ADVENT WRITING CHALLENGE DAY 12
Once in Royal David’s City
A Christmas Eve Tragedy Brought Words From This Carol To Life
It Was Christmas Eve
I was checking that the oranges for the Christingle service were ready for later that afternoon. The midnight communion service and Christmas Day service were planned. My sermons were written. Everything was ready.
Then I received a phone call.
“Come quickly; something terrible has happened.”
A car had crashed into the local coffee shop, which was packed with people. A number were injured. One lady was dead. I had been sitting in there myself an hour before.
I spent the next few hours in the local pub, which became a place of refuge for the physically wounded and mentally shocked, offering comfort whilst the landlord barred the door to the journalists who flooded the small town.
As the last people were taken to the hospital or collected by family members, I slipped away and mentally took stock. I thought about the services I had planned so carefully. I thought I was prepared, but the opening line for my Christmas service — “Joy to the World” — no longer seemed appropriate.
How Could This Happen at This Time?
I sat in my study, shocked by such a tragedy right at the heart of a time for celebration, trying to find the words to say in a few hours to what was always a packed church at this time of year.
My Archdeacon had seen the news and called me. We talked together, trying to make sense of what had happened. How I should respond? Then he spoke some words from the carol ‘Once in Royal David’s City’, almost under his breath, as if saying them to himself:
And he feeleth for our sadness,
And he shareth in our gladness.
New Meaning from Familiar Words
I’d never liked this carol before. Yes, it has a beautiful opening when sung by a gifted soloist, but it always seemed a bit sentimental to me — one for the children.
But that Christmas Eve, the real power of these words hit home.
This carol tells of a God who came down from heaven. A God who stepped into our world. A God who became one of us, a man who experienced life as we do. A man who lived with us. A man who laughed with us. A man who wept with us.
We have a God who understands.
So, I opened my Christmas services with the words, “And he feeleth for our sadness, And he shareth in our gladness.”
It tells of the incarnation in a very real way.
It Won’t Always Be Like This
I looked at the rest of the words of this carol again for this article and found I appreciated it even more. It doesn’t stop at the birth of a baby, which we celebrate at Christmas. It doesn’t stop at a God to whom we can turn now, knowing he walked in our shoes and therefore understands life from our perspective. It looks forward to a time when he will return. A time when:
Not in that poor, lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see Him but in Heaven,
Set at God’s right hand on high,
When, like stars, His children crowned
All in white shall wait around.
A time when, to use the words from the Bible,
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ Revelation 21: 4 (NIVUK)
Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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