{"id":17628,"date":"2019-12-21T08:58:07","date_gmt":"2019-12-21T13:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/?p=17628"},"modified":"2019-12-21T14:35:19","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T19:35:19","slug":"the-center-of-the-universe-at-3-p-m-gmt-on-dec-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/?p=17628","title":{"rendered":"The center of the universe at 3 p.m. GMT on Dec. 24"},"content":{"rendered":"<hr \/>\n<div data-mode=\"normal\" data-oembed=\"1\" data-provider=\"youtube\" id=\"arve-youtube-tt3cfxd3shk\" style=\"max-width:840px;\" class=\"arve\">\n<div class=\"arve-inner\">\n<div style=\"aspect-ratio:840\/473\" class=\"arve-embed arve-embed--has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"arve-ar\" style=\"padding-top:56.309524%\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<iframe allow=\"accelerometer &apos;none&apos;;autoplay &apos;none&apos;;bluetooth &apos;none&apos;;browsing-topics &apos;none&apos;;camera &apos;none&apos;;clipboard-read &apos;none&apos;;clipboard-write;display-capture &apos;none&apos;;encrypted-media &apos;none&apos;;gamepad &apos;none&apos;;geolocation &apos;none&apos;;gyroscope &apos;none&apos;;hid &apos;none&apos;;identity-credentials-get &apos;none&apos;;idle-detection &apos;none&apos;;keyboard-map &apos;none&apos;;local-fonts;magnetometer &apos;none&apos;;microphone &apos;none&apos;;midi &apos;none&apos;;otp-credentials &apos;none&apos;;payment &apos;none&apos;;picture-in-picture;publickey-credentials-create &apos;none&apos;;publickey-credentials-get &apos;none&apos;;screen-wake-lock &apos;none&apos;;serial &apos;none&apos;;summarizer &apos;none&apos;;sync-xhr;usb &apos;none&apos;;web-share;window-management &apos;none&apos;;xr-spatial-tracking &apos;none&apos;;\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"arve-iframe fitvidsignore\" credentialless data-arve=\"arve-youtube-tt3cfxd3shk\" data-lenis-prevent=\"\" data-src-no-ap=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/TT3cfXd3Shk?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"473\" loading=\"lazy\" name=\"\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-presentation allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/TT3cfXd3Shk?feature=oembed&#038;iv_load_policy=3&#038;modestbranding=1&#038;rel=0&#038;autohide=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autoplay=0\" title=\"\" width=\"840\"><\/iframe><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"http:\\\/\\\/schema.org\\\/\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/acornabbey.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=17628#arve-youtube-tt3cfxd3shk\",\"@type\":\"VideoObject\",\"embedURL\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\\\/embed\\\/TT3cfXd3Shk?feature=oembed&iv_load_policy=3&modestbranding=1&rel=0&autohide=1&playsinline=0&autoplay=0\"}<\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<em>The opening of the 2015 broadcast<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a saying of mine that the center of the universe is not a fixed place. It moves constantly. Young Luke Skywalker touches on this in Star Wars episode IV, when the says, &#8220;Well, if there&#8217;s a bright center of the universe, you&#8217;re on the planet that it&#8217;s farthest from.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Many people live their entire lives in the dull, obscure shadows of being and meaning, with never a moment at the center of the universe. Lucky is the life that gets there once or twice, in a moment of bliss or discovery or good fortune. But the miracle lasts only for a moment, like lightning. Then the center of the universe moves on.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s highly presumptuous of me to claim to predict, in advance, where the center of the universe will be at any future moment. But I dare to predict that at 3 p.m. GMT on December 24, with what remains of Christendom in an annual moment of focus, the center of the universe will be at Cambridge, in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/King%27s_College_Chapel,_Cambridge\">the chapel of King&#8217;s College<\/a>. At that moment, a boy soprano who learned only moments before that he is the chosen voice, will, for about the 100th time, step forward and sing &#8220;Once in royal David&#8217;s city.&#8221; After the solo, as the BBC&#8217;s camera pans across the high fan vaults of the chapel, the choir will join, then the organ and the congregation.<\/p>\n<p>I would say that the BBC will be there to record the moment, but the BBC&#8217;s broadcast actually is recorded in advance. The service is repeated on Christmas Eve, though, for those who waited all night out in the cold to get a seat.<\/p>\n<p>You might wonder why this matters to an old heathen like me. That&#8217;s easy: It&#8217;s the music. I wouldn&#8217;t give you two cents for the total output of every Christian theologian who ever lived. But the art and music &#8212; and a heretic or two such as Joan of Arc &#8212; are a different story. A culture can lose its religion, but the tradition may still matter.<\/p>\n<p>I can hardly imagine a greater privilege for a child than to grow up as a chorister at Cambridge. It would be far better than being rich. Fortunately, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/the-christmastime-suicide-myth\/\">it&#8217;s a myth<\/a> that suicides peak at Christmastime. A song says that &#8220;it&#8217;s the best time of the year.&#8221; Maybe. But I&#8217;d argue that, for most people, it&#8217;s the most existentially arduous time of the year. And that which is existentially arduous, I suspect, tends to attract the center of the universe. I am about 4,000 miles from Cambridge and many parsecs from the center of the universe, wherever it may be. But at 15:00 GMT on Christmas Eve, I hope to pick up a signal from the center of the universe and maybe even sing with those who&#8217;re there.<\/p>\n<p>Those of you in the United Kingdom already know how to get the BBC&#8217;s Christmas Eve broadcast. In the United States it&#8217;s a bit more difficult. Cable companies, satellite radio, and some radio stations will carry it, and you should be able to stream it with the right app on your smartphone.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the music. If you start practicing, you&#8217;ll be able to sing with them:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Once_In_Royal_Davids_576.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"766\" src=\"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Once_In_Royal_Davids_576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-17652\" srcset=\"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Once_In_Royal_Davids_576.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Once_In_Royal_Davids_576-300x230.jpg 300w, https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Once_In_Royal_Davids_576-768x588.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The opening of the 2015 broadcast It&#8217;s a saying of mine that the center of the universe is not a fixed place. It moves constantly. Young Luke Skywalker touches on this in Star Wars episode IV, when the says, &#8220;Well, if there&#8217;s a bright center of the universe, you&#8217;re on the planet that it&#8217;s farthest &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/?p=17628\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The center of the universe at 3 p.m. GMT on Dec. 24&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17628"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17670,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17628\/revisions\/17670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}