Shine
/Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. - Isaiah 60:1
The 12 days of Christmas. It’s a very familiar song, but the meaning of the phrase is all but lost in our culture. We’ve come to think of Christmas as the end of a long shopping season, a singular day of presents, feasting and merry-making. But in the church, the 12 days of Christmas only begin on Christmas day, and continue through the day of Epiphany on Jan 6. We wait for Christmas to arrive before beginning our Christmas revels. We do not play any Christmas carols in church until Christmas eve, but then we continue to sing Christmas carols and tell the Christmas story right through Epiphany, which doesn’t arrive until Jan 6.
Outside of church, however, most people are quite weary of Christmas music by Dec 26, having heard it playing ubiquitously and repetitively since Halloween everywhere we go. Most people take down their tree no later than New Year’s Day, having had it up for weeks already. Our attention turns to New Year’s Eve and the turn of the calendar year, even though at church, our new church year arrived way back on the first Sunday of Advent.
I remember when Facebook was much newer than it is today, and I got excited about collecting the links to 12 silly or touching Christmas videos, and I planned to post one per day during the 12 days of Christmas. But when I did, not one person ‘clicked’ on any of them at all. Everyone was completely full up of Christmas by then - and had likely already seen those videos repeatedly before Christmas day. I haven’t made that effort since!
So, in short, most people are no longer in sync with the rhythms of the ancient church year. But in our tradition, we hold on to this calendar of faith with reverence, because we know that it reminds us how to live at a very different pace than the one demonstrated by our more hectic, modern lives. We use these ancient traditions to seek the things that are deeper than just the wrapping and the bows. Something as primal and as life-changing as the birth of a baby.
This year, more of us had the chance to be still, and to quietly wait through Advent, in a way we normally do not. So maybe we can also receive this season of Christmas anew, reveling in the 12 days of pure gift that the season of Christmas is. For unto us a child is born, a gift given to us from God - the arrival of the light, of the love, of the healing of Christ. Despite the unique hardships of this year, there are many, many gifts to be deeply grateful for.
“Arise and shine!” Isaiah says, “for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” It seems to me that Christmas this year is about gratitude. So let’s revel in Christmas present. Take some extra time for prayer and for gratitude to celebrate this light filled season.
