January 5, 2022 - The Twelfth Day of Christmas
The Twelve Days of Christmas
Austin
On the twelfth day of Christmas
My true love gave me to me
Twelve drummers drumming
Eleven pipers piping
Ten lords a-leaping
Nine ladies dancing
Eight maids a-milking
Seven swans a-swimming
Six geese a-laying
Five golden rings
Four calling birds
Three French hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree
“In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was with God, and The Word was God.”
How are those New Year resolutions coming? Making a deal is an important step. Closing the deal is more important. Having a vision is a good start. Putting in place a strategy and an action plan to realize that vision is crucial. Commitment is vital. Follow-through is essential.
New Year resolutions provide us with energy and hope for new beginnings. If five days into the New Year we feel like we have already failed, we can be assured comfort and joy are still being given. In Christmas, in Christ, God's commitment and follow-through and vision make known God's grace, revealing the Word does not fail to close the deal, to complete the action plan, to realize God's vision for us.
"In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was with God, and The Word was God." In the beginning, of all that was new, God had a plan, and that plan included The Word, and that plan included The Word who was God, taking on flesh, and living among us. Closing the deal for God included The Word who was God being born in a manger; The Word going down into the river to be baptized; The Word being betrayed, put on trial, crucified, and rising from the dead; The Word giving comfort and joy. In Christmas, God, our True Love, put into action God's action plan, which had been in place from the beginning.
As the twelve days of Christmas come to an end, may The Light still be the light in your life; may comfort and joy forever continue in your midst. As the twelve days come to a close for another year, may we trust all the gifts The Word, our True Love, daily gives us for all eternity! On that first silent night away in a manger when God brought joy to the world, God through grace closed the deal and put his plan into action, and God is still the One taking action in our midst, today, every day in a New Year, every day of our lives.
Let us pray: Lord, today I thank you Christmas, The Christ, continue to be the life, the comfort and joy, in my heart. Give me faith to close the deal when it comes to being faithful and to making you and our neighbors first as I enter a New Year. As the twelve days of Christmas come to a close, I join your people around the world and praise you, our True Love, that comfort and joy and all you envisioned in grace would be realized in The Word, Emmanuel, God with us. Amen.
