Seventh Day of Christmas

I know, I know...more birds.  Today is the Seventh Day of Christmas.  Seven Swans A-Swimming remind us of the Seven Gifts of the Spirit.  Now, all my Pentecostal friends are probably ready to wage war arguing that there are more than Seven Gifts of the Spirit.  1 Corinthians 12:4-11 mentions nine gifts.  More gifts, as well as those mentioned in 1 Corinthians, are mentioned in Romans 12:6-8, Ephesians 4:11-12 and 1 Peter 4:10-11.  Theologians will often divide these gifts between "administrative" gifts, "sign" gifts and "operative" gifts.
In the early Church, what we call the Old Testament was pretty much the only Scriptures that was used as the New Testament was being written.  Many early Church theologians developed much of their ideas about the Gifts of the Spirit from Isaiah.  According to the early Church Fathers, Isaiah 11:2-3 listed the gifts of the Spirit as those which were bestowed upon Christ.  When a person was baptized and brought into the mystical Body of Christ, the Church, all were bestowed the same seven gifts.  They are listed in Isaiah as wisdom, understanding, counsel, might (courage), knowledge and the fear (awe) of the Lord. In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas, one of the most revered theologians listed these six plus the gift of piety or reverence.  These seven gifts were given to all believers.  They do seem to be universal gifts and are the marks that should be exemplified in the life of every disciple of Christ.
Too often, Christians will exonerate themselves from certain works by saying that they do not have certain gifts.  Elders will excuse themselves from teaching citing that they don't have the gift of teaching.  Though this might be true, all Christians have been given the gift of understanding and counsel.  The Spirit brings to us the gift of courage to stand for the Truth of the Gospel in all times and places.  This is an admonition given to us my many of the New Testament writers, notably, the Apostle Paul.  Would the New Testament call us to certain works unless there was a certainty that God, who has begun a good work in us, will see it to completion (Philippians 1:5-7).  Be encouraged. God is calling you by the power of the Spirit given to us liberally, to be an evangelist, a teacher, an encourager, a servant of the Kingdom.  Does that mean all are called to be Ministers, Elders or Deacons? No. However, God is calling you to live into your baptismal gifts.  Use your seven gifts to serve the cause of justice, peace and to call the world to the knowledge of God through Christ Jesus.  Use your seven gifts to the glory of God.

Sixth Day of Christmas

I don't know about you, but the bird theme is growing comical.  Six Geese A-Laying marks the Sixth Day of Christmas.  Generally, when we think about the creation narrative in the book of Genesis, most will tell you that God created the universe in 7 days.  Depending on how one wants to interpret the theme of the Creation Story, God actually created the universe in six days.  This is the teaching the six geese are to serve as a reminder.  For our reflection today, I would respectfully take issue with both the song and with you Bible scholars out there who might argue with me.  Consider for a moment that the reason the seventh day is included is that which God did is essential to the creative process.  That one thing? Rest!
In our current culture of cell phones, wi-fi internet and constant contact, rest is elusive.  I am told that one of the things that made the United States a great world power is the work ethic of her citizens.  We now have a work force that counts itself lucky if they are able to secure two weeks vacation per year.  The irony remains that European workers, who enjoy at least four weeks per year in vacation are considerably more productive per unit per hour than US workers. Perhaps the Creation Story reminds us of both an eternal paradigm as well as a global paradigm that rest is integral to productivity and creativity.  It is not a mistake that the Laws given to us by Moses call us to rest on the seventh day as did our God.  Consider that your preoccupation with work and "stuff" may actually be hindering you from being the creative and productive person to which God is calling you.  Work hard, do your best and take time to rest.  Enjoy your family, time alone in reflection, worship in Church, a good book or whatever it is that relaxes you.  God created us.  God knows all that we need.  Part of what is essential to our well being is rest. Remember the six days God worked and remember too the Seventh Day, when God rested.

Fifth Day of Christmas

Even if the majority of people can't remember the gifts from the other days, everyone knows what my true love gave to me on the fifth day.  Five Golden Rings represent the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures, commonly known as the Pentateuch or the Torah.  For modern Christians, we often become enthralled with the history of God's people before the Exodus and are unable to get through the rest of the books as they outline, what for many, is a tedious outline of the Law and what the ancient Hebrews had to do to receive forgiveness of their sins.  For the Christian catechist, that is, the one who would have used this song to learn the Christian faith, the Torah is a symbol of humankind's fall from grace and, as Paul teaches, that which shows us our need for a Savior.  Romans 3:19-20; 5:12-12; 7:7-8; 10:4 and Galatians 3:15-25 outline the purpose of the Law as that which shows the need for a Savior.

In our culture, sin has become a series of offenses that violate our conventional beliefs of appropriate conduct. Throughout the history of the Church, theologians have debated the state of humanity.  Most all agree that sin is not only wrong actions, but a state in which humanity exists.  But what difference does it make to you and to me?

There is an old story.  If a gold coin is dropped on your head, will it kill you? The answer rests not in the size of the coin, but how far it drops before it hits you.  If it were to fall from a building and strike you on the head, it would be fatal.  The old adage is intended to confront us not with the size of our sin, but the height of God's holiness.  To use a modern perspective, the war is with our own humanity.  It is not that we sin, rather, we are born sinners.  Our propensity for self gratification and selfishness is overwhelming.  Biologists will tell you that survival and self preservation are integral to what it means to he human.  I couldn't agree more.  The model of God's love is the opposite of our human condition.  God in Christ exemplified self sacrifice.  The call of the Gospel is to view ourselves not as an end to be protected and glorified, but as a part of something bigger.  We are called to be a part of a larger Body, the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). Sin is that human proclivity to seek our own will and an open, virulent resistance to the Lordship of our Creator.  You mean you are calling me to submit to something outside of my own desires and needs?  Yes! I am asking you to consider something larger than yourself.  I am asking you to think of the eternal implications for not only your own self that ultimately ends in death and darkness, but the implications for others, for all of creation to which you are being called.

The holiness of God is the fullness of existence.  Unless you die to yourself, you will never live.  However, that death must be for Truth. Christ is Truth (John 14:1, 6; 18:37). The Torah reveals the height of God's holiness. Come out of the darkness and into the Light of Christ, His Body, His Church (Colossians 1:24), His bride (Luke 5:35; John 3:29).

The Fourth Day of Christmas

Four calling birds opens the fourth day of Christmas.  At this point, we become victims of modern English.  Anciently, the song spoke of four "colly" or "collie" birds.  Slang for "coal" a colly bird was essentially a European black bird, a counterpart to our American Robin and a member of the Thrush family.  What does this all have to do with anything? Colly birds were known for their beautiful singing.  Of course, at this point, I am refraining from telling you the legend of the American Robin, perhaps in a future posting.  The colly birds or calling birds represent the four Gospels in the New Testament.  Remember your Sunday School lessons.  There are four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  The first three are called the synoptic Gospels because they basically give a synopsis of the life of Jesus and by and large very similar.  The fourth Gospel, the Gospel of John, is more a theological treatise about Jesus.  The last Gospel to written and one of the later books of the New Testament, the writer uses Jesus' life and teaching to reveal Truths about Jesus.  Most poignantly is the teaching of Jesus' preexistence. "In the beginning was the Word (the second person of the Godhead...Jesus), and the Word was with God and the Word was God." (John 1:1 ESV)

The Gospels are revered writings of the New Testament, as they record what is considered the words of Christ.  In many churches, First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) included, the people will stand as the Gospels are read in public worship.  Many Bible translators record those words using red print and scholars enjoy arguing about whether or not they really are Christ's actual words.  In that I am not a scholar, it isn't one of my favorite things about which to argue.  They are in the Canon of Scripture, so that pretty much settles it for me.  Each Gospel reveals Christ from a different perspective. Mark, the oldest, records Christ's life from his Baptism through his resurrection, although old copies of the Gospel end at the crucifixion.  Mark presents the acts of Jesus' life.  Matthew presents Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies and that he is the Messiah.  Luke is the social justice Gospel and is considered by some to be the Gospel to the Gentiles.  In Matthew, Jesus the descendant of David, in Luke his lineage is traced to Adam, the father of humanity, and that we are all the sons and daughters of God.

Reading the Gospels is an invitation into the day to day life of Christ.  They allow the Christian to, like the disciples, walk with the Master.  In Greek education, the students would sit at the feet of the teacher and the Gospels allow us to sit and hear the teachings of Christ for ourselves.  I often am asked how we might know Christ better.  A good place to start is to simply read the Gospels.

The word Gospel in Greek comes from the same word from which we get the word "evangelist" and is closely related to the word "angel" which simply means "messenger."  The four calling birds remind us of the messengers of God who have us the teachings of Christ.  They also encourage us, in like manner, to be the messengers of God as we share the good news of God's love through Christ Jesus.  May the four calling birds invite you to learn at the feet of the Master, the Teacher of humanity and rise to share His good news with the world.

The Third Day of Christmas

It is only the Third Day of Christmas and already people are no longer turning on their Christmas Trees or their outside lights.  I even saw some folks taking their decorations yesterday.  Christmas continues though and today we receive three French Hens.  These are the three Theological Virtues.  From Paul's first letter to the Church at Corinth he writes, "And now, faith, hope and love abide, these three, and the greatest of these is love."  These are some of the most powerful tools in our part as co-laborers for God's Kingdom.

Hope is not wishful thinking.  A Biblical hope is confident expectation.  "For in this hope we are saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? For if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." (Romans 8:24-25 ESV)  Hope is the beginning.  It is for that which is not yet known.  Hope is the fuel to dreams.  It drives us to grab on to God's vision for creation.  It is the ability to see with God's eyes, if only for a moment.  It blinds us to the ruse that sin and darkness uses to draw us to wander.  It is the ability to see through the pall of pain and death that we might know that our present situation is only temporary.  Hope is temporary.  True hope ultimately leads to fulfillment.

Faith is not the counterbalance for blessings and success.  Too often, our contemporary pseudo-religious leaders herald to our culture that if we have enough faith, we will prosper.  Remember, our Faith is a Biblical Faith.  "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1 ESV) Faith is action on our part which is directly proportional to the one, or One, in whom we have hope.  If our hope is in God, faith drives us on in the face of the storms of doubt, trouble and persecution.  Faith is temporary.  True faith ultimately becomes sight.

Love is the most overused and misunderstood of the virtues.  In this verse from Paul's letter, this word translated "Love" is "agape."  Unlike the English, this kind of love is not a romantic or physical love.  This agape love is a self sacrificing love.  1 John 4:8 defines love in its clearest sense.  "Anyone who does not love, does not know God, because God is love."  God doesn't just love us, God IS love.  Everything God does comes from His person, His love.  The object of God's love, most notably, humanity, does not merit God's love, but simply is enfolded in it.  The clearest expression of this love is Christ's prayer in the Garden hours before his arrest and crucifixion.  "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." (Luke 22:42 ESV)  Christ did not FEEL this love.  He actually preferred to avoid it. This love was an act of the will, not of the heart or mere emotion.  It was not just an act of human will, but divine will.  Love, therefore is not only an act of the will, it is an act of God's will within us.  It is, according to Paul, the greatest virtue.  Unlike hope and faith, love is not temporary.  It is eternal.  It is of God, it is God.

The Second Day of Christmas

Today is the Second Day of Christmas.  In the calendar of the Church it is also the day we remember the martyrdom of St. Stephen.  A deacon of the first century Church and the first martyr, Stephen was stoned while Saul, later to become the Apostle Paul, held the cloaks of those throwing the stones.  Stephen is said to have uttered the same words as our Lord, "Father, forgive them." This day was made famous by the John Mason Neale's carol, Good King Wencelas. The King and his page go out to help a poor man on the "Feast of Stephen."  Considered the longest and coldest night of the winter in ancient time, this day is a day to ask ourselves about the sacrifices to which we are often called as followers of Christ.  Sometimes, disciples of Christ are called to give even their life for the cause of the Gospel.
As we continue in our reflections on The Twelve Days of Christmas, today we remember the gift of two turtledoves.  The two written revelations of God's love for the world, the Old Testament and the New Testament, we are reminded that though our faith is rooted in the person of Jesus Christ, we know of this revelation through Holy Scripture.  Scripture is the primary authority of our faith for those of us in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  Though we may use the traditions of the Church to interpret it in our own experiences using the gift of a reasonable mind, our faith is ultimately a Biblical Faith. Unfortunately, too many Protestants have abdicated the discipline to read and study Scripture for the much easier authority of our own personal experiences in search of an emotional high.
Imagine, if you will, what the thousands of Christians in other lands who pray each day for an opportunity to read and study Holy Scripture would say to many Christians in this nation as our Bibles gather dust on the bottom shelf of a coffee table.  It is not the leather clad pages that give us power and protect us from the darkness of doubt and fear, but the One to whom the writing on the pages bear witness.  It is Christ who is our Savior and Guide.  One of the most powerful ways to understand Him, to grow in deeper relationship with Him is to read the revelation of His ministry in the Gospels, the teaching of His person and work in the Epistles and His coming again in the Revelation to John.  Within the pages of the "first turtledove" we hear of God's creative power, His love for humanity and humanity's rebellion.  The Law and the Prophets lead us to promise of the Messiah.  Together, these two turtledoves, these two Testaments lead us to Christ and allow us to open our hearts to his word and in so doing, we become disciples of the Word, Jesus Christ.

The First Day of Christmas

Today is December 25, the First Day of Christmas.  It is properly called the Feast Day of the Nativity.  The seasons stretches from the celebration of the birth of Christ to the arrival of the Magi on Epiphany (January 6).  Historians argue about why Christmas is 12 days, some arguing the perfection of the number "12" and others proposing that it is a Christianized version of a 12 day pagan holiday pre-dating Christianity.  The days that follow December 25 speak to several themes in the daily readings as the Church encourages us to remember the Incarnation of God.  In this year's cycle in the Protestant lectionary there is also an emphasis on the childhood of Jesus, which is rather scant in the New Testament.
Perhaps the most famous and misunderstood song that outlines the 12 days of Christmas is, well, the song The Twelve Days of Christmas.  On the first day, the gift that my true love gave to me was a "partridge in a pear tree."  It is popularly considered that the partridge refers to Christ.  Popularized by Linus in the Charlie Brown Christmas movie, there is a reference to Christ as a mother partridge who protects her young.  "Jerusalem, Jerusalem! How often I would I have sheltered you under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but you would not have it so..." (Luke 13:34).
The problem with this perspective is that most scholars agree that the song was written by Roman Catholics trying to maintain their faith under Protestant England.  In Roman Catholic iconography and imagery, a partridge almost always represents Satan.  From 1 Samuel 26:20 and Jeremiah 17:11, the partridge is characterized as a negative symbol.  In 1 Samuel, the King of Israel actually goes out to hunt the partridge.  Many scholars propose that the King of Israel, Jesus Christ, hunts the partridge...Satan...and delivers him vanquished.  This first day, therefore, is a reminder that Christ has defeated Satan and the powers of darkness.
Regardless of your perspective, this first day is a focus on the One who is born, Christ Jesus.  He is the author and finisher of our faith.  We are Christians, followers of Jesus Christ.  We are a people who proclaim Him as "true God from true God."  Jesus is the Son of God, God the Son, the second person of the Trinity.  "In the  beginning was the Word (the capital "W" always means that the word is referencing Christ, not the Bible...a lower case "w" is the Bible) and the Word was with God and the Word was God." (John 1:1)
Remember Christ this Christmas Day. He is alive. He is here. He is within you. He is in the sacred mystery of our Lord's Supper. He is in the proclamation of the word, the sermon. He is in the world and it is through Him the world both came into being and remains to this day. Merry Christmas to all my fellow disciples of Jesus Christ.

The 12 days of Christmas

Ironic that a bunch of evangelical Protestants are singing a song written by Roman Catholics to celebrate their faith in England when Christmas had actually been outlawed by the Protestant Church and Government.  Not only does "The 12 days of Christmas" teach aspects of the Roman Faith, but allowed Roman Catholic Christians to remember that Christmas was not just a day but an entire season.  Eventually Martin Luther's brand of Protestantism brought other Protestants to their sense and we begin celebrating Christmas again.  That is, everyone except the Puritans.  Angered not only at the pagan origins of many of the Church's holidays, they were furious that the King of England was making it mandatory that every Christian only use his "Authorized Version" of the Bible, commonly known as the King James Version.  They left Europe and sailed for America where they established the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The irony? Modern day socially conservative evangelical Protestants (like the Puritans) will be using the King James Version at their Christmas Eve Services.  But then again, so will I.  Merry Christmas everyone.

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