The Twelve Days of Christmas, An Overview

"On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..."

You may notice many businesses and organizations starting a Twelve Days of Christmas celebration or sale now.  Some schools even started marking the Twelve Days of Christmas at the beginning of December, because they were only going to be to school twelve days in December before Christmas break.

Without proper context, you would think this could be an accurate use of the term.  The modern Christmas season has come to be defined officially as the period from Black Friday after Thanksgiving through Christmas Day.  Unofficially, it seems to begin the day after Halloween, or All Saints Day.  This is largely because the economic component of Christmas is so important, so the focus has shifted to the shopping related days before Christmas.  We can promote this shopping season through decoration, through music, through events leading into Christmas Day, and then get everyone to return their focus to work and productivity after that one singular day. 

But, while this might be our modern focus, it is not what the Twelve Days of Christmas refer to, nor when they occur.  

This specific period of time starts on Christmas Day and then continues through Epiphany.  There is some debate as to whether day one starts on Christmas Day and then finishes the day before Epiphany, or whether the twelve day period starts on the day after Christmas and then includes Epiphany at the end.  Either way Christmas Day on December 25 and Epiphany on January 6 mark the bounds of the Twelve Days of Christmas, also known as Christmastide or Twelvetide. 

Those two bounds would be the markers because it reflects the entirety of the Nativity of Christ.  Christmas Day would celebrate the birth and the stable.  The shepherds arriving, angels appearing, and the spreading of the gospel.  Epiphany, or Three Kings Day, would mark the arrival of the Magi, completing the Nativity story.

The origins of this practice date back to 567 AD, where the Council of Tours proclaimed this twelve day period between Christmas Day and Epiphany as a sacred and festive season.  Advent, or the weeks leading into Christmas, would be the more somber and reflective preparation for the feast.  But Christmastide or Twelvetide would be the celebration and the feast.  

With that in mind, traditionally, decorations for Christmas, like the Christmas tree, would not go up until Christmas Eve and then would remain up through the celebration.  They would only be taken down between Twelfth Night, the eve of January 5, and the morning of Epiphany, January 6.

Likewise, gifts may have been given each of the twelve days of this period.  This provides the inspiration for the song.  Despite what you may have read, the song is not a catechism song, with encoded symbols for Christian theology.  The symbols can be seen, but could be done with any gifts assigned to the numbers.  In other words, the numbers there are all that matter.  Rather, the origins of the song are more likely simply in a children's memory and forfeit song, given the cumulative nature of the verses.  It would be sung and repeated to see which child forgot one of the gifts first.

Over time, celebrations have developed for each of the twelve days, whether they are feasts for the saints, or more secular and traditional holidays.  I've included a snapshot below for each of the celebrations, and will be writing about each day this season starting on Christmas Day.

• The First Day of Christmas - December 25 - A Partridge in a Pear Tree
• Christmas Day
• The Second Day of Christmas - December 26 - Two Turtle Doves
• St. Stephen's Day, or the Feast of Stephen
• Boxing Day, a day to give gifts to the household staff or the poor, now mainly a shopping holiday
• Feast days of Abadiu of Antinoe, James the Just, and Synaxis of the Theotokos
• Earliest day of the Feast of the Holy Family (it would be celebrated here this year)
• The Third Day of Christmas - December 27 - Three French Hens
• Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist
• Feast days for Blessed Francesco Spoto, Blessed Sara Salkahazi, Fabiola, Pope Maximus of Alexandria, Nicarete, and Theodorus and Theophanes
• The Fourth Day of Christmas - December 28 - Four Calling Birds
• Feast of the Innocents, commemorating the Massacre of the Innocents, where Herod killed the children two and under in an attempt to kill the Christ child
• Feast days for Abel, Caterina Volpicelli, and Simon the Athonite
• The Fifth Day of Christmas - December 29 - Five Golden Rings
• Memorial of St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr
• Feast days for David, King and Prophet, Jonathan, Prince of Israel, and Trophimus of Aries
• The Six Day of Christmas - December 30 - Six Geese a Laying
• Feast days for Abraham the Writer, Anysia of Salonika, Egwin of Evesham, Frances Joseph-Gaudet, Liberius of Ravenna, Pope Felix I, Ralph of Vaucelles, and Roger of Cannae 
• The Seventh Day of Christmas - December 31 - Seven Swans a Swimming
• New Year's Eve
• First Night
• Watch Night
• Hogmanay or "Auld Year's Night"
• Feast day for Pope Sylvester I
• The Eighth Day of Christmas - January 1 - Eight Maids a Milking
• New Year's Day
• The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
• Feast of the Circumcision of Christ, as he would have been circumcised eight days after his birth.
• Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus in some traditions
• Feast of Fools
• Feast days for Adalard of Corbie, Basil the Great, Fulgentius of Ruspe, Giuseppe Maria Tomasi, Telemachus, and Zygmunt Gorazdowski
• The Ninth Day of Christmas - January 2 - Nine Ladies Dancing
• The second day of New Year
• Feast of Sts. Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzus
  
• Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus in some traditions
• Feasts also for Defendens of Thebes, Johann Konrad Wilhelm Lohe, Macarius of Alexandria, Seraphim of Sarov, and Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah 
• The Tenth Day of Christmas - January 3 - Ten Lords a Leaping
• Memorial of the Holy Name of Jesus
• Feasts for Daniel of Padua, Genevieve, Kuriakose Elias Chavara, Pope Anterus, and William Passavant
• The Eleventh Day of Christmas - January 4 - Eleven Pipers Piping
• Feasts for Angela of Foligno, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Ferreol of Uzes, Mavilus, Pharaildis of Ghent, and Rigobert
• The Twelfth Day of Christmas - January 5 - Twelve Drummers Drumming
• Twelfth Night, forever memorialized as the title for one of Shakespeare's works
• Feasts for Charles of Mount Argus, John Neumann, Pope Telesphorus, and Simeon Stylites
• Epiphany - January 6 - We Three Kings

A celebratory season indeed.  And an opportunity for a lot that we in our faith forget over the Christmas story.

Third Sunday of Advent 2021 - Good Christian Men, Rejoice

On the third Sunday of advent, we celebrate the joy of the coming Savior.  This is Gaudete Sunday - Gaudete in Domino semper; Rejoice in the Lord Always.  The exceeding great joy of knowing that you are unconditionally loved by the Father and that nothing - not sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death - can take that love away.

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.  Let your forbearance be known to all, for the Lord is near at hand; have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God.  Lord, you have blessed your land; you have turned away the captivity of Jacob."

Phillipians 4:4-6; Psalm 85:1

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."

Luke 2:8-14

When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Matthew 2:10-11

I love this last one, especially as overjoyed seems to undersell it.  Older translations put that the magi rejoiced "with exceeding great joy."  These were scholars who travelled far and brought expensive gifts simply to worship at the new Messiah.  These magi even told the priests and the scribes, the very people who had been longing for a Messiah, that the signs were in the heavens.  The scribes and priests even pointed the magi in the right direction of Bethlehem, but were not interested enough to go and see what might be going on.  Because the magi continued onward, their joy was fulfilled.  And they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

May this be a Sunday of exceeding great joy for you and yours and may the joy of this season carry you forward in your days to come.

Yuletide - The Shepherds - The Unlikeliest Guests

"Shepherds in the fields abiding
Watching o'er your flocks by night
God with man is now residing;
Yonder shines the infant light:

Come and worship
Come and worship
Worship Christ the newborn king"

"And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.  And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.'  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

'Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!'

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.'  And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.  And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.  And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.  But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.  And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them."

Luke 2:8-20

Once Mary and Joseph have gotten settled in to the stable and the delivery begins, the scene of the Nativity story shifts to the fields outside Bethlehem.  To a group of societal outsiders, to some of the lowliest of all Israelites - the shepherds.

Shepherds stood at the bottom rung of the social ladder, along with tax collectors and dung sweepers.  The were dirty.  They were smelly.  They spent way too much time with animals.  And there were rumors about what they did with the sheep.  

They were no one's desired guest.

But God.

The first people to receive the birth announcement for God's only son were shepherds.  Poor, humble, lowly shepherds.  God bypassed the priests, the Levites, the ruling class, even the middle class to send his angels directly to the most humble of them all.

We should pause and ask why.  Why send this message to the shepherds, of all people?  

Perhaps because they were the ones most likely to listen.  

We see it later in the story that when the ruling class was confronted with the signs of the Messiahs birth, they knew the answers, they knew the prophecies.  But they had no interest in finding out whether He had arrived.

The shepherds upon hearing the fantastic news that the promised savior had been born immediately went and sought him out.

There's also likely another, poetic reason why these shepherds in particular were singled out.  If we look to the Mishnah, the Jewish rabbinical legal-history document, we see that these shepherds were no ordinary shepherds.  For they were watching no ordinary flock.  

During those times, sacrificial lambs for the burnt offerings, peace offerings, and Passover offerings were kept in the region of Jerusalem, including Bethlehem, which was just five miles south of the city. These sheep were kept outside year round and watched particularly carefully to keep them without blemish or spot. That means it is likely that these shepherds were watching over the sacrificial flock.

So you can see the beauty in the shepherds who watched the sacrificial flock being told that the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world has been born.  They are shown the next sheep to protect.  They are shown the one who will make their jobs unnecessary.

Regardless of their specific function, the shepherds remind us that the Christmas story is not just for us.  It is not just for the ones who are religiously together.  It's for the dirty.  It's for the hurting.  It's for the outcasts, the strays, the undesired.  

The beauty of the shepherds is that they remind us the Christmas story is for all of us, every one.  

Our part is to determine what we do with it.  

Fear not, we are told, good news of great joy which will be to all the people.  

Do we go and see?

Do we go tell it from the mountain?

It's A Wonderful Life

"No man is a failure who has friends."

I think that applies for businesses too.

It's a bit of a cliche now, but It's a Wonderful Life was a perennial favorite in the Keeler household.  As we got older, it may be that we stayed up a little too late on Christmas Eve to watch it, and we may not have always gotten in a complete viewing, but it was at least started every Christmas Eve.  

It's a Wonderful Life is so cherished in our household, that our Christmas village is Bedford Falls. 

The movie is loved by millions for a lot of different reasons.  For the great performances by Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, and Henry Travers.  The fact that it represents the slight darkening of Capra's ideology following the horrors of what he saw in World War II, but still provides a heartwarming message.  The essence of film blanc.  The truth and simplicity of the message of the film found in truly knowing where ones riches come from.

In our household, it struck a chord for an even more primal reason - my dad saw a lot of himself in George Bailey.

It's fairly easy to see the resemblance.

The oldest son growing up in a family business in a small, idyllic town.  Growing up with dreams of moving on and seeing bigger and better things.  Feeling a sense of obligation to the family business, particularly after the early passing of his father.  The personal cost of having to often save the old building and loan.  Wondering what the other path might have brought.  And being frequently reminded of the blessings that it has afforded.

Yes, It's a Wonderful Life was annual viewing because it served as that yearly pep-talk.  A reminder of why Keeler Enterprises existed in the first place.  You see, my dad shares something else with George Bailey.  A deep and inherent desire to help people, even at personal cost and inconvenience.  Even though the store may have never been what he set out to do in life, it was something he is extraordinarily gifted for.  It gives him the opportunity to talk with people.  To build relationships with them over time.  To meet needs.  To help find just the right thing.  All the best that a small town general store can do.

It allowed him to never meet a stranger.  I can't tell you how often we would run into someone he knew.  Whether we were at Disney World, or on the streets of Georgetown outside Washington, D.C., we ran into someone.  Someone he grew up with, some vendor he know from the store, a fellow Western Auto associate dealer.  It was a small world indeed.

That makes this Christmas season particularly bittersweet.  As I'm sure many of you have read or heard already, after 58 years of service, Keeler Enterprises will end regular store operations December 23, 2021.  

There's no Potter in this story.  No one thing that can be pointed to as the last straw.  Just like the Old Building and Loan, there have been many times before we wondered if that year was the last and things would eventually smooth out or come together.  

Similarly, unlike the movie, there is no one event that has brought this on.  No Uncle Billy losing the deposits.  No, this has been coming for a long time.  The dominance and encroachment of Big Box/Discount retailers.  The rise of online commerce, especially in small rural communities.  The increasing difficulty to find vendors that will even supply a small business anymore.  This had been coming long before the pandemic, and that event only made things more difficult.  Supply chain issues made it even more difficult to stock what could be bought.  

Because this isn't cinema, sometimes the business isn't saved.  It's unlikely that even the Old Building and Loan would have survived the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s had it made it that long.  And things are similarly rough for small businesses today.

It's bittersweet, because it is an ending and a beginning.  I know this isn't retirement now for my dad.  He couldn't sit still for that long.  He will find something else to jump into and utilize those same skills of being able to talk to and relate to people and to help meet their need.  We don't know what that will be just yet, but there will be something.  Like any closing, like any transition, we look back on what has come before, and pray for what is ahead in the future.

With that in mind, I have a couple of favors to ask.  One on a more general level, and one quite personal.

On a more general level, if you have any Christmas shopping left to do, please consider shopping small when you can.  I've made this pitch a couple of times through the pandemic and make it consistently on Small Saturday, but as the product of a small family business, I cannot stress the importance.  The Amazons, Wal-Marts, Targets, etc of the world will continue to thrive many years from now.  Yes, they may fall like a Sears, but that will not be anytime soon.  The outlook for a small business can change from year to year, if not month to month.  When you buy from a small business, you're not lining the pockets of the monetarily world's richest man, you're making sure the business owner's kid gets the braces they need.  You're making sure they can keep paying their employees.  So, shop at that small boutique.  Shop from the local mom and pop grocery or general store.  Eat out at a local family restaurant.  You can contribute to a great Christmas for them.

On a more personal level, if you are in town, stop by Keelers and let everyone there know how much you have appreciated them.  I can't tell you what the kind words have already meant.  

The store will be open normal hours until December 23, 2021and is currently celebrating the years with a One Last Christmas Sale, with special savings every day leading to Christmas Customer Appreciation on December 23.  There will be a closeout starting in January through March 2022.   

It would be great for them to see you and to share and reminisce.  To hear your favorite memories of the past 58 years.  And to hear what you will miss the most.  

To truly see the impact that the store and our family has had over this time.

And please, let my dad know it.  Let him know the fond memories you have of my grandfather, my grandmother, my mom, and my dad.  The times the store was there for you, to meet a need, to lend a hand.  If you worked there, stop by and share your memories.

If you are out of the area, post them, share them, message them.  

Let's remind him what we already know.

To Mike Keeler, the richest man in town.

Yuletide - The Innkeepers - Make Him Room

"No beautiful chamber,
No soft cradle bed,
No place but a manger,
Nowhere for His head;
No praises of gladness,
No tho't of their sin,
No glory but sadness,
No room in the inn."

"In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.  This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.  And all went to be registered, each to his own town.  And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.  And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn."

Luke 2:1-7

Our Christmas story often has another set of characters that pops into the story next.  A set of innkeepers that keep telling Mary and Joseph that they have "No Room."  The process is repeated over and over until one innkeeper finally makes room for them in his stable or barn.  

It makes for great pageantry.  Perhaps we can even see it best in the annual festival of Las Posadas, or The Inns, celebrated in Latin American countries and cultures.  Las Posadas derives from the Spanish word posada, meaning lodging or accommodation, here referring to the inn in the Nativity story.  Celebration of this 400 year tradition starts with two actors dressing as Mary and Joseph, leading a procession to certain houses designated as inns, usually those at the end of a street.  The procession is headed by a leader carrying a luminaria and can often contain other players of the Nativity story (angels, shepherds, etc.).  The procession makes its way from house to house, singing carols in hopes to have a place to stay.  They are initially met with "no posada," no room, until the end of the street.  There, the residents of the houses respond by singing a song, recognizing Mary and Joseph, and allowing the procession to enter.  The procession comes in and kneels to pray before a Nativity scene.  At the end of each night, carols are sung, children break open a star shaped piñata, and everyone sits for a feast.  This is repeated throughout the nine day period, with a new house each night accepting them in for the festivities.

Despite the longevity of this celebration and the widespread nature of the idea of the innkeepers, this is not necessarily how it went in Mary and Joseph's day.  The word translated as “inn” in the scripture can also be translated as an  upper, finished room of a house.  If this were the intent, then our innkeeper could have actually been relative of Joseph.  He didn’t have any place for Joseph and Mary to stay upstairs, as would be traditional.  Instead they had to stay in the cold, unfinished lower part of the house where the animals would be.  In a cave that would have been used for the animals.  Exposed to the weather, to the stench, to the filth of being with the livestock.

This makes a lot of sense in Jewish culture.  If Joseph had relatives still in Bethlehem, that is where he would seek lodging first.  Hospitality was of the utmost importance, and it would be especially extended to family.  If Joseph had no family left in the area, then he would be seeking shelter at an inn as we think of it.

Either way, the innkeeper should not be blamed for the lack of room. The city was overwhelmed by the census, not because of an inhospitable innkeeper or the like.  Rather because of circumstance and so that prophecy could be fulfilled.  

The lesson still remains the same.  No matter the reason for the crowding, the call is to make room.  To find a place.

Nearly every example Jesus gives us of meeting the needs of our fellow man comes at an inopportune time for the person rendering aid.  The Good Samaritan hurrying off a treacherous road, interrupted by the dying man needing aid.  Not allowing followers to bury their dead or say farewell to those at home.  Leaving the 99 to find the one lost sheep.

Jesus' ministry was filled with interruptions.  To feed his followers, to heal their infirmities, to dote on their children.  

Our lives can be so overcrowded.  With school, with work, with family, with church.  Have you ever been so overburdened with church activities that you miss God all together?  We have to be able to make room for those moments when God is looking to step in and wants us to join him.  For God to truly direct our paths and move us into tangents, into distractions, into diversions.  

To meet people and God where they are.

To find room for them in our lives.

Sondheim

"Sometimes people leave you halfway through the woods
Do not let it grieve you, no one leaves for good."

They say that you are not just a Sondheim fan.  You may generally like Sondheim, but it goes deeper than that.  You are a Sunday in the Park fan, or a Company fan, or a Sweeney Todd fan.  You are a fanatic about the show that really spoke to you.

I am an Into the Woods fan.  

Generally, I'm not the biggest Sondheim fan.  I know that is a heresy in the musical theater community, but I can often find myself more impressed with the technical proficiency of the show or the level of difficulty in the music than I am with the show as a whole.  

Into the Woods is an exception.  Professionally, I have seen two different versions.  The first in 2002 on Broadway with a lavish star studded cast that included Vanessa Williams.  The second, the Fiasco tour with 11 artists playing all roles and instruments and very minimalistic staging.  It's this second version that truly touched me.  Part of it can be attributed to how art speaks to us at different times in our lives.  Into the Woods is a show about growing up and parenthood in particular.  Having our second child only a couple of months before this production, the story of the Baker, his wife and the witch resonated in  way this time that they could not before.  But this production also revealed something about the magic of theater.  At its core, it is just story telling.   It does not require all the flourishes we add to it.  All it needs, all it truly requires is talented storytellers fully committed to the message of their story.  And with that, a group of 11 artists, seemingly pulling props out of their trunk to add to their story can be so much more impactful than an extravagant, expensive version.  It can strike more to the core of the story and the audience to convey its heart.

Beyond that, it's hard to deny that Sondheim completely changed the future of musical theater.  Sondheim took an art form based in romance and happy endings into unexpected areas.  He wrote a musical about presidential assassins after all.  More importantly, he grounded musical theater in the complexity of human emotion, and in the mundane of our ordinary lives.  Company is about a single man and his feelings about all his friends getting married around him.  Into the Woods, for all the fantasy, is about parents and children.  Sunday in the Park about creative fulfillment.  

One of the things I like the most about Sondheim is that while his songs are lyrically and melodically complex, and thus require very talented singers, the singers that truly bring them to life do not have the most beautiful voices, but rather can bring the most emotion and experience to them.  I've heard a beautiful version of Send in the Clowns by an eight-piece men's choir that will bring you to tears.  But it doesn't compare to Judy Dench's worn voice.  That song needs that weariness.

Tonight, the lights of Broadway will be dimmed in memory of Stephen Sondheim's passing.  He died November 26, 2021 at the age of 91 from cardiovascular disease.  Dimming the theater lights is the time honored tradition for honoring significant contributors to the community.  

And tonight, for a brief moment in time, the heart of the city that never sleeps will be dark.  

Sondheim will certainly be missed, and his legacy will never be forgotten.

"No one is alone."

Pearl Harbor 2021

"Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya. Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island. This morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounded determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December seventh, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire."

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 8, 1941

80 years.

May we never forget.

We lost 2,402 lives in the attack on Pearl Harbor.  And from that we've seen what we can do when we are united.

Let's keep that in mind.

Yuletide - Joseph - The Adoptive Father

"This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.  Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.'

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel' (which means 'God with us').

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.  But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus."

Matthew 1:18-25

Since becoming a father, I've thought a lot about Joseph at Christmas.  The focus of what becoming a father will do to you.  Understanding his position in the story just a little bit better.

He is certainly an enigmatic figure.  We know less about him than we do of Mary and he has a far smaller written role in the life of Jesus than she does.  We know his lineage, tying him to the house of David and requiring him to go to Bethlehem to be taxed/counted.  We know he was a carpenter, or craftsman.  We know he was a just and faithful man.  Beyond that, all we know of him is what happens to him in the early chapters of Matthew and Luke.  The birth, the flight to Egypt, and Jesus at the temple.  From there his story ends.

Some assume that Joseph died before Jesus' ministry ever started.  We know he was not present at the Crucifixion.  If he were, Joseph would have assumed care of his son's body, and Jesus would not have asked John to watch over his mother, Mary.  When exactly Joseph died or by what cause is unknown.

In the greater apocrypha, he is portrayed as an old man, even as old as 90 years old at the time of his betrothal to Mary.  These portrayals are found in the texts that maintain the perpetual virginity of Mary.  Accordingly, James, Joses, Simeon, and Judah/Jude/Judas, and their sisters are claimed to be children from a previous marriage, the step-siblings of Jesus if you will.

Modern protestant view tends to portray him a little younger.  Closer in age to Mary, still in the prime of his life.  That James, Joses, Simeon, and Judah would be the children of Joseph and Mary.  

Whatever the additional details of his life, I can't help but place myself in his position.  The mix of emotions he must have felt when he learned Mary was pregnant.  The awe of the angel's statement.  All leading him to a dark stable, on a cold night, holding this little child that has been entrusted to his care.  Knowing the greatness this child is called to.

There's a song written a few years ago by Mercy Me called Joseph's Lullaby.  A song written from the perspective of Joseph as he sings Jesus to sleep.  It has a line that has haunted me since the first time I heard it.

Go to sleep my Son
This manger for your bed
You have a long road before You
Rest Your little head

Can You feel the weight of Your glory?
Do You understand the price?
Or does the Father guard Your heart for now
So You can sleep tonight?

Go to sleep my Son
Go and chase Your dreams
This world can wait for one more moment
Go and sleep in peace

I believe the glory of Heaven
Is lying in my arms tonight
But Lord, I ask that He for just this moment
Simply be my child

Go to sleep my Son
Baby, close Your eyes
Soon enough You'll save the day
But for now, dear Child of mine
Oh my Jesus, Sleep tight

All the questions that come from looking at an infant child who is the Son of God.  Finally realizing the weight of that statement.  And Joseph's simple request - for one moment, can he just be mine?  Everything else will come, everything else will happen, but can he just be mine right now?  Can he be spared the crushing weight of expectation for one minute?

How often did Joseph and Mary wish to spare Jesus from his destiny?  Did they try to talk him into a safer life?  How often did they pray for his protection, even at the expense of his mission? 

How often did they beg God to spare Jesus from His plan?

I know this is probably not the most appropriate Christian response, but looking over my children and knowing what I would do to protect them, I can imagine the answer is often and frequently.

I know kids need to learn overcoming difficulty and hardship, but every parent, if they knew their children would face real suffering, would face terminal illnesses, agonizing pain, overwhelming hardship, would beg to take their place.

These thoughts take on even greater significance as we are now waiting in the adoption process.  I can imagine the same questions for the child we will adopt.  Can they be free of the brokenness inherent in adoption for just one moment?  Can they just be our child, without the baggage that will be carried around with them?

It puts new perspective on what it must have been like as the adoptive father in this story.  To be the one appointed to watch over Jesus.  To raise him, to teach him a trade, and to set him out on his ministry.

I think there is a little poetry in why Joseph, a carpenter or craftsman was chosen.  God the master craftsman sent his son to a carpenter to apprentice.  Picturing Joseph teaching Jesus how to create, how to restore, how to reuse.  How to repair the broken.  

A picture of our adoptive Father.  What he wants to teach us.  How He restores.  How He repairs.   How He creates.

How great the father's love, indeed.

Second Sunday of Advent 2021 - Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming

Today marks the second Sunday of Advent.  A time that used to reflect on the preparations made for the arrival of the Messiah.  Of the birth of John the Baptist, he who would prepare a way for the Lord.

A voice of one calling:
"In the wilderness prepare 
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert 
a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up, 
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

Isaiah 40:3-5

Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel who alone does marvelous deeds.

Psalm 72:18

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Luke 1:26-38

As I’ve explored this week, I've always loved the comparison in the miracles of the birth of John and of Jesus.  Though they are not of the same level, through them we see the breadth of the work of God - to bring forth life from the dead and to bring forth life from nothingness. To restore and rejuvenate, as well as to completely create from new.  A beautiful reminder that no matter where we may be in our lives, God can prepare a way.

May we prepare that way today. 

Yuletide - Mary - An Ordinary Girl

"Why her, she's just an ordinary girl?"

A Strange Way to Save the World, Mark Harris

"In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.  And he came to her and said, 'Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!'  But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.  And the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.   And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.'

And Mary said to the angel, 'How will this be, since I am a virgin?'

And the angel answered her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.  And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.  For nothing will be impossible with God.'  And Mary said, 'Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.' And the angel departed from her."

Luke 1:26-38

Mary rightly receives a lot of attention at this time of year, but I wonder if we often gloss over what makes her story so amazing.  We focus so much on the miracle, on the extraordinary circumstances and the details of the birth that make it so amazing, but do we pay attention to the character of Mary and how we should relate to her?

Because, from what I see of the story, Mary was the most ordinary of girls.  We know little of her life from the gospel account.  We know she was living with her family in the betrothal stage of her marriage to Joseph.  At the time, Mary could have been betrothed as early as age twelve and there are apocryphal accounts that she was only 12-14 at the time of the Annunciation.  We know that she was a virgin at the time, that she was faithful.  We know that she was from Nazareth.

Nazareth at that time was a city of no prominence.  Though it is mentioned in the Gospels, there are no contemporaneous mentions of Nazareth.  It does not appear in other writings until 200 AD.  It was a town of around likely 400-500 people.  A town in the hills of Galilee.  A poor farming town.  It was the country.  To the point where it was even asked "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"

An ordinary girl, in an ordinary town, in the most ordinary of circumstances.

Until God...

Until God steps into the most ordinary of circumstances to do the extraordinary.

I know there are those that would venerate Mary.  To make her sinless.  To make her a perpetual virgin.  To make her already extraordinary, set apart by God.  And while I don't want to deny their beliefs, I think that misses the mark of her story.

She's supposed to be us.  To represent what God could do through any of us, if we found his favor.  If we were willing to say "let it be to me according to your word."  That no matter our beginnings, no matter our location, no matter our circumstances, God can make something wonderful.  Something miraculous, something extraordinary.

It's Mary's statement, "let it be to me according to your word," that reveals her extraordinary character.  Her willingness to follow God wherever He led her is her most amazing attribute.  Because what the angel was telling her would bring shame on her and her family.  At its most benign, it made her the subject of gossip and whispers.  It brought slander to her character.  It could mean the dissolution of her betrothal.  If that happened, it could make her an unfit candidate for marriage of any kind, leaving her destitute, should her family refused to keep her.  At the absolute worst, it could mean her death for her "unfaithfulness."

We don't see Mary fight back against any of this.  She simply says, "let it be done."

To have that kind of faith!

It can be so hard for us to serve when it's merely mildly inconvenient.  We're so concerned God is going to send us to Africa or China if he calls us, that we're turning away from even going across the street.  We hold on to so many reasons holding us back - family, jobs, status, comfort, prejudice, tradition, relationships - when God is waiting for us to cut through it all with a simple, "Here am I, send me!"

Or perhaps worse, we make it about ourselves.  We make ourselves important people needing to be seen and known as doing great things.  To be visible.  To be prominent.  To always be pictured as someone on the right side of pious.  To be known for being a good person, having the right beliefs, attending the right church, doing the right things, voting correctly, fitting in just squarely.  Associated with the right people.  We have no time for when things get messy or uncomfortable.  We're sticking to our plan.

What would we see if Christians went back to being ordinary people used by God for extraordinary things?

What if we weren't afraid of messy?  Of inconvenient?

Think about it, the Christmas story starts with an all too common scenario that we look down our noses at today.  An unplanned, likely teenage pregnancy.  A rushed and hushed marriage.  

Do we really grasp that?  God's plan for Mary's life was going to subject her to lies and slander about her character.  She was going to be known for her lifetime in her hometown as unfaithful.  There would be questions and rumors about exactly who she slept with.  Joseph would likely be looked upon as either the one who couldn't wait or as weak for not exacting his remedy for her unfaithfulness.

God's plan made their lives extremely messy.  It subjected them to the disappointment of their family and friends.  Mary had to know this, she had to be imagining this.  And yet, she said, "let it be."

Are we willing to do the same?

Yuletide - Elizabeth - Life Restored

"The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.  Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.  For no word from God will ever fail.'"

Luke 1:35-36

I've recently been fascinated by the pairing of the stories of the pregnancies of Elizabeth and Mary.  Mary's story rightly gets told and proclaimed throughout this time of year.  But Elizabeth's is often forgotten.  And it's the pairing of these two stories that show the full power of God.

Elizabeth's story is very brief; her only mentions throughout scripture are wholly contained in the first chapter of Luke.  We know that she was a descendant of Aaron.  That she is married to Zechariah.  That she was "well along in years."  That she was childless.

And we know she had prayed for a child.

In the very beginning of this Christmas story, before the angel speaks to Mary, we see God speak to his people for the very first time in over four hundred years.  His angel appears to Zechariah and lets him know that Elizabeth will conceive and give birth to John.

A promise fulfilled.

We focus on Mary's story because we find it the more miraculous.  The child is conceived immaculately.  Life is created from nothing.

But the story is even more astounding when paired with Elizabeth's pregnancy.  With Elizabeth, life comes from the dead.  From the barren.  Resurrection.

In Elizabeth and Mary, we see God creating.  From death and from nothing.  The Redeemer and the Creator.  Alpha and Omega.  Beginning and End.

In other mythologies, a common theme are the three sisters.  The weird sisters, the kindly ones, the norns, the fates, the furies.  Mother, maiden, and crone.

In this Christmas story, we see maiden and crone both becoming mother.  Life coming forth from beginning and end.

For no word from God will ever fail.

Yuletide - Zechariah - I Heard You...

"And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.  And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.  But the angel said to him, 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.'"

Luke 1:11-13

As I'm reading through Luke for our men's group Huddle, I'm hitting the Christmas story at just the right time.  It reminds me of how powerful this story remains to this day.

Of all the players in the greater Christmas story, Zechariah is one that I've never given much thought to.  He's there, just a bit player in John's story, but perhaps unfairly, I've sidelined him.

He is the first person to hear from God in over 400 years.  He's blessed with the first angel visitation in the broader story.  All through a very orchestrated plan to make sure he was serving in the temple that day.

In thinking through his story, I suppose I've always had the picture of he and Elizabeth getting what they've been continually praying for.  That after all these long years of prayer and petition, of continually bringing the request for child to God, their prayer was finally answered.

But what if the scenario were a little different?  With Zechariah and Elizabeth both well advanced in years, what if the prayer for a child was one that had fallen off the prayer request list?  What if Zechariah had given up hope long ago that he and Elizabeth would have a child?  Had stopped praying that particular prayer ages ago?  After all, he could see it was an impossibility, or at least a great improbability.

At this point God had been silent for so long.  There was no prophet to bring the word of the Lord.  There was no judge looking over the people.  No king to do right or evil in the sight of the Lord.

And likely, God had been silent in Zechariah's life for a long time.  The prayer for a child had seemingly gone unanswered.  No word, no promise.

It's into this that the angel of the Lord steps in.  His first words "your prayer has been heard."  God revealing himself to Zechariah, to His people and saying "I hear you."  "I heard you."

You can imagine Zechariah thinking what prayer?  The prayer for a king?  The Messiah?  Someone to come and overthrow Rome and establish an earthly rule again?  The prayer for an uprising? The prayer for provision?

To which the angel replies, no, your first prayer.  That deep petition of your heart.  Your longing.  The prayer for a child.

The one you thought forgotten.
The one you gave up on.
The one you thought impossible.

Here is God saying I heard it, I hear it, I have always heard you.  But answering in His time.  Bringing forth His provision when it will be right.  When it aligns with His purpose.  In a manner that brings Him the glory.

He steps in and says that I am answering many prayers and promises.  The prayer for a child.  The promise for an Elijah.  The turning of the hearts of Israel.

It becomes easy to see Zechariah's confusion.  To have such an old prayer answered would be startling.

How easily we could be guilty of the same thing?

Maybe it's just me, but how often do we think we need to continually remind God of our request?  That we have to keep praying for the exact same thing over and over and over again, as if we think this time he'll finally hear us?

When God is trying to tell us, "I heard you, I hear you, I always hear you."

What would it look like if we believed that?  How would our prayer change?  What would it look like to trust His timing instead of our own?

That's not to say every prayer will be answered in the exact way we want it to be.  But we have to believe that He hears us and His plan is the best.

In this season of miracles, perhaps that is the one you need to be reminded of the most -
He heard you, He hears you, He hears the requests of His people -
Always.

One More......

Four students have died and several others have been injured following a school shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford Township, Michigan.   The students were shot at lunch time.  The primary suspect is 15 and there had been rumors of threats leading up to the event.

I almost forgot about this over the pandemic.  It was the one great benefit.  We did experience a great drop in school shootings, with only ten in 2020.  (And even saying only ten in 2020 is mind-blowing that I can qualify and minimize it like that.)  It almost seemed like these were becoming less of a concern.  And then, something happens to jolt us back to reality.  And to realize that the trend is back on the rise, with twenty-nine so far this year.  Twenty-one of those have occurred since August, making them part of the 2021-2022 school year.

Because we know what would actually work and refuse to do anything about it, I'm repeating an and updating article that I've had to post over and over and over again now in the three years the blog has been running.  

I'll continue to do so, until maybe we start to listen.

-------------------- 

Because there have been 29 school shootings so far this year in 2021...
Because there have been 87 school shootings since 2018....
Because there are nine students and one school employee dead from school shootings this year...
Because there have been many other people wounded in school shootings this year...
Because active shooter drills are now common place in elementary schools...
Because we're teaching kids to run at shooters and then praise them as heroes, but are forgetting to mourn that necessity...
Because we have a generation of kids who view school shootings as just the way things have always been...
Because we still haven't done anything of substance to stop them...
Because chances are, we will still do nothing about this one...

Because I'm tired...

It bears repeating - From a post at the beginning of this blog:

--------------------

I'm tired.  I'm tired of this topic continuing to come up.  I'm tired of us continuing to have the same response - thoughts and prayers, then talking at each other, then a whole lot of nothing, and it's forgotten until we move on to the next one.

When I started this blog, my second post was a repost of a Facebook message on the Second Amendment in response to the Parkland, Florida school shooting.  There have only been 54 days in between these posts.  And here we are again, with a school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas.  And I haven't even touched on all of the school shootings that have occurred.  There have been 5 other school shootings in the interim, just not to the same scope.

We have an addiction to guns in this country that causes us to look at anything else except gun control as a possible solution.  It's far past time we put everything on the table.  We should be looking at mental health care.  We should be looking at bullying.  We should be looking at the family structure.  We should be looking at socio-economic status and mobility.  AND we should be looking at sensible gun control.  We're a big country and pretty good at multi-tasking.  We're more than capable of looking at it all.

But I'm too tired to write anymore on this.  Who knows what good it does at this point.  In lieu of further debate, I'm just going to post facts and let them speak for themselves.

• On an average day, 96 Americans are killed with guns.
• On average, there are nearly 13,000 gun homicides a year in the United States.
• For every one person killed with guns, two more are injured.
• 62% of firearm deaths in the United States are suicides.
• Seven children and teens are killed with guns in the United States on an average day.
• In an average month, 50 women are shot to death by an intimate partner in the United States.
• America's gun homicide rate is more than 25 times the average of other high-income countries.
• The United States accounts for 46% of the population, but 82% of the gun deaths.
• Background checks have blocked over 3 million gun sales to prohibited people.
• Black men are 13 times more likely than white men to be shot and killed with guns.
• The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of the woman being killed by five times.

https://everytownresearch.org/gun-violence-by-the-numbers/

--------------------

Until it's heard...
Until we stop pretending like it will go away...
Until we do something, anything...
Until we care more about people than things...
Until we listen more to constituents than to special interest groups...

Until the next time...hopefully with a much longer gap in between

--------------------

There have been 582 mass shootings in America in the 335 days so far in 2021.

Humbling perspective.

If only we'd learn, someday soon...

Giving Tuesday 2021

"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another."

Charles Dickens

Today is Giving Tuesday.  A day set aside in 2012 to focus on the specific goal of bringing people together for a day of giving back.  In this season of giving this should be our spirit throughout, but it is so easily lost in all the consumerism.  Even this day can get lost among its neighbors - Black Friday, Shop Small Saturday, and Cyber Monday.  But Giving Tuesday is the most important of all.  

Christmas is about giving.  It's when we share the maxim that it is truly better to give than to receive.  It's about giving gifts, about giving of ourselves to each other to share the greatest gift that we have all received.  It's about that great gift that started with a child in a manger.

Giving Tuesday can be celebrated either by the giving of money or the giving of time.  That's an important distinction.  When we can get so caught up in stuff, we can forget that the greatest gift we can often give is our time.  To those we love, to those in need, to those in our lives.  Don't overlook time.

Also, please remember that Covid-19 and 2020-2021 has affected charities as much or more than many other organizations.  For those that are able to give monetarily, please consider doing so out of an abundance.  The need is great this year, and we can help meet it.

Paul's second letter to the Corinthian church reminds us that "God loves a cheerful giver."  I cannot think of a greater way to spread Christmas cheer than to celebrate Giving Tuesday well and carrying that over into this entire season and beyond.

Hanukkah Begins 2021

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הַעוֹלָם, שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה׃

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר שֶׁל חֲנֻכָּה.

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁעָשָׂה נִסִּים לַאֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם בַּזְּמַן הַזֶּה.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this season.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who hallows us with mitzvoth, commanding us to kindle the Hanukkah lights.

Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who performed wondrous deeds for our ancestors in days of old at this season.

Last night was the first night of Hanukkah, today marking the first full day.  The first candle has been lit, the three blessings above are offered.  The celebration will last for eight days and nights, from the evening of November 28 through the evening of December 6.

It is, ultimately, a time of remembrance, a celebration of God's provision.  In a time when there was no judge, no prophet, no word from God, He was still at work.  He was still performing miracles, protecting His people.  To make a single day's supply of oil last for eight days.  

It's a reminder that God is always at work.  Even when He is silent, even when He seems far away, God is still working.  God still cares for His people.  2021 may feel like that kind of year, but rest assured, God is still at work.

To my Jewish friends and all who are celebrating, Happy Hanukkah!  May it be a blessed time for you and yours.

צ'ג אורים סמח

For those who would like a bit more background information, I've included the passages on Hanukkah from the books of the Maccabees and the Megillat Antiochus. The first passage relates to a reflection on Nehemiah's rededication of the temple and its own miracle. The second passage, on Judah Maccabee's rededication of the temple and the dedication of the festival. The final passage contains the story of the oil.

"Since on the twenty-fifth day of Chislev we shall celebrate the purification of the temple, we thought it necessary to notify you, in order that you also may celebrate the festival of booths and the festival of the fire given when Nehemiah, who built the temple and the altar, offered sacrifices.

For when our ancestors were being led captive to Persia, the pious priests of that time took some of the fire of the altar and secretly hid it in the hollow of a dry cistern, where they took such precautions that the place was unknown to anyone. But after many years had passed, when it pleased God, Nehemiah, having been commissioned by the king of Persia, sent the descendants of the priests who had hidden the fire to get it. And when they reported to us that they had not found fire but only a thick liquid, he ordered them to dip it out and bring it. When the materials for the sacrifices were presented, Nehemiah ordered the priests to sprinkle the liquid on the wood and on the things laid upon it. When this had been done and some time had passed, and when the sun, which had been clouded over, shone out, a great fire blazed up, so that all marveled. And while the sacrifice was being consumed, the priests offered prayer—the priests and everyone. Jonathan led, and the rest responded, as did Nehemiah. The prayer was to this effect:

'O Lord, Lord God, Creator of all things, you are awe-inspiring and strong and just and merciful, you alone are king and are kind, you alone are bountiful, you alone are just and almighty and eternal. You rescue Israel from every evil; you chose the ancestors and consecrated them. Accept this sacrifice on behalf of all your people Israel and preserve your portion and make it holy. Gather together our scattered people, set free those who are slaves among the Gentiles, look on those who are rejected and despised, and let the Gentiles know that you are our God. Punish those who oppress and are insolent with pride. Plant your people in your holy place, as Moses promised.'

Then the priests sang the hymns. After the materials of the sacrifice had been consumed, Nehemiah ordered that the liquid that was left should be poured on large stones. When this was done, a flame blazed up; but when the light from the altar shone back, it went out. When this matter became known, and it was reported to the king of the Persians that, in the place where the exiled priests had hidden the fire, the liquid had appeared with which Nehemiah and his associates had burned the materials of the sacrifice, the king investigated the matter, and enclosed the place and made it sacred. And with those persons whom the king favored he exchanged many excellent gifts. Nehemiah and his associates called this 'nephthar,' which means purification, but by most people it is called naphtha."

2 Maccabees 1:18-36

"Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-eighth year, they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering that they had built.  At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals.  All the people fell on their faces and worshiped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them.  So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days, and joyfully offered burnt offerings; they offered a sacrifice of well-being and a thanksgiving offering.  They decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and small shields; they restored the gates and the chambers for the priests, and fitted them with doors.  There was very great joy among the people, and the disgrace brought by the Gentiles was removed.

Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev."

1 Maccabees 4:52-59

"...After this, the sons of Israel went up to the Temple and rebuilt its gates and purified the Temple from the dead bodies and from the defilement. And they sought after pure olive oil to light the lamps therewith, but could not find any, except one bowl that was sealed with the signet ring of the High Priest from the days of Samuel the prophet and they knew that it was pure. There was in it [enough oil] to light [the lamps therewith] for one day, but the God of heaven whose name dwells there put therein his blessing and they were able to light from it eight days. Therefore, the sons of Ḥashmonai made this covenant and took upon themselves a solemn vow, they and the sons of Israel, all of them, to publish amongst the sons of Israel, [to the end] that they might observe these eight days of joy and honour, as the days of the feasts written in [the book of] the Law; [even] to light in them so as to make known to those who come after them that their God wrought for them salvation from heaven. In them, it is not permitted to mourn, neither to decree a fast [on those days], and anyone who has a vow to perform, let him perform it."

Megillat Antiochus

First Sunday of Advent 2021 - Come Thou Long Expected

Today marks the first Sunday of Advent, where we remember the hope and promise of a coming Messiah, as well as looking forward to the promise of His return.  We live in a similar hope today, looking forward to the second coming, when will be restored.  We can understand that longing, that hope.  

"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light:  they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. [...]

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The might God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."

Isaiah 9:2, 6-7

Small Saturday 2021

 

Today marks the tenth annual Shop Small Saturday. To act as a counterpoint to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Shop Small Saturday encourages people to shop local small businesses in this kickoff week to the Christmas shopping season. It’s a reminder not to overlook your local businesses. Your friends and neighbors. Those who often truly depend on this season to boost and maintain their businesses. 

In 2021, once again, it’s even a more important reminder. The chains will and have largely survived this pandemic. The Wal-Marts and Best Buy’s of the world have made it, though perhaps a little changed. Your local gift store, your local clothing boutique, may well not.   They may already be gone.

Likewise with restaurants. McDonalds will be fine, your mom and pop diner has likely already suffered and may not be there.

This Christmas season, more than before, look for ways to shop small. It’s worth the small premium you may pay. That money goes directly into your friends and neighbors. It keeps them employed. It keeps the lights on, in their business and in their homes. 

Buy gifts from a local store. Get a gift certificate to a local spa or salon. Get side dishes or desserts from a local diner to go or just grab a gift certificate. 

Look for ways to help out those local businesses around you.

And if you have a favorite business, check on them. Go out of your way to help them through. 

This year has been rough, but Christmas is a time of year we remember that we get through this together. “To George Bailey, the richest man in town.”  We give and remember it’s better than receiving. 

So, from the product of a family business, Merry Christmas and Shop Small!

Black Friday 2021

Today marks the day where retail businesses supposedly get "in the black" or turn a profit for the year.  It still remains an odd name for the day, sharing the Black Friday moniker with financial and natural disasters.  It's also slightly an odd pairing to have a celebration of thanks for what you have and then immediately go out to grab all the stuff you do not, but such is life.

The busiest shopping day of the year, celebrated with often ridiculous appearing sales to get you in the door.  I've only inadvertently participated a couple of times (and usually much later in the afternoon).  This year, like last, may be marked with a very different Black Friday.  Questions surrounding supply, price increases, the pandemic still continuing along.   Who knows what shopping will look like?

Growing up, the Friday after Thanksgiving was always one of my favorite days working at the store, because it was the day I got to decorate the windows for Christmas.   That's translated into a day at home pulling down all the Christmas decorations and decorating the apartment.

We're not shopping today, but we are enjoying time off.  I hope you and yours are able to enjoy the day as well.  May your shopping go safely, work pass quickly, and all be enjoyable.

Thanksgiving 2021

 "The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added... No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union."

President Abraham Lincoln: Proclamation of Thanksgiving

From my family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!  I want you all to know that I am greatly appreciative of all of you that are reading.  I pray you have many things to be thankful for and that the list only grows over the coming days, months, and years.  I hope you are able to take the time to be with family today, whether it be the one you are born into or the one you choose, and are able to take the time to reflect on the blessings in your life and to express that gratitude.

Give thanks.

This year, that may be hard.  2021 has been another where thanksgiving has been a challenge.  Difficult to focus on the positives.  But I think there have been things to be grateful for.

I'm thankful to have the time I do with my family.  Working from home creates challenges, but it also has many, many positives.

I'm thankful we've been healthy.  That Jamie and I have been vaccinated and avoided Covid-19.  That maybe we're finally turning a corner on this pandemic.

I'm thankful for every time we've been able to see family, especially since we've moved away.

I'm thankful to have become so settled in Brownsburg, IN.  To have the church home we do.  To get to sing on that praise team.  For the friends we've made so quickly.

I"m really thankful for my new company.  I've grown more and learned more this year than I have in the past and am continually humbled by their values and priorities.

Even in another absolutely crazy year, I'm thankful.  I'm very thankful.

I hope you are able to do the same.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Honoring

Who sings to the plants
That are grown for our plates?
Are they gathered lovingly
In aprons or arms?
Or do they suffer the fate
Of the motor-driven whip
Of the monster reaper?
No song at all, only
The sound of money
Being stacked in a bank
Who stitched the seams in my clothes
One line after another?
Was the room sweaty and dark
With no hour to spare?
Did she have enough to eat?
Did she have a home anywhere?
Or did she live on the floor?
And where were the children?
Or was the seamstress the child
With no home of his or her own?
Who sacrifices to make clothes
For strangers of another country?
And why?
Let's remember to thank the grower of food
The picker, the driver,
The sun and the rain.
Let's remember to thank each maker of stitch
And layer of pattern,
The dyer of color
In the immense house of beauty and pain.

*     *    *

Let's honor the maker.
Let's honor what's made.

Joy Harjo, America's Poet Laureate, Honoring, An American Sunrise