Epiphany Short Story 2 - “So may we”
Thank you for the encouragement you have given me for these short reflections.
This is the last of the short pieces for Christmas and Epiphany. They will remain in the ‘In-a-Minute’ tab on the website and feel free to use or copy any of the resources that you have found helpful.
God Bless
Kelvin<><
“So may we”
I wonder has your life insurance salesman ever written you a song? Probably not!
There was once an insurance salesman who wrote an Epiphany Carol - As With Gladness Men of Old.
Insurance salesman William Chatterton Dix wrote it when he was 21 in 1859 when he was recovering from an illness.
From his ‘sick bed’ and a place of physical weakness, a spiritual strength blossomed.
Dix put down in poetic form some thoughts he had about the Wise Men bringing their gifts to the baby Jesus.
Have you ever thought that your humble ideas, written down, may help lift someone who gets to hear them?
Billy Dix wrote these words after reading the story of the wise men following the star to Bethlehem and bringing their gifts to the manager in Matthew 2:1-12.
Friends, the Bible is worthy of our meditations and is capable of speaking directly to us today. That is why it is called the living word.
It can inspire us as in the case of insurance salesman William Chatterton Dix who found many lessons in the journeying Wise Men.
Notice his writing style or prose pattern throughout the Carol – “As they did - so may we.” This meditation on the Magi invites us to learn from them.
The first verse reflects on the guiding star over Bethlehem ‘and so may we’ be led through Christ to God.
The second verse reflects on the wise men bowing before Jesus in worship and adoration ‘and so may we’ fall on our knees before Christ who is also our way to God.
The third verse meditates on the thought of the wise men giving their gifts to Jesus ‘and so may we’ give not just our gifts but ourselves to him in loving service.
As is often the case in traditional hymns, the last verse looks heavenward where there is no need for light because Jesus is the light and ‘there forever may we sing hallelujahs to our king.’
So I hope this epiphany short story illuminates this Carol from the 1850s as you sing it in the next few days.
God Bless
As with gladness men of old
did the guiding star behold;
as with joy they hailed its light,
leading onward, beaming bright;
so, most gracious God, may we evermore be led to Thee.
As with joyful steps they sped
to that lowly cradle-bed,
there to bend the knee before
Him whom heav'n and earth adore;
so may we with willing feet ever seek Thy mercy-seat.
As they offered gifts most rare
at that cradle rude and bare;
so may we with holy joy,
pure, and free from sin’s alloy,
all our costliest treasures bring, Christ, to Thee, our heav'nly King.
Holy Jesus, every day
keep us in the narrow way;
and, when earthly things are past,
bring our ransomed lives at last
where they need no star to guide, where no clouds Thy glory hide.
In that heav'nly country bright
need they no created light;
Thou its Light, its Joy, its Crown,
Thou its Sun which goes not down;
there forever may we sing alleluias to our King.
A New Years Prayer
What shall I ask for the coming year, what shall my watchword be
What should thou do for me, dear Lord? What can I do for thee?
Lord, I would ask for a holy year, spent in thy perfect will
Help me to walk in thy very steps, help me to please thee still.
Lord, I would ask for a trustful year. Give me thy faith divine
Taking my full inheritance. Making thy fulness mine!
Lord, I would ask for a year of love, O let me love thee best
Give me the love that faileth not, beneath the hardest test.
Lord, I would ask for a year of prayer. Teach me to walk with thee
Breathe in my heart the Spirit's prayer, pray thou thy prayer in me!
Lord, I would ask for the dying world, stretch forth thy mighty hand
Thy truth proclaim, thy power display, this year in every land.
Lord, I would ask for a year of joy, Thy peace, thy joy divine
Springing undimmed through all the days, be thy days of shade or shine.
Lord, I ask for a year of hope. Looking for thee to come
And hastening on that year of years, that brings us home to you.
Amen ©A B Simpson
