“When (the wise men) saw the star they were filled with joy.” Matthew 2:10
Tomorrow, January 6, is the Day of Epiphany (not just the 3rd anniversary of the Insurrection of the Capitol). Epiphany, meaning revealed, marks the arrival of the Wise Men in Bethlehem, thus completing the Christmas season. That makes for 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany.
The Song The Twelve Days of Christmas marks this time with gifts one receives from a beloved. Somewhere along the way someone speculated this might have been a coded Christian song with the gifts representing key tenets of the Christian faith. For example, the Partridge in the pair tree is Jesus, two turtle doves represent the Old and New Testaments, 3 french horns are the Trinity, and so on.
Truth is, this probably ain’t true! It has made for nice Christian speculation but is more likely urban legend. Yet, it’s still fun to think about today, the 11th day of Christmas. This stands for 11 pipers piping. As the legend goes this symbolizes the true, faithful disciples. (Remember, Judas betrayed Jesus, so that outted him. Mind you, the Bible never said Jesus dismissed him, but tradition has…so let’s move on)
It’s a nice image to think of disciples playing pipes, celebrating. Seems a nice way for followers of Jesus to mark His birth. Not necessarily playing pipes but celebrating; resisting the doom and gloom filling the world right now. Not denying it, mind you. Not ignoring it. Just not giving into the darkness and heaviness of the world’s problems. Celebrating a born Savior means someone has come who can help us with all our problems. Someone has come to rescue us from adding to the doom and gloom and instead inspires us to engage in activities that might lessen the doom. Someone has come to be a source of joy that gives us courage to keep living with hope and faith, believing that every little act of kindness, love and beauty changes the world.
What happened to the wise men when they realized they had found the Christ-child? They were filled with joy!
So bring on the pipes! What tune you want to hear?