The Right Way

Last night, I enjoyed listening to a radio programme devoted to “Oh, What a Lovely War!”  There’s a right way, and a wrong way, to write the title of this 1963 musical, and it shouldn’t be confused with “Oh! What a Lovely War”, the 1969 Richard Attenborough film that was based upon it.  One of the songs I recall from the show was a parody of ‘God Rest ye Merry, Gentlemen’.  Apart from the integral innuendo, it drew my attention to the basic contrast between the ‘right words’ and the ‘wrong words’.

As you probably know, Handel took most of the words for his famous oratorio Messiah straight from the Bible.  Perhaps one of the best known arias from that work is “O prepare ye the way of the Lord” the words for which are to be found in Isaiah 40:3.  But preparing the way is only part of the story.  We must then tread that way.

In the favourite carol Good King Wenceslaus the page was encouraged to follow his master in a quest to do good deeds for the people.  He was instructed to place his feet into the footsteps of his lord.  The king didn’t simply tell his servant, “There is a needy family in such-and-such a place, go and take some of my stores and give them what they need.”  Instead he set a practical example and led the way there.

If you’re going somewhere for the first time you can usually find the way using a map, but it’s so much easier if you talk to someone who has been there before and can tell you the landmarks to watch out for.  It’s even better if that person can go with you, and show you the way.  The other day a young man crossed the road just in front of me with a toddler in tow.  He walked straight across the pavement and between the bushes that were planted in the little garden on its far side.  This was clearly a way that others had gone before, and it led most effectively into the forecourt of a car showroom.  The two-year-old had no choice but to follow, and in so doing, no doubt he took heed that the best way to get to the destination was the way through the bushes ... in effect, the wrong way!

Jesus told us, “I am the way” (John 14:6), and at Christmas time we mark the fact that He came to earth to live an earthly life, and thereby show us the way to our heavenly Father and His kingdom.  As we celebrate, let us give thanks for the right way; let us pledge ourselves anew to follow it; and let us try not to give anyone the impression that any other way is at all to be recommended.

Have a blessed Christmas, following the Way of the Babe of Bethlehem.