7th December

Written by Peter Driver

Once in Royal David’s City

‘For that child so dear and gentle is our Lord in Heav’n above.’

Whenever I sing this beautiful carol, I have the same recollection.

I’m a little child at home singing ‘Once in Royal David’s city” to my mummy and daddy.

And as I sing, my mother begins to cry and I can’t understand why.

It took me a long time to realise that that picture and this carol are the same story.

Into the city of kings comes the most powerful King of all. Everything belongs to Him. The royal palace, the throne of David, all the pomp, power and majesty the world possesses are His. And what does this owner do? When the God and Lord of all comes down from heaven does he install himself in His rightful place on the throne of David? No. Not because he couldn’t but because he wouldn’t. The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over their subjects, but not him. This king enters his kingdom as a refugee. Into a stable, with a manger for a bed, amongst the poor and mean and lowly. Little, weak and helpless, tears and smiles like us he knew.

Why? As I got older and with children of my own, I understood.

It’s a story of love.

Our Father sends what is most precious to Him, at a cost which is unfathomable, to ransom us, his children. Because he loves us and He will pay. He loves us with a father’s love, where no price is too high. Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven. That’s us. The journey of redemption starts in a stable, untainted by shallow worldly trappings. It starts with love and it ends with love and no power on earth was able to overcome it. Do we get that message I wonder?

And so now when I sing this carol, I think about God’s love for us, his children; for the guidance he gives us by the choices he made; but most of all, I think of a child singing and a mother crying and I know this too is a story of love. And now, the tears are mine.