The
Twelfth Day of Christmas
January
5 / 2014
One of the things that I
am glad about at this time of year is that we are no longer being saturated
with the holiday movie-aton that was on pretty much every station from mid
December to the end of the month. I do
not know how many times I sat down at the television to watch something
entertaining and found only holiday
movies – Deck the Halls, I’ll be home for Christmas, Miracle on 34th
Street, even It’s a Wonderful Life although I will admit to liking this
particular holiday movie- you even get it on the kids stations, the same sort
of themes only it is happening to Mickey Mouse or Doc McStuffins, or Bob the
Builder – What I find hard to take is the happy ever after stuff – you know the
plot line that runs to – as long as it is Christmas then all will be well and
all of life problems will end, and the happiness which has been elusive for
such a long time is suddenly in your grasp – what I find objectionable about it
is that this is not what Christmas is about – no matter how many times I read
and re-read the Christmas story – I do not witness a happily ever after life,
it is not the end of the story– instead I witness God getting into the world
with ordinary people in less than ideal conditions– at a time in world history
when being a Jew – as Jesus was – was difficult and life was hard. I witness the incarnation not coming to the
rich and the powerful or even those in the know and with prestige and influence
instead the incarnation is revealed to shepherds and foreigners. Even though the birth is a moment of grace –
it is followed in Matthew’s gospel with fleeing into Egypt to escape execution
– and in Luke gospel – the moment of birth is followed by the ritual of
circumcision being presented at the temple and prophecy of difficult times to
come from Simeon and Anna. What I
witness in the Christmas story is life about to start in a new way for the
people living the story - Christmas is about a beginning – not an ending – it
is about Jesus being born and beginning his life which we know ends in tragedy
but more than that – Christmas is about od being in the world – living amongst
us and showing us the way to be. Emmanuel
– God with us and how we now live in the world because God is here. Howard Thurman says it so well in his poem.
The Work of Christmas
When the song of
the angels is stilled,When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.
Christmas is a beginning - According to the church calendar, Jan. 5 is the twelfth of twelve days of Christmas, the final day of the Christmas season from the celebration of Jesus’ birth on December 25, to the arrival of the magi on January 6. But as far as most the rest of the world is concerned, it’s the fifth day of a new year, Christmas is a distant memory, our trees and decorations are packed away most of our resolutions have already failed, and we’re now almost back to school or work except of course if tomorrow is a snow day and all the ordinary challenges and mundane activities of our daily lives are what are occupying our minds.
But it is still Christmas – In the Christian liturgical calendar, Christmas is celebrated for 12 whole days. Hence, the carol The Twelve Days of Christmas, which according to myth has a Christian theme – supposedly back in the day when the protestants and the catholic did not like each other, and persecuted each other, this hymn was reportedly written by a Jesuit priest in England in the 16th century, during the time of Henry the 8th and Elizabeth the first when being a catholic had fatal consequences. The song was a catholic catechism in disguise
-true love” refers to God,
“me” is the individual Catholic.
The “twelve lords a leaping” are the twelve basic
beliefs of the Catholic Church as outlined in the Apostles Creed.
The “eleven
pipers piping” are the eleven Apostles who remained faithful.
The “ten ladies dancing” are the Ten Commandments.
You get the picture...leading to of course The
“partridge” which is the piece de resistance, Jesus himself,
and the “pear tree” is the Cross. A song
to sing all the tenets of faith – and also to honour the 12 days of Christmas
from December 25 until January 5 because tomorrow is Epiphany and the official
end of the Christmas season – for that is when the story is about the Magi
coming to offer their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, arrive – which is
still part of the Christmas story.
The story of Christmas does not end in the manger.
The story of God Incarnate only begins there. It is still Christmas and there
is work to be done.
To find the lost,To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.
David Lose writes: “Which is precisely why we need a reminder that Christmas isn’t just a holiday or festival but rather witnesses to a reality that permeates our whole life. And there could be no better passage to remind us of the ongoing significance of Christmas than this passage from John. Why? Because John invites us to contemplate a non-sentimental Christmas that fills us with hope and joy the whole year.”[1]John invites us to leave behind images of mangers and angels and focus instead on the incarnation – focus instead on what it means to have Emmanuel – God with us – in this world of ours.
In the beginning was the
word – and the word was God and the word was with God – before all that there
was – and into all that there is – and beyond all that there ever will be there
is God and there is the Word and it is good.
And all things came into being through God and the word and it was good
and this word became flesh and dwelt amongst us... – and on this first Sunday
in a new year we begin as it were at the beginning and think about cosmic
things about when God started it all that leads up to this day and this moment
– the word made flesh came and dwelt among us – John’s Christmas story
incarnation. No angels, no shepherds, no
stars in the sky or sages from the east – Just God and the Word made flesh –
living on this earth, in that time – incarnation – in this time - Merry
Christmas.
Frederick Buechner
writes: "We preach Christ
crucified," the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, "a
stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles" (1 Cor. 1:23). He could as
well have written, "We preach Christ born" or "We preach
Christmas," because the birth presents no fewer problems than the death
does both to religious people - "the Jews" - and to everybody else -
"the Gentiles." Christmas is not just Mr. Pickwick dancing a reel
with the old lady at Dingley Dell or Scrooge waking up the next morning a
changed man. It is not just the spirit of giving abroad in the land with a
white beard and reindeer. It is not just the most famous birthday of them all
and not just the annual reaffirmation of "Peace on Earth" that it is
often reduced to so that people of many faiths or no faith can exchange
Christmas cards without a qualm. On the contrary, if you do not hear in the
message of Christmas something that must strike some as blasphemy and others as
sheer fantasy, the chances are you have not heard the message for what it is.
Emmanuel is the message in a nutshell, which is Hebrew for "God with
us." Who is this God? How is he with us?”[2]
these are our questions – this God – this Emmanuel in the world – this word
made flesh – how is he with us? He is
with us when we do the work of Christmas – when we feed the hungry and find the
lost, and share and care and give and receive – when we love our neighbour as
ourselves and love our God with all our heart and all our mind and all our soul
the work of Christmas is being carried out.
God is with and that is
the Christmas message – and because of that we are God’s people – “What has
come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all
people.” God is light to all of God’s
people, God is life to us! Christmas.
The work of Christmas
·
It is about being open to angel messages
and heeding them
·
It is about finding God in ordinary places like
mangers and stables and restaurants and ski slopes
·
It is about recognizing that God comes to
ordinary people and changes their lives like Mary and Joseph and you and me
·
It is about trusting God’s plan
·
It is about following stars and listening
to dreams
·
It is about witnessing to and living
remembering that the word made flesh, the incarnation is here and we are God’s
people.
To
love as Jesus loved, to serve as Jesus served, to care as Jesus cared, to stand
up for justice and equality as Jesus did – in short the work of Christmas is to
listen to the Word made flesh – Jesus and live as much as possible as he did.
Today is the 12th day of Christmas –
tomorrow is Epiphany – and although we may think that Christmas is over and
done for this year the work of Christmas is not ever over.
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.
I (Jesus is) am the light of the world, you people come
and follow me
If you follow and love you learn the mystery of what we
were meant to do and be.
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