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The Twelve Days of Christmas begin with the
feast of Christmas on December 25 and end with the feast of the Epiphany on
January 6. (The Twelve Nights begin on Christmas Eve and end on Epiphany
Eve.) According to the Church calendar, Christmastide is concluded on
January 5 and "The Epiphany" on January 6 begins an Epiphany season which
varies in length according to the date of Easter.
On Christmas Day the world remembers the incarnation of our Lord, that is, the assuming of
human form by God in Jesus Christ. The Book of Common Prayer puts it this way: Christ "by
the mighty power of the Holy Spirit was made perfect Man of the flesh of the
Virgin Mary his mother;" and calls it "the mystery of the Word made flesh"
(John 1:1ff).
The Christmas season, which begins with the Nativity on December 25, includes
some special days. These honor St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr (December 26), St. John, the
apostle and evangelist (December 27), and the Holy Innocents killed at
Bethlehem (December 28). (Note that the revised Church calendar gives
precedence to the First Sunday after Christmas, possibly resulting in the
postponement by one day of one or more of the Three.)
To provide
symbols for these saints' days, the following are suggested:
- St. Stephen, who was stoned to death - stones and palm branch;
- St. John as apostle - a "poisoned" chalice with a serpent within; as evangelist - an eagle;
- Holy Innocents - starry crowns of martyrdom and lilies of purity.
Epiphany season focuses the Christian's attention on the manifestations or appearances of Christ as a
divine being. The three traditional manifestations, since the early centuries of the Church, have been:
- The Nativity of Christ and the Adoration of the Wise Men;
- The Baptism of Christ when the Spirit descended on him;
- The first miracle at Cana when at a marriage Jesus turned water into wine.
References to these manifestations are made in the first two stanzas of the hymn,
"Songs of Thankfulness and Praise," by Christopher Wordsworth.
If you have questions about the ministries of the church, please contact
Senior Pastor Fred Morgan at 512-258-9117 x 13.
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