When God Almighty Came to Be One of Us.

This is one of my favourite carols. Written in the late 1960's by Micahel Hewlett, a C of E Vicar wanting to update the context within which God comes amongst us. It goes to the folk tune The Keel Row, and the good vicar was delighted to hear of a carol service in India which finished using his carol as the children danced down ther aisle and out of the church.

When God Almighty came to be one of us,

Masking the glory of his golden train,

Millions of plain things kindled by accident

And they will never be the same again.

Sing all you midwives, dance all the carpenters,

Sing all the publicans and shepherds too,

God in his mercy uses the commonplace,

God on his birthday had a need of you.

 

Splendour of Rome and local authority,

Working on policy with furrowed head,

Joined to locate Messiah’s nativity,

Just wehre the prophets had already said.

Sing all you tax-men, dance the commissioners,

Sing civil servants and police men too,

God in his purposes uses the governments

God on his birthday had a need of you.

 

Wise men they called them, earnest astrologers,

Watching for meaning in the moving stars,

Science or fantasy, learned or laughable,

Theirs was a vision that was brought to pass.

Sing all you wise men, dance all the scientists,

Whether your theories are false or true,

God uses knowledge, God uses ignorance,

God on his birthday had a need of you.

 

Sing all creation, made for his purposes,

Called by his providence to live and move:

None is unwanted, none insignificant,

Love needs a universe of folk to love.

Close friends and strangers, ethnic minorities,

Old folk and young folk and families too,

God on his birthday, and to eternity,

God took upon himself the need of you.

Comments

[jrb]

Perhaps this allegory can also remind us that the thread of humanity is made of many individual fibers tangled in this line of meaning, and historical intent, in which each of us is an essential part.
Alternatively, perhaps each of us is a thread, built around the fibers of all around us who gave us fibers of meaning or purpose or skill, with which we build ourselves and those around us into a tapestry of meaning and influence, in the hope of a strong and healthy community.