Answering The Call #2: 12 Days of Christmas

[stevene]

....(podcast version available at ATC081221)
Is it deep spiritual connectedness, or anti-social rebellion? I’m talking about myself, and my unwillingness to “celebrate” Christmas before the evening of the 24th of December. To be honest, I’m not sure myself.

I have been a performing musician in religious settings since the third grade, and maybe more than that. I can remember singing in an Anglican-style boys’ choir as far back as 1965, and it’s possible that this started even before that. I can remember performing in school even before that, but I don’t consider that “religious setting” even though I attended a private Christian school through second grade. I remember my voice cracking for the first time singing “Fairest Lord Jesus” in St. George’s Episcopal Church as one of the “elder” members of “The Junior Choir” which is what “the Boys’ Choir” became after girls starting singing with the boys.

Even in the years I separated myself from the Church, I was still a busy musician in December. Every school group I ever played or sang in had a Christmas concert. My senior year in high school I was in the Concert Band, the Orchestra, the Jazz Band, the Concert Choir, and the Madrigals. Plus I was the announcer for the vocal groups. And I was part of a quartet that did something during intermission. I became light-headed in the second half, almost passing out.

When I got married, my bride and I decided we would always observe Christmas Eve in our own home. If we did any traveling, it was always AFTER Christmas Day, usually within the 12 Days the ancient Church recognizes as “Christmastide”. My wife and I have been at least as busy as adult musicians in Church, and perhaps more so. So, Advent is a working season for us. The ancient Church has recognized this Season of Advent as the four Sundays preceding Christmas Eve, and called for a penitential time of preparation for the celebration of Christmastide.

So, the traditionalist in me resists the early recognition of Christmas out of respect for the tradition of Advent. The musician in me postpones the celebration of Christmas until after the musical work is complete (that is, on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day). And the anti-social gremlin in me rebels against society’s nihilistic celebrations more appropriate to the even more ancient celebration of Saturnalia.

So which of these is the real reason I honor the recognition of Advent?

I suspect each bears a piece of the responsibility. I have never had a lot of money to spend on lavish celebrations. As I was growing up, Christmas and Easter were the major occasions for wardrobe acquisitions. I always got a new suit for Easter Sunday. Christmas stockings were filled with oranges and socks, and most of the presents under the tree were items of clothing. Roll in new pants for “Back to School” and my wardrobe kept up with my growth. There were no special treats, like Nintendos or Wiis. Sometimes there were books, and often there were pieces of music.

So the anticipation of gifts was never a high point of Christmas for me. Parties brought together friends to sing and play games, and were the most enjoyable part of the month of December. Christmas pageants were a tradition in the churches of my youth, and these were something to look forward to. And, of course, the concerts. This year, my 52nd December, I have played in 6 different concerts, in addition to 4 Sunday services and 4 Wednesday services. I led a Carol Sing with my wife, and we attended another concert together. On Christmas Eve, I will play and sing with the Worship Team at my church, and then drive 6 miles to my wife’s church to play guitar for the closing song in her service (that will be “Silent Night”)..

There is little room in this schedule for shopping, or special adoration of the Christ child. But, in the musical words of Maureen McGovern, “There’s got to be a morning after!” My wife will take part of Christmas Day to serve meals at an Open House in her church. I will probably reread the story of Christ’s birth in Luke.

And then we will begin our family celebration:
.....On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree.

At my high school’s Christmas Concert senior year, we sang another song:
.....On the first day after Christmas, my true love and I had a fight! And so I chopped that pear tree down, and
.....burned it just for spite! Then with a single cartridge I shot that blasted partridge! My true love! My true love!
.....My true love and I had a fight!

So what do you do after an Advent Season filled with performances, and services, and parties, and concerts? It would be very easy to do, as one of my favorite podcasters advocates, “The tree comes down after dark on the 25th of December.” Then we return to normal life!. That is depressing to me. I often don’t START playing Christmas music on my cell phone, radio and home stereo until the 25th. And I will continue at least through New Year’s Day, and often up to Epiphany, the 6th of January. These are the 12 Days of Christmas.

How do we celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas? What did Ebenezer Scrooge do after the Three Spirits did their work in his heart?
.....He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterward;
.....and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the
.....knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!

It’s rarely included in the various versions of “A Christmas Carol” that we see this time of year, but Dickens was clear that Scrooge recognized the importance of “church” after his transformation. In “The Gospel According to Scrooge” this importance is brought to the front of the story, and it is a wonderful transformation. I’ve played in the orchestra for six presentations of this musical in two years. It’s a good piece to perform sometimes, if you have the masses to put it together.

What does it mean to say, “He knew how to keep Christmas well?” Last week my wife and I led a Christmas Carol Sing at my church, taking over the program of our small group, and inviting others of the congregation to join us. It was a great time of worship and celebration, and even though some of those present did not know all the songs we sang, it seemed to be enjoyed by all. One person who was there lost his mom at Christmas a few years back, and while he started the evening at a physical distance (mourning his mother again), by the end of the evening he was singing along. And when our pastor joined us for a short time about halfway through, it seemed as though he was touched by Spirit of the evening. He suggested that, at some other time, we could take this show on the road, visiting a local retirement home to share our carol-sing with others.

What does it mean to keep Christmas well? Is this a time of giving presents to others? I would say no. I have worked retail for a significant part of my life, and recognize the value of so-called “Black Friday,” but presents deserve at best a minimal part of the celebration. Another of my favorite podcasters defended her exaltation of “Black Friday” shopping by saying “I don’t spend that much money” and “I have to, or there wouldn’t be any Christmas for us.” My problem with this attitude is that it places shopping and gift-giving as THE reason for the season. That is not “keeping Christmas well.”

My wife does not NEED anything. She really doesn’t want anything. But she loves to open packages. So every Christmas includes buying some things that we would buy anyway, sometimes gathering 4 to 5 months of various necessities. I will even make purchases of things I need, especially books, and wrap them for her to open. Each package she picks up and says “Oooh! It’s a BOX!” Each package is opened, one at a time, and everybody watches the person opening the box. The gifts we buy for our grandchildren focus on Christianity, whether Bibles, or Christian stories, or family-friendly toys. We are the only Bible our grandchildren ever see, and we take that role seriously. The gift-giving aspect of Christmas is our best opportunity to insert Jesus into their lives, and we take that opportunity seriously.

Christmas is Christ’s Mass. In the Protestant drive to avoid anything smacking of Roman Catholicism, we don’t talk about “Mass” much. But historically, the great men and women of the Church are celebrated on the anniversary of their death, much as we remember John Kennedy or Martin Luther King, Jr. on the anniversary of their deaths. We don’t know when Jesus was born, so we remember his birth on December 25th. That’s his “Mass.” The ancient Church also recognizes The Feast of the Holy Name on January 1st, recognizing the Hebrew tradition of blessing, naming, and circumcising a newborn child on the 8th day of his life. Counting December 25th as Jesus’ birthday, January 1st would have been the day he was presented at the Temple. And this was the first time Jesus shed his blood.

The final point I’d like to make about the days after Christmas has to do with the day called “Epiphany.” This word means, “encounter with God” and is the day we remember the visit of the Wise Men to Mary and Joseph with the baby Jesus. January 6 th would be day 13 of the newborn Jesus’ life, and marks the first day after Christmastide. However, it would not have been the 13th day of Jesus’ life when the gifts of the Magi were presented, but likely more than a year later. We remember this event on the 13th day to keep the pageant-style remembrances together.

One of my favorite Christmas songs is “We three kings” even though it is not true to the biblical story. First, the Bible does not report how many kings there were, only that there were three gifts. In fact there might have been more than three gifts, but only three are recorded. And the word “Magi” is plural, meaning there were at least two. There might have been many, and, in fact, it’s likely that the caravan would have had dozens of people, with servants and animal handlers to assist the Wise Men as they traveled for many months.

.....We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts we traverse afar.
.....Field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star.

This song is a celebration of the trip of the Magi. It is a beautiful song, with five verses that tell the whole story, from tradition, originally written for a Christmas pageant in New York City, 100 years before I was born. By the way, it was composed by the Reverend John Henry Hopkins, Jr., pastor of the Episcopal Church in the town where Little League Baseball was founded in 1939. Ain’t Wikipedia great?

I have written this on the Last Sunday in Advent, with just a few days left before Christmas Eve. My current place of employment will be closed 3 of the next 5 days, and 5 of the next 10 business days. In that time I will have lots of opportunity to honor Christ, and recognize the first week of His life over two thousand years ago. I hope you will join me in “keeping Christmas well” throughout the 12 days of Christmas.

I will pray for you, and will you please pray for me? Pray that all of us will honor God, and his only begotten Son, that same Son that He sent to Earth, that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life. Let’s remember the reason for this season, to worship Jesus. Let us use this time to find new ways to Answer The Call. In Jesus’ Name!

Thanks for taking time to read this!

Stevene

[Susan Nirella]

Thank you, Steve, for sharing your thoughts. There's much here to think on; I like that : - ) When we gather together 24 Dec, we'll share what we're thankful to GOD for, we'll pass around the letter from World Vision letting us know a little about the family we bought a goat for, we'll play a silly game that involves gag gifts, and we'll open the gift purchased for us from the one who drew our name. We'll rejoice that we have Mom/G'Ma with us for yet another blessed Christmas, we'll rejoice over the two babies that will be arriving next July and August -- Joane & Joshua/Griff as well as Jim & Stefane; and we'll remember to acknowledge some how Joshua & Laura's unborn baby that is in the strong arms of Jesus.