The Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 1
“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.”
The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ
December 25
Reflections for the Twelve Days of Christmas
Day 1: ‘A Partridge in a pear tree’
Dear Faithful in Christ,
Grace and Peace to you this joyful Christmas Day! Over this season, I hope to share brief reflections upon the numbers of the day in the season. Many recognize repeating numbers in our Sacred Scriptures. This season, we will find a plethora of numerical links from The Twelve Days of Christmas to the Bible.
Follow me this Christmas season as we make connections to the numbered days of Christmastide to our faith. The season of Christmas is always the same duration. To remember it most readily, all one needs to do is to remember that familiar hymn – The Twelve Days of Christmas! There are, in fact, twelve days to this season, from December 25th to January 5th. The Feast of the Epiphany, when the wise men travel to visit the holy infant, on January 6th concludes Christmastide.
Day ONE
As our Nicene Creed states: “We believe in ONE God…” Paul writes to Timothy saying “there is one God; there is also one mediator begin God and humankind.” [1 Timothy 2:5] Paul takes us from the static understanding of ‘one’ as a quantity and brings us into the significance of the ‘one mediator.’ Jesus’ birth reminds us of the premise of Salvation forged as God was made Incarnate. Only as a human being could Salvation be accomplished, repairing the sins humanity engraved. Athanasius of Alexandria, a fourth century theologian, expressed that it was out of deep love that God would humble God’s self into human form. Though not guilty of sin, Jesus would come to suffer as though He was a sinner. A partridge is a bird that will distract predators from the nest of their young by pretending to be injured to take upon them the danger and risk for the sake of its children. One being provides benefit for the many.
Jesus’ existence, according to second century theologian Irenaeus of Lyon, was such that it enveloped full divinity and full humanity, a seeming paradoxical oneness. In his Gospel, John shares Jesus’ words of hope that His followers bond in unity such that they become “one.” [John 17:22]
Sin are those personal actions where we choose to turn away from God, fracturing our relationship. Redemption is the foundation of unity with our Lord. May we find oneness with God through our Mediator, Jesus Christ. The life we celebrate born this day came so that redemption would be gifted to restore human righteousness with each other and with God.
The God of Love and Peace be with you,
Fr. Michael
““I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. ”
A Collect for Christmas Day
The Book of Common Prayer, 161
Almighty God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin: Grant that we, being regenerate and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
