ANCIENT AND MODERN CAROLLING

On December 24 2023 TV offered us
a fascinating contrast, that all should ponder.
It was between ‘Kings College Carols’ on BBC,
And ITV’s ‘Royal Carols’ in Westminster Abbey.
The one a slightly updated ritual-of-old,
with no child present below the youngest choirboy:
viewed, ironically, in student and scholarly orientation.

The other, a community-wide event for all ages in
contemporary music, language and civil dress,
with children of all ages scattered through
the gathering as a participative assembly.
The King’s danger lies in isolating one humble child
to Lord it over all invisibly from the past.
The Westminster’s more open scene conveyed
today’s witness to love incarnate in richly varied lives,
as exemplified by Jesus all 2000 years ago.

Was one WORSHIP, the other WITNESS;
one habitually rehearsed custom with distanced awe,
the other a 2023 conception, a bold contemporary
relearning to love through every present new-born child?

GARFOSS 
Garnered And Refashioned From Other Sympathetic Sources
An enabler’s reflections on numerous dialogues at an ever-open global table.