{"id":114099,"date":"2025-12-20T19:19:54","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T02:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=114099"},"modified":"2025-12-20T23:20:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T06:20:02","slug":"the-journey-of-the-magi-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/12\/the-journey-of-the-magi-3.html","title":{"rendered":"“The Journey of the Magi”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"I'm<\/a>
The poster for the HCT production of \u201cRoald Dahl\u2019s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory\u201d (fair use) at what is affectionately known as The Ruth at doTERRA (which is, I suspect, shortly to be renamed The Donald and The Ruth at doTERRA).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With my wife and two direct heirs and a third-generation unit, I attended a performance this afternoon of Roald Dahl\u2019s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory<\/a><\/em> at The Ruth and Nathan Hale Theater<\/a> in Pleasant Grove \u2014 which, I think, will likely soon be rechristened as The Donald J. Trump and The Ruth and Nathan Hale Theater.<\/p>\n

I am not now and never have<\/em> been a fan of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. <\/em>\u00a0But the actors did a very fine job, the audience plainly loved the performance, and the 3GU in particular had a great time.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, I wrote briefly of Luminaria<\/em><\/a> and Ashton Gardens<\/a>, which I regard as among the great treasures of Utah Valley and the Wasatch Front. \u00a0I also reckon The Ruth at doTERRA among those treasures. \u00a0We are greatly privileged to have such excellent and family-friendly live theater here in our midst.<\/p>\n

By the way, I failed to mention here yesterday the \u201cLight of the World Garden\u201d<\/a> at Ashton Gardens and the adjacent \u201cTree of Life\u201d<\/a> sculpture garden. \u00a0Honestly, I found the brilliant white Tree of Life that stands at the apex of its assemblage of sculptures absolutely stunning against the darkness of the night. \u00a0I\u2019ve long had a fascination with the image of the Tree of Life. \u00a0We have several artistic renditions of it in our house, including mosaics and carpets from the Middle East. \u00a0I\u2019ve published about it on more than one occasion \u2014 including here<\/a> (which will supply at least two further and more substantial references) and in The Tree of Life: From Eden to Eternity,<\/i> edited by John W. Welch and Donald W. Parry (Provo: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship and Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011).<\/p>\n

\"Weihnachtsbaum<\/a>
Christmas in Frankfurt (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sometimes, especially (but not only) at Christmastime, my nostalgia for German-speaking Europe \u2014 and, especially, for Switzerland and Bavaria and Austria \u2014 is very powerful. \u00a0In that vein, here\u2019s a fairly schmaltzy rendition of a nineteenth-century German Christmas carol. \u00a0It was recorded by the late Peter Alexander, and it has happy personal memories for me. \u00a0I still own the vinyl album from which this was taken; I bought it at the end of my mission: \u201cKling, Gl\u00f6ckchen, klingelingeling.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The lyrics to Peter Alexander\u2019s version, however, are completely different from those just below here. \u00a0So I share with you another, equally schmaltzy, that actually matches the German words that I\u2019m sharing here: \u00a0\u201cKling, Gl\u00f6ckchen, klingelingeling.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Kling, Gl\u00f6ckchen, klingelingeling,
\nkling, Gl\u00f6ckchen, kling!
\nLa\u00dft mich ein, ihr Kinder,
\nist so kalt der Winter,
\n\u00f6ffnet mir die T\u00fcren,
\nlasst mich nicht erfrieren!
\nKling, Gl\u00f6ckchen, klingelingeling,
\nkling, Gl\u00f6ckchen, kling!<\/p>\n

Kling, Gl\u00f6ckchen, klingelingeling,
\nKling, Gl\u00f6ckchen, kling!
\nM\u00e4dchen, h\u00f6rt, und B\u00fcbchen,
\nmacht mir auf das St\u00fcbchen,
\nbring euch viele Gaben,
\nsollt euch dran erlaben.
\nKling, Gl\u00f6ckchen, klingelingeling,
\nkling, Gl\u00f6ckchen, kling!<\/p>\n

Kling, Gl\u00f6ckchen, klingelingeling,
\nkling, Gl\u00f6ckchen, kling!
\nHell ergl\u00fchn die Kerzen,
\n\u00f6ffnet mir die Herzen!
\nWill drin wohnen fr\u00f6hlich,
\nfrommes Kind, wie selig.
\nKling, Gl\u00f6ckchen, klingelingeling,
\nkling, Gl\u00f6ckchen, kling!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And here is a more-or-less adequate English translation:<\/p>\n

Ring, little bell, ring-aling-aling,
\nRing, little bell, ring!
\nLet me in, you kids,
\nSo cold is the winter,
\nOpen the doors for me,
\nDon\u2019t let me freeze!
\nRing, little bell, ring-aling-aling,
\nRing, little bell, ring!<\/p>\n

Ring, little bell, ring-aling-aling,
\nRing, little bell, ring!
\nGirls, listen, and boys,
\nOpen up the room for me,
\nI bring you many gifts,
\nYou should enjoy them!
\nRing, little bell, ring-aling-aling,
\nRing, little bell, ring!<\/p>\n

Ring, little bell, ring-aling-aling,
\nRing, little bell, ring!
\nBrightly glow the candles,
\nOpen your hearts to me!
\nI want to live there happily,
\nDevout child, how blessed!
\nRing, little bell, ring-aling-aling,
\nRing, little bell, ring!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"A<\/a>
\u201cThe Adoration of the Magi\u201d (tapestry, 1894), by Edward Burne-Jones, with William Morris and John Henry Dearle \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ve found T. S. Eliot\u2019s poem \u201cThe Journey of the Magi\u201d both moving and thought-provoking since I first encountered it many decades ago. \u00a0Please note the reference to the three trees on the horizon, which I take to be a foreshadowing of the three crosses on Calvary, and the allusion to the people at the tavern \u201cdicing for pieces of silver,\u201d which calls to my mind the thirty pieces of silver for which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus (Matthew 26:15), as well as the Roman soldiers gambling for Jesus\u2019 tunic (at John 19:23-24, Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24, and Luke 23:34; compare Psalm 22:18):<\/p>\n

A cold coming we had of it, <\/span>
\nJust the worst time of the year <\/span>
\nFor a journey, and such a long journey: <\/span>
\nThe ways deep and the weather sharp, <\/span>
\nThe very dead of winter.\u2019 <\/span>
\nAnd the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory, <\/span>
\nLying down in the melting snow. <\/span>
\nThere were times we regretted <\/span>
\nThe summer palaces on slopes, the terraces, <\/span>
\nAnd the silken girls bringing sherbet. <\/span>
\nThen the camel men cursing and grumbling <\/span>
\nAnd running away, and wanting their liquor and women, <\/span>
\nAnd the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters, <\/span>
\nAnd the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly <\/span>
\nAnd the villages dirty and charging high prices: <\/span>
\nA hard time we had of it. <\/span>
\nAt the end we preferred to travel all night, <\/span>
\nSleeping in snatches, <\/span>
\nWith the voices singing in our ears, saying <\/span>
\nThat this was all folly. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley, <\/span>
\nWet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation; <\/span>
\nWith a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness, <\/span>
\nAnd three trees on the low sky, <\/span>
\nAnd an old white horse galloped away in the meadow. <\/span>
\nThen we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel, <\/span>
\nSix hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver, <\/span>
\nAnd feet kicking the empty wine-skins, <\/span>
\nBut there was no information, and so we continued <\/span>
\nAnd arrived at evening, not a moment too soon <\/span>
\nFinding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory. <\/span><\/p>\n

All this was a long time ago, I remember, <\/span>
\nAnd I would do it again, but set down <\/span>
\nThis set down <\/span>
\nThis: were we led all that way for <\/span>
\nBirth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly, <\/span>
\nWe had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death, <\/span>
\nBut had thought they were different; this Birth was <\/span>
\nHard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death. <\/span>
\nWe returned to our places, these Kingdoms, <\/span>
\nBut no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, <\/span>
\nWith an alien people clutching their gods. <\/span>
\nI should be glad of another death.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 With my wife and two direct heirs and a third-generation unit, I attended a performance this afternoon of Roald Dahl\u2019s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at The Ruth and Nathan Hale Theater in Pleasant Grove \u2014 which, I think, will likely soon be rechristened as The Donald J. Trump and The Ruth and Nathan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":15925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[39489,2517,20475,3166,7335,3169],"class_list":["post-114099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory","tag-christmas","tag-journey-of-the-magi","tag-magi","tag-t-s-eliot","tag-wise-men"],"yoast_head":"\n"The Journey of the Magi"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  With my wife and two direct heirs and a third-generation unit, I attended a performance this afternoon of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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