December 30, 2015

“On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . .”

Today is the sixth day of Christmas.  We are halfway through the season.  Next Tuesday evening we will hold our annual Twelfth-Night party in the parish hall.  We will gather for food, fun, and the ever popular gift exchange and theft (for those who want to participate).  We will also hear the story of the visit of the wise men and the tale of the one who was running just a little late.

But while today is the sixth day of Christmas, the world around us has already moved on as Christmas decorations have been taken down, you can't pay a DJ to play a Christmas song, and Valentine's Day decorations are beginning to appear.  If in Advent our challenge is to hold off the Christmas crush and spend time in expectant and patient waiting, then our challenge in the Christmas season is to celebrate it fully and enthusiastically.  But that's easier said than done.

So I started thinking about this song.  Most people probably can't name the gifts in the correct order beyond day five.  Most people only get to day five because of that long, drawn out, “Fiiiiivvvvveee golden riiiiiiiiinnnnnnnggggggsssss” (thank you, Miss Piggy).  Most people I know actually detest this song; it seems to be the Christmas version of “99 Bottles of Beer,” never ending and rather annoying.

There is also a cute but false story that the verses have hidden meanings as a way of teaching the faith and avoiding execution (true love = God; verse 1 = Jesus; verse 2 = Old/New Testaments; verse 3 = faith, hope, charity; verse 4 = Gospels/Evangelists; etc.)  As I said, that's cute, but not actually true.

But the song, for all its faults, can serve a purpose – and that is to remind us that the twelve days of Christmas do not end on Christmas Day but begin.  Our calendar gives us twelve days, from Christmas Day until the day before Epiphany, from December 25 until January 5, in which to celebrate the birth of the Savior.  This is the time we should be hosting Christmas parties and caroling around the neighborhood.  And even though this wasn't a secret catechism song with hidden meanings, we can still think of “my true love” as God.

In the beginning, God created.  In the beginning was the Word.  God so loved the world.  Above all else, Scripture should be seen as a love story between God and his people.  Yes, there are ups and downs and definite problems, but it is a story about God calling the people of his creation back into his arms.

So on this sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me six geese a laying.  On this sixth day of Christmas we have been given not geese, but eggs.  These six eggs, each representing the hope of new life, are a fragile bit of creation you can hold in your hand and say, “In the beginning.”  These six eggs can remind us of our own life, our own Christmas beginnings, that allow us to ask, “If this egg represents a new life born this Christmas season, how will I live for God?”

This is the sixth day of Christmas.  As we move through the next six days, I would encourage you to take a look at the rest of the words of that long, sometimes annoying song, and ask yourself, “How can I use the gift my true love gave to me to proclaim God is with us?”

Merry Christmas