Following last night's Service of Nine Lessons and Carols at St. Geoffrey's here are the words to the carol that resulted in half the choir walking out in a huff!
Once in Judah's least known city
Stood a boarding house with back-door shed,
Where an almost single-parent mother
Tried to find her new-born son a bed.
Mary's mum and dad went wild
When they heard their daughter had a child.
He brought into earth a sense of heaven,
Lord of none and yet the Lord of all;
And his shelter always was unstable
For his mission was beyond recall.
With the poor, with those least holy,
Christ the king was pleased to live so lowly.
Can he be our youth and childhood's pattern
When we know not how he daily grew?
Was he always, little, weak and helpless,
Did he share our joys and problems too?
In our laughter, fun and daftness
Does the Lord of love suspect our gladness?
Not in that uncharted stable
With the village gossips standing by,
But in heaven we shall see him -
Which may not be up above the sky -
If in love for friend and stranger,
We embrace the contents of the manger.
Thanks to John L Bell for the corrective vision it provides.
