I Saw Three Ships. No, Make That Two.
Rosemary and I have gone to the beach for a few days. Doctor’s orders. Well, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. And I’m sitting in the living room of this very fine house (belonging to an even finer couple) looking out at the Atlantic Ocean that nestles Litchfield Beach. And on the horizon are massive cargo ships. Three of them.
At least, I thought there were three but, on further inspection, using a telescope that sits appropriately near the window, there are only two. Where did they come from? Charleston? South America? And where are they going? Ports to the north? I am thinking of New York or Boston. Or are they bound to cross the Atlantic for Africa? The Mediterranean? The Baltic Sea?
It turns into a trip down memory lane because Rosemary’s late brother was a merchant seaman—a captain of cargo ships that sailed the world. But then, since my journey down here included listening to a somewhat shmaltzy CD compilation of Christmas carols that a friend gave me recently to play in my truck (you know who you are!), the sight reminded me of something I had just heard. And so it happened: neurons fired in the brain, triggered by the sight of three (or two) ships, and I start humming the tune to “We Three Kings of Orient Are” by John Henry Hopkins.
It’s amazing how the mind works, isn’t it? You see something, smell something, and immediately you’re transported to another world. We call it day-dreaming, but that seems too trite a description. Mostly, they are memories—memories of events long ago that evoke nostalgia. I must have sung “We Three Kings” hundreds of times, pondering if there really were three kings and if their names really were Balthasar of Arabia, Melchior of Persia, and Gaspar of India as traditional lore suggests. The melody is unmistakably evocative of Christmas.
Then there are the words of the carol:
Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to reign.
Yes, that’s what the visit of the magi conveyed. Christ’s redemptive purpose to gather the nations to himself, just as God told Abram in Genesis 12.
The one born in Bethlehem holds the whole world in his hands.
Derek W.H. Thomas
Senior Minister
