Yesterday, in our service of Peace and Justice Reflections for Advent at St John's Seven Kings which focussed on Christian Aid's Trace the Tax campaign, we listened to 'Book of Christmas', a track from Thea Gilmore's Strange Communion album. Over an instrumental background Thea recites lines taken from Louis MacNeice's poem, Autumn Journal, which include the following:
There was a star in the east.
Magi in their turbans brought their luxury toys
in homage to a child born to capsize their values,
wreck their equipoise.
A smell of hay like peace in the dark stable,
not peace however but a sword
to cut the gordian knot of self-interest,
the fool-proof golden cord,
for Christ walked in where philosophers tread
but armed with more than folly
making the smooth place rough
and knocking the heads of church and state together.
In honour we have taken over the pagan feast of saturnalia
for our annual treat,
letting the belly have its say,
ignoring the spirit whilst we eat.
and conscience still goes crying through the desert
with sackcloth round his loins.
A week to Christmas,
Hark the Herald Angels beg for copper coins
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Thea Gilmore - Listen ... The Snow Is Falling.
2 comments:
Could I point out that MacNeice wrote that
"Christ walked in where no philosophers tread"
and missing out that little word destroys his homage to the unique nature of Christ?
Well spotted, and the word also appears to be absent from Thea Gilmore's version on 'Strange Communion'. It clearly does make a difference to MacNeice's homage to Christ. Thank you.
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