Behind door 3 of my advent calendar is:
PUNCTILIOUS PUNCTUATION
As any punctuation pedant will know, the presence, or otherwise, of a comma is every bit as important as where it’s placed.
Let me explain. When my children were younger we had a pet guinea pig called Chestnut, as a result of which I was liable to upset my offspring whenever I sang along to ‘The Christmas Song’. This was not on account of my inability to carry a tune, but rather because, by dint of them having added a non-existent apostrophe, they were left imagining that their much loved pet was now roasting on an open fire!
A similar issue arises with one of my favourite carols. But before I tell you which one, let’s be honest about Christmas. For some it is not a happy time, and for many the forced jollity is unwelcome. Let’s face it, when life is characterised by sorrow and despair, few of us are up for a party, regardless of how many amusing Christmas jumpers are on display.
And because not everyone is ‘simply having a wonderful Christmas time’, I have heard it suggested that we should no longer wish others a ‘Merry Christmas’ as to do so risks being insensitive to those who are experiencing difficult times. But to suggest as much is to misunderstand Christmas, to consider it nothing more than an excuse for overindulgence as we try to deny the vicissitudes of life
Which brings me to that much favoured carol of mine that I referred to earlier – namely ‘God rest ye merry, gentleman’. Note the position of the comma.
For many years I misunderstood this Christmas classic imagining that the words were expressing the hope that God would give a bunch of already merry gentlemen a well earned rest! But this is not the point at all – as the position of the comma makes clear. What is being hoped for is that God would cause these souls, of undisclosed happiness, to be rendered merry.
And the reason that they should be left in such a state of merriment, the reason that, as the carol goes on, nothing should cause them to dismay, is that ‘Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas Day’. But why was he born? Well, as the carol makes plain, the answer to that one is ‘to save us all from Satan’s power when we had gone astray’.
This is news worth hearing, for it is very good news indeed – tidings, no less, of comfort and joy,
This is not to suggest that those who suffer do not do so significantly – on the contrary, their suffering may be severe and, what’s more, continue for longer than they feel they can cope with. Even so this good news, this gospel, has the potential to comfort those who have to face even the darkest of days, because it brings with it the certain hope that better days really are on the way. For ‘weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.’ [Psalm 30:5].
So then, irrespective of your current circumstances, may I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.
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Here then for your listening pleasure is one my favourite versions of ‘God rest ye merry, gentleman’, sung, on this occasion, by ‘Jars of Clay’.
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Previously from ‘A Christmas Countdown’:
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 2’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 1’, click here
Other related posts:
To read ‘Rest Assured’, click here
To read ‘T.S. Eliot, Jesus and the Paradox of the Christian Life’, click here
To read “Why do bad things happen to good people – a tentative suggestion”, click here
To read “Luther and the global pandemic – on becoming a theologian of the cross”, click here
To read “Suffering- A Personal View”, click here.
To read ‘on the FALLEN and the FELLED’, click here
Some musings 