Tag Archives: Christmastide

3rd Day of Christmas / John — December 27

“Jesus and the Beloved Disciple” by John Giuliani, 1996

Bible connection

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. – 1 Corinthians 13:12-13

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love (Jesus). – John 15:9

All about John (c. 6-100)

Today is the feast day of John, the Apostle and Evangelist, who recorded the words of Jesus, quoted above. He called himself “the beloved disciple.” I doubt that means he was more beloved than the others, but it certainly means he knew he was loved!

John the Apostle was the son of Zebedee and the younger brother of James. According to church tradition, their mother was Salome. John is one of two disciples (the other being Andrew) recounted in John 1:35–39, who upon hearing John the Baptist point out Jesus as the “Lamb of God,” followed Jesus and spent the day with him, thus becoming the first two disciples called by Jesus.

Jesus referred to Zebedee’s sons as “Boanerges” (translated “sons of thunder”). A Gospel story relates how the brothers wanted to call down heavenly fire on an unhospitable Samaritan town, but Jesus rebuked them. John was also the disciple who reported to Jesus that they had “forbidden” a non-disciple from casting out demons in Jesus’ name, prompting Jesus to state that “he who is not against us is on our side.”

John is always mentioned in the group of the first four apostles in the Gospels and in the Book of Acts, listed either second, third or fourth. He, along with his brother, James, and Peter, formed an informal triumvirate among the Twelve Apostles in the Gospels. Jesus allowed them to be the only apostles present at three particular occasions during his public ministry: the raising of Jairus’ daughter, his transfiguration, and his time of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus sent only Peter and John into the city to make the preparation for the final Passover meal.

After the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, only Peter and John followed him into the palace of the high-priest. The “beloved disciple” alone, among the Apostles, remained near Jesus at the foot of the cross. Following the instruction of Jesus from the Cross, the beloved disciple took Mary, the mother of Jesus, into his care. Peter and John were also the only two apostles who ran to the empty tomb after Mary Magdalene bore witness to the resurrection of Jesus.

After Jesus’ Ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, John, together with Peter, took a prominent part in the founding and guidance of the church. He was with Peter at the healing of the lame man at Solomon’s Porch in the Temple and he was also thrown into prison with Peter. Later, only Peter and John went to visit the newly converted believers in Samaria.

John is traditionally believed to live on for more than fifty years after the martyrdom of his brother James, who became the first Apostle to die a martyr’s death in AD 44.

Most authorship of New Testament works are disputed. John is the author of the Gospel bearing his name, three letters and the Book of Revelation.

5 Reasons To Love Faverolles Chickens
Present-day French hens — Faverolles

On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love sent to me… Three French Hens.

Today is also the third day of Christmas. Going with our spiritualization of the kid’s Christmas song, the singer’s “true love” (that would be Jesus, in this case) sent His true love (John, Paul and the rest of us disciples/friends) three “virtues” — that is, three inner motivations that dispose one to act rightly. In the Catholic catechism, faith, hope and love are the “theological” virtues.

The famous Thomas Aquinas  explained that these three virtues are called theological “because they have God for their object, both in so far as by them we are properly directed to Him, and because they are infused into our souls by God alone, as also, finally, because we come to know of them only by Divine revelation in the Sacred Scriptures”

Actual French hens, in the song, are probably just everyday chickens, although fancy French hens have been bred for show since the 1800’s. In the 1600’s, however, a meal of three nice chickens would be what rich people were eating. Some interpretations of the song say the “secret” meaning has a lot to do with expensive gifts brought by the wise men: gold, frankincense and myrrh. In that case you can sing this verse as a praise song, seeing Jesus telling the world how his true love made a feast for him in the cold world, and offered her best to do it.

What do we do with this?

Pray: As the Father loves you, you love me. Thank you.

Regardless of secret meanings, the clear message of John is all about love: Jesus and you are one another’s beloved and you are exchanging valuable gifts. It would be terrible to keep Christmas with a discussion of the value of chickens or an assessment of one’s virtue, wouldn’t it?!

Be the beloved who got the “chickens” on whatever level you want to interpret that. Supply your own secret meaning, if you like.

Be the lover who gives the gifts. We often feel so needy, we forget our commitment to love. Why don’t you take a step out of your usual reactions to others or your usual routine and do something that gives someone some love in a way they can understand? Don’t call attention to the fact you are doing this, just be it. Later, write in your journal about how that felt or how it didn’t.

2nd Day of Christmas / Stephen — December 26

Stoning of Stephen — Rembrandt

Bible connection

Read Acts 22:1-21

When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me. “Quick!” he said. “Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.”

“Lord,” I replied, “these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.”

Then the Lord said to me, “Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.”

All about Stephen (ca. 5-34)

The future that dawns with the birth of Jesus does not come without cost.

For Stephen, the future meant trading his life for telling the truth to the powers that be (Acts 6-7).

Stephen was dragged before the Sanhedrin where he faced faced two accusations: 1) he had declared that Jesus would destroy the Temple in Jerusalem and 2) he had changed the customs of Moses. Stephen denounces his accusers and listeners as “stiff-necked” people who, just as their ancestors had done, resist the Holy Spirit. “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers: who have received the law by the disposition of the angels, and have not kept it.”

The crowd, so impugned, could not contain their anger. They descended on him and took him out to be stoned. At the place, Stephen looked up and cried, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God” —  the recently resurrected Jesus was standing by the side of God.

The people from the crowd, who threw the first stones, laid their coats down at the feet of a young man named Saul who later took the name Paul, the apostle. Stephen prayed the Lord would receive his spirit and forgive his killers. He sank to his knees, and “fell asleep.” Saul “was consenting unto his death.” In the aftermath of Stephen’s death, the remaining disciples except for the apostles fled to distant lands, many to Antioch.

We remember the death of the first Christian martyr on the second day of Christmas each year. This is the “feast of Stephen” we sing about in the Christmas carol: “Good King Wenceslas.”

BTW — Vaclav (“vatslaf” in Czech) Havel who died a few years back , is a namesake of King Wenceslas and also something of a martyr for speaking back to the powers when the Czech Republic was born in spite of Soviet occupation. Stephen was the first martyr of many to come in the church.

For Paul, moving into the dawn of the future meant leaving Jerusalem in a hurry, at one point, told in today’s reading. Following Jesus still means an adventurous, but totally unpredictable and often troubling life on the road.

More

From Rod: Stephen Day: The gift of Martyrdom [link]

An enacted reading of the whole story of Stephen as recorded in Acts 7:

Where is Stephen buried? Israeli and Palestinian archeologists say they found his tomb in Ramallah in 2014. Salesian monks say he is buried in a cave at Beit Jimal.  Pope Pelagius II claimed he interred him next to  St. Lawrence in the , whose tomb is enshrined within the church of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura after he became pope in 579. According to the Golden Legend, the relics of Lawrence moved miraculously to one side to make room for those of Stephen.

St. Stephen’s Day was a big day in England. It was known as Boxing Day, the day church alms boxes were opened and the contents distributed to the needy. Nowadays is it a big day for hospitality; many people look for people who might be left out to fill their table. In Ireland some places held Wren Day — check out the link if you’d like to know another place Mummers came from.

Here is a site full of Boxing Day traditions.

Campaign to create turtle dove habitats in North Yorkshire - BBC News
Two turtle doves for the second day of Christmas.

On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love sent to me…Two Turtle Doves

Receiving doves is a symbol of truth and peace. That would be lovely enough. If you want to go with the possibly-catechetical secret meaning of the 12 Days carol, the two doves represent the Old and New Testaments, which together bear witness to God’s self-revelation in history and the creation of a people to tell the story of God to the world.

What do we do with this?

Pray: Help me look around without fear and see my opportunities to share your truth and love.

It costs us to tell the story of our faith, or so we fear. What is your story? Spend a minute with Jesus and let him help you remember who you are in Christ. Maybe you should write it down.

1st Day of Christmas — December 25

Dawn over Bethlehem PA

Bible connection

“Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered you under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but you would not have it so . . . .” — Luke 13:34

All about Christmas Day

Jesus followers celebrate Christmas Day as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, who is the incarnation of God. As a result, it is also a profound celebration of our own incarnation as the body of Christ composed of the children of God.

These days, as we gather around our Christmas trees to celebrate Christmas, few of us think of Christmas Day as a beginning. For most people Christmas is the culmination, the climax of weeks of planning, shopping, and anticipation. Not many are even aware that, traditionally, Christmas is just the first day of a twelve-day season of joy.

Ever since the Council of Tours met in 567 and proclaimed the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany as a sacred and festive time, the Church has officially observed both an Advent season for preparation and a Christmas season for the celebration of our Lord’s nativity.

Unfortunately, much of the richness of religious seasons like Christmastide was muted in the Reformation. The people determined to reform the Roman Catholic Church tried to move people from the visual to the intellectual, from elaborate ritual to simple observance; they favored minimalist gatherings for teaching and prayer rather than spectacles. As a result, the festivals of Advent and Epiphany, which had become the mix of biblical stories and allegorical traditions they still are today, were suppressed in Reformed churches. However, in spite of the church’s stand, people weren’t willing to give up some of their delightful Christmas customs. As a result, Advent and Christmas became desacralized and became times of good-natured reveling rather than times for spiritual observance.

Recently some Evangelicals and Anabaptists have tried to recapture the spiritual festivals of the Christian year. They have revisited the wisdom the church year dramatizes and how it gives the whole church another look at the story of Jesus at the heart of everything. The church year forms an annual curriculum, of sorts, that tells the story of our faith: those who experience it soak up the basics of the gospel. It begins with Advent.

Christmastide allows us a restful, celebrative season to soak in the spiritual and relational joys of being one with Christ who became one with us and will come again to welcome us into the age to come in fullness.

So let’s have the twelve days of Christmas until January 5 (Twelfth Night) and enjoy Epiphany, January 6.

The popular song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” can lead us. This old carol is usually seen as simply a nonsense song for children. It would not be a mistake to keep it there.

However, some authors in the 1990’s suggested that it was also a song of Christian instruction, perhaps dating to the 17th century religious wars in England, with hidden references to the basic teachings of the Christian faith.  They contend that it was a device to teach the catechism to youngsters. The “true love” mentioned in the song is not an earthly suitor, but refers to God Himself. The “me” who receives the presents refers to every baptized person who shares faith in Jesus. Each of the “days” represents some aspect of the truth in Christ that is important for children to learn. It is probably just a fun dance song that is sort of annoying when it is merely sung. But pondering how it could represent deeper things is fine. [Try these thoughts]. Jesus followers can meditate on almost anything and experience the presence of God leading us to dance! So let’s start with a line from the “Twelve Days” each day.

On the 1st day of Christmas my true love sent to me… A partridge in a pear tree

Since partridges are unlikely to be seen in pear-trees (they are ground-nesting birds), it has been suggested that the text “a pear tree” is a corruption of the French “une perdrix” (a partridge).

For those who want this song to have a religious meaning, the partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge. Legend has it that partridge mothers will feign injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings. This would be something like the Lord’s sentiment in today’s reading, wanting to take Jerusalem under his wings like a hen. The ground-nesting partridge stuck in a tree is as odd as the Son of God, now lying relatively secure in the manger, nailed to “the tree.”

What do we do with this?

Pray: I greet you Lord, born this happy morning. To you be all glory given.

If faith is expressed in one’s childhood home, they are more likely to be part of the church when they are older. Repeated traditions help all of us know and remember who we are and develop our identity as God’s children. Celebrations help us all express our faith.

Advent was meant for anticipation and preparation. Christmastide is for an extended celebration. Getting the horse back into the barn it escaped on Black Friday is probably a lost cause. But these entries are little gifts to help us recover from the worldly glut that most of us just experienced and refocus on the Joy to the World about whom angels were singing in the wee hours of this morning [Inspiring, multicultural Evangelicals]. If you really want to get into it, you could spread out the kids’ gifts over twelve days with the best one reserved for Epiphany. You could offer little gifts to those you love or who ought to love Jesus over these days of celebration — just little love notes would be more than most people get.

Like Jesus, you might want to look out over our region and have some feelings. On the one hand, literally millions of people understand quite well what this day is all about. On the other hand millions do not know what their ignorance and rejection is storing up for them. We wish we could hold them all in love.