http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8 to watch and hear Straight No Chaser's version of "On the Twelfth Day of Christmas." They are a men's a capella singing group from Indiana University, and you'll never forget this!
Only eleven more days of Christmas. Episcopalians (and other liturgical churches who observe a Christian calendar year) celebrate Christmas from December 25th until Epiphany, January 5th, when we celebrate the coming of the Three Magi to Bethlehem to visit the Christ child, it is said. Actually, we commemorate this politically charged event twelve days after Jesus' birth, but most Biblical scholars agree that this most likely happened when Jesus was about two years old. "We Three Kings" is really about three Zoroastrian astrologers who seem to have observed a supernova and interpreted it as a sign of the birth of a new king. Maybe we should sing, "I, one 'king,' in Bethlehem lay..." and get the zodiac sky in there somehow. So much of the political business around his birth has gotten lost, buried, smothered in all the coziness of tradition and the lovely nostalgic fictions surrounding the Holy Day itself.
I was on another fiber site last night and was interested to note that it was a self-proclaimed "religion-free zone." I must make a confession. I love my neighbor, but I resent the heck out of the well-meaning folks who have given Christianity such a bad rap. It's just a relatively few noisy "Christians" who have seemingly forgotten that it's God's job to judge and it's our job to love; they've joyfully reversed the roles and proclaimed it from the rooftops of Focus on the Family, the Moral Majority, etc., etc., etc.
I find that, at sixty, I am a practitioner of a number of different spiritual traditions, all while continuing to be ardently committed to that radical carpenter, Yeshua bar Joses, Jesus son of Joseph, who lived in the Middle East in a time almost as troubled as it is today. He broke all the rules. He partied with prostitutes--he loved to party--and dined with the dregs of society, even with those who were collaborators with the occupying forces of Rome. He insisted on loving all the "wrong" people, even entrusting the furtherance of his Kingdom on earth to a bunch of stinky fishermen who hadn't even gone to seminary, or rather rabbinical school. Grab a Bible someday and read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and then turn to 1 John, a letter from the leader of one of the early Christian communities. You'll like this Jesus a whole lot better than the one proclaimed by a number of Christian factions today and, indeed, you will be totally amazed that they even pretend to be following this guy you will meet!
Enough. I am a priest, after all, even if I'm no longer doing all those mystical and mysterious things behind the altar on Sunday mornings! Cut me some slack now and then!
I'm still knitting madly on my grandchildren's Christmas presents which, I promise, will be sent within the Twelve Days. I did spin some white Columbia x Rambouillet fleece today--so soft--and I may use it as a two-ply carry-along in Marian's blue hat. So. Still to finish:
- Sophie's hat
- Marian's hat
- Whitney's cabled merino scarf
- Jane's hand-dyed and drum-carded fleece
- Wayne's chocolate caramel candy
- Joanne's purple merino socks
- Virginia's blue alpaca anklets
And I think that's all for this year! I have handspun yarn ready for two other friends and some gorgeous Kaffe Fassett Regia for a third. Blessings to you all!
Kathy
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