see the legend of my play,
To call my true love to my dance;
Chorus (sung after each verse)
Sing, oh! my love, oh! my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love.
Then was I born of a virgin pure,
Of her I took fleshly substance
Thus was I knit to man's nature
To call my true love to my dance.
In a manger laid, and wrapped I was
So very poor, this was my chance
Betwixt an ox and a silly poor ass
To call my true love to my dance.
It was obvious that the carol is written from the first person perspective of the Lord Jesus Christ himself! It portrays his life on earth and the events connected to it as “a dancing day.” That’s because his love for his creatures was part of the larger story of history and the promised marriage of Jesus and his church (2 Corinthians 11:2).
What about the timeframe in the first verse? “tomorrow shall be my dancing day?” Why tomorrow? The composer asks us to imagine Jesus’ thoughts in the moments before Christmas morning. You see, Jesus didn’t begin to exist at Christmas. Even before he was a fetus in his mother’s womb, according to the Bible, he existed eternally with his Father in heaven. Thus, John 17 gives us a little peek into that eternal relationship that existed long before:
19 For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.20 Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me. 22 The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one; 23 I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
What was Jesus thinking about for those thousands of years of Old Testament history? What was in his heart and mind as he watched the events of history unfolding from the portals of heaven? In the words of the carol, he was anticipating “my dancing day.” And what did that even mean? It meant the story of his birth, life, death and resurrection was the culmination of an eternal plan, conceived in eternity past by his loving Father, that would culminate in a wedding—his own.
When I was reading the multiple verses of the old carol, I was moved to tears when I imagined the love and anticipation Jesus himself had in preparation for Christmas. For him, it wasn’t just about holiday traditions, opening presents or hearing familiar special songs. It was his “dancing day.” And thus the old carol ends with this verse:
Then up to heaven I did ascend,
Where now I dwell in sure substance
On the right hand of God, that man
May come unto the general dance.
Chorus (sung after each verse)
Sing, oh! my love, oh! my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love.