5 December 2025

Margery Williams wrote a beautiful and now very famous book entitled, ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’. It’s all about a rabbit who is trying to work out what it means to be real. The answer in a nutshell is that to be real is to be loved. We all understand that.

Williams wrote other books. I have another. It’s called ‘The Hurdy-Gurdy Man’. He arrives at a town with his hurdy-gurdy on his back along with his pet monkey. The adults in the town are not keen on associating with him not least because they think the monkey is dirty.

But the children view things differently. When he begins to play his hurdy-gurdy, the children are entranced. They love the music and they are attracted to the monkey. When the teacher calls them into school, they do not go. When the mayor orders them to leave the town square, they do not go.

A second tune is played on the hurdy-gurdy and gradually, the adults are drawn into the orbit of his entrancing music. They begin to dance and to laugh as the third and final tune is played. ‘Let’s have  a picnic!’ cried the mayor and the children shout back, ‘A picnic! A picnic!’

There hadn’t been a picnic in the town in living memory. And now everyone was united together in the celebration. But where was the hurdy-gurdy man? He had vanished. No-one had seen him go. He had just disappeared.

St. Paul says that everyone has been given a gift by the Holy Spirit for the common good. It is not for ourselves nor our elevation but for others. And once the gift has been given, it is time for us to vanish. ‘I planted, Apollos watered but God gave the growth.’ We must let the Spirit come and work its cure without any interference!