My Dear People,
A Royal Visitor
I received a letter the other day. The envelope bore the Royal Coat of Arms. I opened it.
Inside, the Queen had written that she’d be calling at my house tomorrow afternoon! Twenty
four hours to get the house ‘straight’!
I’m only kidding, of course. But suppose, just suppose, that Her Majesty were to descend
upon me or you at a day’s notice. We’d have to dust the furniture and vacuum the carpets (or
is it the other way round?). The cushions would need to be plumped up and last week’s Radio
Times and On your Doorstep thrown out. The best crockery and cutlery would have to be
washed. And our ‘Sunday best’ to be worn. Would H.M. prefer tea or coffee? And then
there’s the ‘bathroom’ – just in case...
We would all go to these or similar lengths to receive our monarch.
An unknown mediaeval poet described the preparations for a royal visitor:
All hands to work! Let no man idle stand!
Set me fine Spanish tables in the hall;
See they be fitted all;
Let there be room to eat
And order taken that there want no meat.
See every sconce and candlestick made bright,
That without tapers they may give light.
But, the poet asks, what if the royal visitor were Christ our Lord? Would we be ready to
receive Him? Would our spiritual house be in order? The poem continues:
But at the coming of the King of Heaven
All’s set at six and seven;
We wallow in our sin,
Christ cannot find a chamber in the inn.
We entertain Him always like a stranger,
And, as at first, still lodge Him in the manger.
Sadly, so many people still keep Christ in the manger. He’s safer that way, tucked up in His
crib. They know where He is. They treat Him as a stranger.
The message of Christmass is that GOD became a human being because he so loves us and
wants us to know of his love.
So, this Christmasstide open your hearts and lives to the Christ Child. Entertain Him royally.
Let Him find room in your hearts and by your hearths.
He will not disappoint.
May GOD bless you, your loved ones and your homes at this holy season.
Your sincere friend and priest,
Trevor Vaughan