And here we are on the Feast of Stephen 2019.......
or "Boxing Day" if you prefer......either way, "The second day of Christmas" (two turtledoves are due).
I once briefly made a living as a musician (singer and keyboard player)----not the best living, but it paid my graduate school tuition.
However often at Christmastime I'd be hired to sing in churches. This was particularly true at the Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul in Lewiston, which hired me nearly 20 years in a row to sing the alto solos in The Messiah. Along the way I picked up a lot of traditional Christmas carols, and the way my brain works I still remember them all.
This morning I was mentioning to my husband that I can sing all 5 versus of Good King Wenceslas from memory-------I guess I was thinking about that because the first line is, as you likely know: "Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen......". I'm sure this entered my brain because today is that feast day.
If you don't know the story behind the carol, the king (who was actually a duke, in the 10th century) looks out his window and sees a poor man in the snow, trying to find "winter fuel" (i.e. wood). The king then summons his page ("Hither, page, and stand by me"). The page tells the king who the man is and where he lives. The king then decides to bring the man alms ("Bring me flesh and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither. Thou and I will see him dine, when we bear them thither").
So we're singing that together today, and my husband says, "Wait a minute. Pine logs? Didn't Wenceslas worry about the build up of creosote?"
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So a bit of humour for this fine day. But the moral of the tale still holds true: Whatever you do, no matter how little you may feel you have, there are those who have less. Be generous.
"Therefore Christian men be sure
wealth or rank possessing
He who now will bless the poor
shall himself find blessing".
However often at Christmastime I'd be hired to sing in churches. This was particularly true at the Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul in Lewiston, which hired me nearly 20 years in a row to sing the alto solos in The Messiah. Along the way I picked up a lot of traditional Christmas carols, and the way my brain works I still remember them all.
This morning I was mentioning to my husband that I can sing all 5 versus of Good King Wenceslas from memory-------I guess I was thinking about that because the first line is, as you likely know: "Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen......". I'm sure this entered my brain because today is that feast day.
If you don't know the story behind the carol, the king (who was actually a duke, in the 10th century) looks out his window and sees a poor man in the snow, trying to find "winter fuel" (i.e. wood). The king then summons his page ("Hither, page, and stand by me"). The page tells the king who the man is and where he lives. The king then decides to bring the man alms ("Bring me flesh and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither. Thou and I will see him dine, when we bear them thither").
So we're singing that together today, and my husband says, "Wait a minute. Pine logs? Didn't Wenceslas worry about the build up of creosote?"
--------------
So a bit of humour for this fine day. But the moral of the tale still holds true: Whatever you do, no matter how little you may feel you have, there are those who have less. Be generous.
"Therefore Christian men be sure
wealth or rank possessing
He who now will bless the poor
shall himself find blessing".