My friend, Ken says, “Don’t should yourself.” When you think that you should be or shouldn’t be; or that something in your life should or shouldn’t be; or that the world should or shouldn’t be, it makes reality seem like a hot mess. After all, should happens, right? No, reality happens. What should or shouldn’t be is the problem.

I never fully understood the Gloria Patri until researching our communion carol for this morning. In the Gloria we say, “as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.” In other words, everything is as it should be.

Boris Ord was music director at King’s College from 1929-1957. First used in 1957 during the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, this carol is his only published work.  The text, from around 1400 is thought to have come from a wandering minstrel. Minstrels were medieval acrobats, jugglers, poets, or musicians who made a living entertaining for the court.

I love carols like this, simple, clean, and straightforward. What strikes me about this seemingly benign piece is the profound meaning of the text. It’s basically saying that if Adam had not eaten the forbidden fruit, there would be no Christmas to sing about; therefore, “should we” be thankful? It’s interesting to go back in time and wonder if something shouldn’t have been, even in your own life. If Adam hadn’t sinned, there would be no need for a savior, no church. What a shame. I happen to like church.

In the beginning, when the universe formed it was a hot, dense, smoldering “mess.” Science tells us that the conditions had to be just right for the chaotic, primordial soup to spring forth time, space, and life. The temperature, density, and energy of the singularity had to be precisely thus and so to form multiplicity. All odds were against life forming thereafter, but nothing could have been askew, even by a miniscule amount for that to have happened. If the conditions had to be just right for the world to begin, and then life to follow, what makes you think the conditions aren’t just right, right now?

The poet reminds us that if Adam hadn’t “messed up,” there’d be no Christmas. Everything fits together, and it’s our perceptions that fool us. One, tiny difference in the substructure of the world, and it would unhinge the miracle. Who are we to judge what is “flawed?” You may think you and your life are a hot mess, but remember, the primordial swirl appeared that way billions of years ago, and out of that seeming chaos, order, clarity, and life formed. What appears as random and messy might very well be perfection and organization in disguise, but that doesn’t mean you “should” spend your life’s savings on lottery tickets!

We stew about our own conditions, standing at our cauldrons and stirring our own primordial soups and hot messes when we “should” ourselves. We’ve all said, “This stinks!” When you should yourself, it does stink. The world was not set in motion like a windup toy and left to crash and burn. Distrustingthe story is not your purpose. Accepting reality and trusting The Author is. We need to look deeper into what appears as misfortune. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, and we can sing Deo Gracias, even amid what looks like a hot, swirling mess. Soli Deo Gloria!