By their fruits ye shall know them

It begins with the purple attired Queen, dapper in pearls. Almost immediately she vanishes. "God save the Queen" is played, and we are transported to Hampton Court Palace. The camera lingers on an exterior unicorn and other heraldic icons. We see the clock, bang on 3, and close into the House of Stewart flag. Suddenly we are inside the Palace, the camera detailing the magnificent decoration within the chapel. Our cameraman hesitates upon the phrase "Dieu et mon droit" ; God and my right - a reference to the supposed divine right of the monarch to govern. (Basically, the monarch is answerable only to God, not to parliament, the people, any other monarch; or any church - see King James 6th and 1st))

HM reappears, now up in the proverbial "heavens". Below are angelic choir children. She begins her Christmas message:

Over 400 years ago King James VI of Scotland inherited the throne of England at a time when the Christian church was deeply divided.

Here at Hampton Court in 1604, he convened a conference of churchmen of all shades of opinion to discuss the future of Christianity in this country.

The king agreed to commission a new translation of the bible that was acceptable to all parties.

This was to become the King James, or Authorized, Bible, which next year will be exactly four centuries old.

At this point the camera image changes to a copy of the first page of an early KJV Bible:

Acknowledged as a masterpiece of English prose and the most vivid translation of the scriptures, the glorious language of this bible has survived the turbulence of history and given many of us the most widely recognised and beautiful descriptions of the birth of Jesus Christ which we celebrate today.

The Queen is still preaching as above, the image changes to another - the title - page. "To the Most High and Mightie (sic) King James". Then the Gospel of St. Luke pops up.

We then cut to little schoolchildren Bible reading Luke, they are mostly of ethnic appearance. It begins at verse 6 and ends at 13 although 10,11 & 12 are skipped. (The word taxes appears in the KJV, prior to the revision it was census). Then to the choir: all white I think, dressed in red, conducted by a black gentleman. They sing While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks". We cut back to HM:

The King James Bible was a major co-operative endeavour that required the efforts of dozens of the day's leading scholars.

At this point we go back to the chapel decoration - a Royal crown is lingered upon

The whole enterprise was guided by an interest in reaching agreement for the wider benefit of the Christian church, and to bring harmony to the kingdoms of England and Scotland.

Again back to HM

Four hundred years later, it is as important as ever to build communities and create harmony, and one of the most powerful ways of doing this is through sport and games.

Here we shoot to Wimbledon last summer and the Queen's visit there after a 33 year absence. More little children are shown, a large proportion coloured (bear in mind I live in Scotland). Again they wear red. (Later the Queen watched Dunblane massacre survivor, Andy Murray). The date is 24th June, importantly the anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn.(Braveheart Enigma)

During this past year of abundant sporting events, I have seen for myself just how important sport is in bringing people together from all backgrounds, from all walks of life and from all age groups.

Back to HM again:

In the parks of towns and cities, and on village greens up and down the country, countless thousands of people every week give up their time to participate in sport and exercise of all sorts, or simply encourage others to do so.

These kinds of activity are common throughout the world and play a part in providing a different perspective on life.

We now cut to televisual images of the Royal Princes, William and Harry, playing football on their recent World Cup coinciding Africa trip; high fiving with little - once suffering - African children. Wills is in the familiar number 11, more camera time is devoted to him than his sibling. (Drip Fed)

Apart from developing physical fitness, sport and games can also teach vital social skills.

Back to HM:

None can be enjoyed without abiding by the rules, and no team can hope to succeed without co-operation between the players. This sort of positive team spirit can benefit communities, companies and enterprises of all kinds.

Then to images of physically"disabled" athletes, they appear to be US forces, or certainly military. Briefly interrupted by a quick blast of Charles and Camilla. Followed by Prince Andrew, watching robotic legged ex-forces playing Scots born golf.
As the success of recent Paralympics bears witness, a love of sport also has the power to help rehabilitate.

One only has to think of the injured men and women of the Armed Forces to see how an interest in games and sport can speed recovery and renew a sense of purpose, enjoyment and comradeship.

We cut back to HM:

Right around the world, people gather to compete under standard rules and, in most cases, in a spirit of friendly rivalry. Competitors know that, to succeed, they must respect their opponents; very often, they like each other too.

We go to images of canoeists, canoeing. A banner states Complete. Dinghies appear. Some sort of race. Our camera utilises the number 18 gate as foreground. We see Princess Anne spectating then cut to a track event. It is the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games. Someone has won a race; a Jamaican, Lerone Clarke. Born 7/7. A dismal performance by his own standards but he still won. Three black athletes with medals are shown, they can't disguise their jubilation. On the podium their upper lips quiver.

Sportsmen and women often speak of the enormous pride they have in representing their country, a sense of belonging to a wider family.

We see this vividly at the Commonwealth Games, for example, which is known to many as the Friendly Games and where I am sure you have noticed that it is always the competitors from the smallest countries who receive the loudest cheers.

Back to HM (this time an ornamental nativity scene and Christmas tree flank her):

People are capable of belonging to many communities, including a religious faith. King James may not have anticipated quite how important sport and games were to become in promoting harmony and common interests. (Funny that, because King James also published a book detailing acceptable Sabbath sport)

But from the scriptures in the bible which bears his name, we know that nothing is more satisfying than the feeling of belonging to a group who are dedicated to helping each other (Here we focus solely on the nativity) :

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.

Then back to HM:

I wish you, and all those whom you love and care for, a very happy Christmas.

To close, the choir sing Holly and the Ivy.

cheers

Matthew 7 - see Queen's penultimate sentence; watch where you are being driven.

BBC -text and video.