So, the 12 Days of Christmas actually begin on the day after Christmas, which for us in the western church, is Dec. 26. Day 12 is Jan. 6-which is know in the church calendar as Epiphany and is considered a celebration or feast day. In many other countries, Jan. 6 is the celebration of the 3 Kings visit to the baby Jesus, and children receive their Christmas presents on this day. Others, mostly in the eastern orthodox fellowships, celebrate the baptism of Jesus by John and the coming down of the Holy Spirit as a dove. Epiphany means 'revelation' and both the visit of the Wise Men and his baptism are times when Jesus was 'revealed' to be the very important God-with-us.
A couple of rambling thoughts.
First, we enjoyed celebrating 3 Kings Day as our children were growing up. One of the traditions is to leave a greeting/gift as a surprise at someone's home for them to find. We received a number of these over the years including one that we received every year of a homemade bread that the children didn't like--okay, in all honesty, neither did Phil or I--but we loved that whoever did it made the effort and the surprise of finding it year after year is a good family memory. (We had been receiving it for probably a dozen years before we found out who the giver was.) We always read one of our favorite Christmas stories, "The Three Young Kings" that I had found very serendipitously in our local library. It was in a book of Christmas stories from around the world and this one was a treasure! The first time Phil read it aloud, he could hardly make it through it as he, and the rest of us, laughed and sighed. It is a story from Cuba. In the last years the Bruderhof Communities website posted it online and you can find it at the link below. Be prepared to laugh and cry...it is a heart touching story!
Growing up Pop read aloud to me often. During the Christmas holidays, he would read Henry Van Dyke's The Story of the Other Wise Man. It is a great little novella and worth the reading. Since it was written in 1895 (the same year Pop was born) it is in the public domain and I've created a link below where you can read it online or download the PDF.
The Story of the Other Wise Man
Secondly, as I reflected this morning about the orthodox church celebrating the baptism of Jesus, it occurred to me that the western church has been sadly lacking in its celebration. Heavens! We find every other excuse to celebrate...we celebrate birthdays, our own/others baptisms, promotions and graduations, team sports wins, anniversaries, family reunions, weddings and new babies. I'm thinking we have sadly missed the boat on this opportunity. And while I jest a little here, I'm also a bit serious. It is a pretty significant part of what we know about the life of Christ and certainly was the "kick-off" of his ministry. Three of the Gospels record the story and John recounts John the Baptist's description of the event. That's a lot of "press" for something we don't talk about much!
When Jeshua and I were in Greece in 2018, one evening while he was in rehearsals, I sought out a small Catholic church close by that I had not yet visited to take some time to think and pray. I moved up toward the front and to look around and let the setting guide my meditation. There was a beautiful painting in the front of Mary and the Angel in the Annunciation moments and there was another painting to my left of the Baptism of Jesus. For a minute I had to take a deep breath and let go of my partiality to immersion baptism 😇, but when I did, I really felt the awesomeness of the event and the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit represented by the dove.
I softly sang the song I learned during our time with Church in the Park many years ago:
Let the Spirit descend on the wings of a dove as it did on Jesus that day. He was baptized by John in the River called Jordan and a voice like thunder cried, "This is my Son. This is my Son in whom I'm well pleased. This is my only Son."
I stayed long enough that the bells rang for vespers and I stayed for the service, too. A really special "God moment" for me in our travels.
I'm thinking that a yearly reminder and celebration of the baptism of Jesus might be in order! So this January 6, the 12th Day of Christmas, I plan to blend the east and west and celebrate Epiphany with both important revelations of who Jesus was--the visit of the wise men and the baptism of Jesus. Great celebrations of God-with-us for beginning a new year.
Happy New Year!
