An Advent Journey through my least favourite Christmas carol (part 2).
If you would like to listen instead of read, then follow the link:
If you launched into a rendition of the Spandau Ballet hit when you saw the blog title, then you are my people. I hate to disappoint but my thoughts this week are not about the 80s classic but about the precious metal that inspired its lyrics.
A few years ago, I was helping someone very special choose a very special piece of jewellery that they would be wearing for a very special lifetime. As they looked through the glass cabinets of glistening jewellery, they consistently skipped the traditional yellow gold rings in favour of a different kind of gold…white gold.
White gold is beautiful!
It’s the precious metal that I chose for my engagement ring, and I completely understand why it appeals to so many. Unfortunately, white gold is also the diva of the precious metal world. To keep its shine and lustre, it requires regular maintenance.
You see, white gold isn’t pure gold.
It’s mixed with other metals, like nickel, palladium, or silver, to change its colour. Even after this process has taken place, the best that can be achieved is a dull pale grey. To get the shimmering white gold so many of us love, the metal is rhodium-plated.
As my very special person chose their very special piece of jewellery, I gently offered a word of caution. To keep their beautiful white gold ring looking the way it did in that glass cabinet, it would need rhodium plating at least once a year!
Lo and behold, a couple of years have passed, and my very special person has joined a very special club. Members of this club travel to the jewellers once a year to fork out money to make our piece of jewellery look beautiful again. We still love white gold but recognise that it is, and I quote the words of my very special person here, “a right faff!”
White gold was not commercially available until 1912, but even if it had been around at the time of Jesus’ birth, I don’t think it would have made the wise men’s gift list. They knew that pure gold was the only option for the newborn King. They recognised that only the true King of the Jews would be worthy of such a precious gift.
1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’
(Matthew 2:1-2 NIV)
This question would not have sat well with Herod as he was officially appointed as King of the Jews by the Roman Empire.
Herod was a white-gold kind of guy.
Despite his numerous attempts to rhodium plate his royal crown, his leadership was a dull, lack-lustre grey.
The Jewish people rejected him as King.
He wasn’t from the line of David.
He wasn’t chosen by God to lead the people.
Despite his best attempts to present himself as the true King, he wasn’t the one worthy of their worship.
Born a King of Bethlehem’s plain,
Gold I bring to crown him again,
King for ever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.
John Henry Hopkins Jnr.
There may be others that pull our attention away with their rhodium-plated shine, but they are not the ones worthy of our adoration. This Advent, let us focus our worship on the one who truly deserves to reign over our hearts and minds.
Kay Moorby
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