Good Morning to All,
Galatians 5: 22-23; “But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against
such things there is no law.”
“On the fifth day
of Christmas, my true love gave to me five gold rings”. Today (Dec. 29th) is the fifth day
of Christmas. The twelve days of
Christmas represent the length of the Christmas in the church calendar
year. It starts on Dec. 25th
and ends on Jan. 5th. These
twelve days represent the length of the Christmas season in the church. It is the shortest season. During this time frame there was traditionally
much celebrating, feasting and gift giving.
We mostly associate this with England, probably because of the Christmas
carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and because of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth
Night”. Yet the celebration is quite
common throughout much of the world.
The whole idea was to celebrate the coming
of Jesus and the gift of salvation which he brings us. There was much merriment and good old fashion
partying. It was common to give a gift
every day of the twelve days to someone that you loved. The gifts depended on how rich you were. The working poor would often give gifts of
food or a small trinket. It was truly
the thought that counted because you only gave to those whom you loved. So if a young lad gave gifts to a young gal,
everyone was excited.
There
are many who wish this country would go back to this style of celebrating. We tend to overspend, overeat, and overdo
everything. This is why most of us are
grateful when Christmas is over. We get
the overload and then just want to decompress from all the noise, excitement,
clamor and disruptions to our lives.
This is a sad commentary on us because the Christmas season often brings
out the best in many of us. It is this
time of the year that we display the fruits of the Spirit the best. This is the time of the year that we are most
generous, we visit the lonely and the shut-ins maybe caroling to them. We have food drives and gift drives for those
who are underprivileged. In general, we
strive to be our best.
Yet most of us spend all of December trying
to get a year’s worth of “goodwill’ in in just one month. The spirit of Christmas should intertwine our
entire life. It is through Christmas,
the incarnation of God in the form of a man, that we have salvation. We should celebrate this every single
day. This event has changed our life
forever; we should live Christmas every single day because we are living in God’s
family every single day. Just knowing
this should bring about joy.
So take some time and think about spreading
out your Christmas cheer. Go caroling in
June. Have a food drive in
September. Live the spirit of Christmas,
the fruits of the Spirit, every day.
Gracious God, by the incarnation of Jesus you bring
salvation to us. Guard us by your Spirit
and guide us to live this life of joy that we have. Be with those who feel they are left behind
and are leftovers. Send your Spirit of
comfort to them. In Jesus’ precious name
we pray, amen
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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