LOOK: Closed Society by Frank Kunert
LISTEN: “The Ditchling Carol” (Roud 3216) | Words by William Robert Spencer, 1811 | Music by Peter Parsons (1825–1901) | Performed by Waterson:Carthy on Broken Ground (1999; reissued 2013)
Be merry all, be merry all
With holly dress the festive hall
Prepare the song, the feast of all
To welcome Merry ChristmasAnd all remember, gentles gay
For you who bask in fortune’s ray
The year is all a holiday
The poor have only ChristmasWhen you with velvets mantled o’er
Defy December’s tempest’s roar
Oh spare one garment from your store
To clothe the poor at ChristmasAnd all remember, gentles gay
For you who bask in fortune’s ray
The year is all a holiday
The poor have only ChristmasWhen you the costly banquet deal
To guests who never famine feel
Oh spare one morsel from your meal
To feed the poor at ChristmasAnd all remember, gentles gay
For you who bask in fortune’s ray
The year is all a holiday
The poor have only ChristmasFrom blazing logs of fuel awhile
Your homes are within summer’s smile
Oh spare one log from off the pile
To warm the poor at ChristmasAnd all remember, gentles gay
For you who bask in fortune’s ray
The year is all a holiday
The poor have only ChristmasSo shall each note of mirth appear
More sweet to heaven than praise or prayer
And angels in their carols there
Shall bless the poor at ChristmasAnd all remember, gentles gay
For you who bask in fortune’s ray
The year is all a holiday
The poor have only Christmas
This carol from Ditchling in East Sussex has a very Dickensian feel to it. More sobering than the usual Christmas fare, it contrasts the lavish holiday feasts of the well-off with the poverty that exists outside their doors. Think Lazarus and the rich man. The poor rely on the feelings of goodwill and generosity that Christmas engenders, but as this song acknowledges, the needs persist year-round. Those whom God has blessed with good fortune would do well to share it—not just with family and friends of like socioeconomic status but with neighbors of all classes, and not just during the “season of giving” but on a continuing basis.
Peter Parsons (d. 1901), a Ditchling shoemaker and leader of the village glee club, found the poem above on a broadside ballad sheet from the early nineteenth century and was moved to write a tune for it. I encountered the carol through a nineties recording by Norma Waterson, her husband Martin Carthy, and their daughter Eliza Carthy, who have been at the forefront of the English folk music scene for decades.
I would go even further than the lyrics do and say, don’t just give the poor a morsel or a log; invite them in! What might radical hospitality look like for you this Christmas? How might your merriment expand to embrace those who are typically excluded?
Art & Theology 
It’s amazing how blind we can become to the poor around us. Our schedules become curated to keep us from seeing “different” people, and we forget about the poor and needy around us. If a poor person approaches us on the sidewalk, we see them as an obstacle to avoid, not a person to greet! I’ve noticed the first thing in my life, anyway. I barely meet anyone who isn’t in a similar socioeconomic slot as me, and if I do, I certainly don’t think of inviting them in to my life! I seem content to encounter them and move on.
Anyway, I am always challenged by this idea. I want to be generous and hospitable, but I admit that I haven’t created a habit of hospitality, so usually I forget! ☹️
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Ah, Excellent visualisation of Christmas Dinner. The head of the household is an afterthought.
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[…] (Related posts: “The Seven Works of Mercy”; “Advent, Day 19”) […]
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