Holidays

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It’s Here! Christmas Is Here!
© 2006
by

Stephen A. Peterson


It’s here! It’s here! It’s Christmas! The celebration of the birthday of Jesus Christ, the Savior of humankind for all times! It’s here! For twelve days***, beginning with December 25th and ending on the day after January 5th (January 6th—Feast of the Epiphany—indicating the end of the Christmas season), let every Christian and non-Christian child, woman and man rejoice in these most celebrated and beautiful of holy days (where we get our word “holiday”)!

On behalf of and in the name of the Savior, let us unwrap the gifts and give them! Let us visit with and rejoice with family and beloved friends! Let us eat and drink our Christmas meal in love and peace! Let our enemies be our friends in hope and joy! Let the world know PEACE and live it!

After weeks of preparing for His coming, this day we rejoice with a loud voice! The weeks of advent were a period of nervous anticipation. Christmas is the season of birth, awe and happiness! Advent looked to the past. Christmas celebrates the present! The greatest present to humankind ever!

During the course of the year 2006, we looked for and anticipated the possibility of His coming in the paradoxes of world events and in the ups and downs of our own lives. We looked for Him in the smiles of a child. We looked for Him in the praying, loving and gentle hands of a mother for her family and the world. We looked for Him in the working hands of a loving father for his family.

On this Christmas of 2006 we rejoice in His coming as the one who answers our questions about life! He answers our hopes and dreams! He is the long awaited Messiah—the suffering servant, the King of Kings, born in poverty, the Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace! He never came to satisfy earthly wants and needs though He often does. He came to unite humankind to Himself so that the gates of hell may not prevail now or evermore if we but accept His unconditional love that he freely gives. Since the riddle of His coming, many still attempt to try to make sense of His coming only to be made frustrated or angered by all of paradoxes. The leaders of His own nation rejected Him as false because they looked for a military leader. The intellectual today demonize His life as impossible while His loyal followers celebrate it.

His arrival was and is still paradoxical—that is, contrary to human expectation. On Christmas 2006, most, even some Christians, will miss Christmas because He is not what is expected. To experience Christmas happiness, awe and joy, each must find Him in their own hearts and minds. They must come to Him broken and just as they are…with their fears, their lack of intellectual certainty, gathering all that hurts, stresses them and de-energizes them to be brought to Himself.

On this Christmas 2006 let Jesus, the Baby, become so human that you know this very day you ARE a daughter or son of the Almighty Father bought with a price! So have a very, very Merry Twelve Days of Christmas! He’s here! He’s here! Our Brother is here with us forever!



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1st Day—December 25th--- The “partridge” represents Jesus Christ. The “pear tree” represents the cross that Christ died on.

2nd Day—December 26th--- The two turtledoves represent Sacred Scripture---The Old and New Testament.

3rd Day—December 27th—The three French hens represent faith, hope and love.

4th Day—December 28th—The four calling birds represent the four Gospels.

5th Day—December 29th—The five golden rings represent the first five books of the Bible as referred to as the “Pentateuch” which contains Gods creative work, His love for sinful humankind, His promise of a Savior, Laws for good living, and God’s Covenant with humankind.

6th Day—December 30th—The six geese a laying represents the six days of God’s creation and laying His foundation of His love for humankind.

7th Day—December 31st—The seven swans a swimming represent the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophesy, knowledge of languages).

8th Day—January 1st—The eight maids a milking represents the eight beatitudes.

9th Day—January 2nd—The nine ladies dancing represent the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit (Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness,
Gentleness, Self-control)

10th Day—January 3rd—The ten lords a leaping represents the Ten Commandants of God given by God to humankind on Mount Sinai.

11th Day—January 4th—The eleven pipers piping represent the eleven faithful apostles who gave humankind the Word of God after the Ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven.

12th Day-- The twelve drummers drumming represent the points of statements of the Apostle’s Creed:

1. Belief in the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)
2. Born of a virgin
3. Suffered under Pontius Pilate
4. Crucified and died
5. Rose from the dead
6. Ascended into heaven
7. Sits at the right hand of the Father
8. Jesus will judge the living and the dead
9. Believe the teachings of the church
10. Forgiveness of sin
11. Resurrection of the body
12. Life everlasting

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