on the fourth day of Christmas
The cookies that remain are stale, retail stores have slashed their prices, and Benazir Bhutto is dead. It would seem that Christmas is over.
Our church calendar, however, says that Christmas is just beginning. Today is the fourth of the twelve days of Christmas which culminate with Epiphany and the celebration of the Wise men’s arrival on the scene. According to the church calendar, Christmas didn’t even begin until the stores were closing (sunset) on December 24th. Clearly one could conclude that the church is out of step with society. And maybe it is so.
But I’m sitting at my computer in my new bathrobe and slippers, with one teen asleep down the hall and the other downstairs playing a computer game. It’s 9:19am and no one is rushing off. Homework folders are still buried under the new gadgets and the pile of dishes on the kitchen counter is eliciting little excitement. Perhaps the church calendar is on to something.
Gary is at work and already I’ve been to church a couple of times, but the rhythm is slower. The frenzy of life, eclipsed only by the extreme excess of an American Christmas, is suspended in this ‘in between’ time. I’ll do some tasks, then I’ll settle back onto the couch with the kids for another movie. I think the church calendar gets this one right.
P.S. Hope to see you on Sunday, we’ll explore the 6th day of Christmas together. Pajamas optional.