to return to your place in the text.To read endnotes, click on the the note number, then click on the
The story comes from a book by T. H. White called The Once
and Future King(2) and is based on the legend of King Arthur and
the Knights of the Round Table. Two themes are woven through
it: Arthur's dream of a peaceable world where might serves right,
and the ill-fated romance between his wife, Queen Guinevere and
the handsome young knight, the king's strong right hand, Sir
Lancelot.
The last scene of the story takes place on the eve of a
mighty battle, which has come about as a result of this sad
betrayal. Arthur's forces line up against those of Lancelot. As
the king reluctantly prepares for the combat, he discovers a boy,
about thirteen years old, who says his name is Tom. "I have come
to fight for the Round Table. I intend to become a Knight of the
Round Table."
The king, disillusioned about the shattered peace which his
Round Table had symbolized, asks Tom how he knows about it. "Was
your father a knight? Was your mother saved by one? Was your
village protected by knights?"
Tom's reply was simple, yet profound. "Oh, no, my Lord," he
says, "I only know of them...the stories people tell."
Arthur pauses for a moment, as he considers what he has just
heard. Then he says to Tom, "From all the stories people tell,
you wish to become a knight. Tell me what you think you know
about the Round Table."
Tom replies with great excitement: "I know everything.
Might for right. Justice for all. A round table where all
knights would sit in unity. Everything."
Then King Arthur, as his world is crumbling around him,
realizes that he has just heard this boy speak the words of hope
that he had lost sight of. And, instantly, Arthur knows what to
do. He forbids Tom from fighting in the coming battle and
commands him rather to stay behind the lines until the conflict
is over. He knights him - "Sir Tom" - and commands him to return
to England, to grow up and grow old...and to remember the story
of Camelot. He instructs his young friend,
Ask every person if he's heard the story,
Now, the King's aide reminds him to hurry for it is time for
the battle. Arthur moves briefly toward his army, but then
pauses. With triumph in his voice, he exclaims, "I have won my
battle, and here in this boy is my victory. What we did with the
Round Table will be remembered. You will see." Arthur sends Tom
off on his mission to tell far and wide the story of Camelot.
In a way, that story is a parable of what we commence here
today.(3) This is the first Sunday in Advent, the first Sunday in
a brand new church year. As has been happening for centuries of
Christian history, each year from "December to December" we
retell the story of Jesus from beginning to end, and as our
gospel lesson reminds us, we note that the story continues and
will culminate in his coming again. So, in his own words,
"Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will
come...And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake."
No question, the story is wonderful in the retelling. The
idyllic setting of the Garden of Eden (early Camelot?), the
entrance of sin into the picture - not only Adam and Eve, or even
Lancelot and Guinevere, but you and me as well - then the
reminder that sin does not have the last word: grace, mercy and
the love of Jesus do. In a cycle that continues, our story is
very much like the story of Camelot, for we, like Arthur, know
that the shattered vision is not the end of God's story with us.
"Tell it again, Daddy." Do you remember saying that when
you were little? Or hearing it from your own children? It was
always after some favorite story. Advent and the beginning of a
new church year is our time to collectively call out, "Tell it
again, Daddy." True, just like "Sir Tom" of Camelot, we have
heard it over and over again. No matter; it is always wonderful.
But we do well to recall that, like Tom, our mission is not only
to remember, "December to December," but also to tell the story
far and wide - reminding those who know it, and proclaiming it
afresh to those who have never heard. "Tell it again, Daddy."
Have a wonderful season.
Amen!
1. Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, Music by Frederick Loewe, 1960 2. (1958) The Once and Future King is the collective volume of works, loosely based on
Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur (c.1469), which includes The Sword in the Stone, The
Queen of Air and Darkness (formerly The Witch in the Wood), The Ill-Made Knight, and The
Candle in the Wind. 3. Thanks to Ken Kesselus, Rector of Calvary Episcopal Church, Bastrop, Texas for the
creative blending of the Camelot story with the beginning of Advent. Via Ecunet, "Worship that
Works," #312, 10/26/99 4. Katherine Hankey, 1866
A more congenial spot
For happ'ly ever aftering
Than here in Camelot.(1)
Before you drift to sleep upon your cot,
Think back on all the tales that you remember
of Camelot.
And tell it strong and clear if he has not,
That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory
Called Camelot.
Of Jesus and his love.(4)
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