The Second Day of Christmas Hope
Good Morning Friends,
The Christ of Christmas can be near us in every season…the best of times and the worst of times change in the timeless reality of God’s love as the gifts multiply and our behavior somehow changes in the love of it all. So in the next year we can have a countdown to Christmas or a count up of 365 days of Christmas and the 364 gifts given in the first twelve days on the path to an epiphany of how to make good on all those New Year resolutions. Oh I do not know about all the symbolism in the song of Christ on the Cross and two turtle doves. Maybe it is the sacrifice and love of it in an old Christmas Carol. And yet I do see a bit of Pascal’s triangle on the journey of dancing and singing and drumming and milking continuing today with The Second Day of Christmas Hope.
Scripture: Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.
Romans 5:1-10 (NRSV)
21After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. 22When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23(as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord’), 24and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.’
Luke 2:21-24 (NRSV) Top of Form
Bottom of Form
14O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. Top of FormBottom of Form
Song of Solomon 2:14 (NRSV)
See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
Matthew 10:16 (NRSV)
16
4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:4-6 (NRSV)
Message: Ok, God does not want our sacrifice but our true love. And yet because we love sometimes it is necessary to make sacrifices. Love and sacrifice are so intertwined. So I am hoping for more than twelve days in a series of increasingly grand gifts of Christmas. I am hoping that just as Dickens reinvented and revived it so too can we experience that spirit of active usefulness and kindness that perseveres throughout the year….the image of the bride of Christ in two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree. Here we can celebrate the gifts with the Christmas reason in our changed behavior in every season. Here we realize that we can find peace with God when we surrender our will. And here when God takes up residence within us we might just ask why God would call us His turtle dove… Friends, make no mistake about it… in the Bible turtle doves were used in sacrifices but also contain the image of peace and an olive branch in the story of Noah and at the baptism of Jesus, a Spirit of powe,r and for Solomon a soft loving and kindly disposition. Here we might just rejoice in the hope that we can actually experience the complexity of the life God designed us to live each and every day in love. Friends, we have something to celebrate on an ongoing basis because we have the unmerited favor of God…grace and hope and love. Here is a sublime vision of covenantal loving-kindness and devotion in the image of two turtle doves. Here we learn to believe and then know in faith that God has our best interests at heart. Here we can persevere day after day, knowing that this must produce character, and a hope that is strengthened with confidence and the love of God in the Holy Spirit blessing us each and every day.
Pray we be authentic. Pray we be of good cheer. Pray we be aware of God each day. Pray we eat of the fruit that is never out of season. Pray we take the light out into the world each and every day. Pray we speak the language of chaste love for our mate. Pray we present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Pray we are undefiled, not divided but are as one.
Pray we are blessed to seek to bring together God’s people in the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace as doves. Pray we have a loving and gentle disposition. Pray we are partakers of the divine because God has made us this way.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 