Monthly Archives: December 2024

12/31/24 – Ten years of “12 days of Christmas…”

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“Twelfth Night (The King Drinks)” – One way to celebrate the end of Christmastide…

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12/31/24 – It’s been 18 days since I last posted, in December 13’s Advent ’24 – and “Woe unto you Israel?” In the time since, I’ve taken a 10-day, 2,000 mile road trip up to West Springfield Massachusetts (and back), taken six hours of train rides (one long Sunday, 12/15) down to New York City and back, seen the play Chicago at the Ambassador Theater just off Broadway, and gone through a process of preparing for and going through two family Christmases, one on the day itself and one three days later for the whole extended family. (Including out-of-towners.)

So yeah, I’ve been busy…

But not to despair, we are still within the “12 days of Christmas,” both a festive Christian season and title of a host of songs and spin-offs (including one on a Mustang GT):

The Twelve Days of Christmas is the festive Christian season, beginning on Christmas Day (25 December), that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, as the Son of God. This period is also known as Christmastide…  The Feast of the Epiphany is on 6 January [and] celebrates the visit of the Wise Men (Magi) and their bringing of gifts to the child Jesus. In some traditions, the feast of Epiphany and Twelfth Day overlap.

But also mixed up in this slew of Christmas-season celebration-days we find the urge to ponder the past year (2024), and Christmastide-times of years before, and maybe – with enough time and energy – some thoughts about what kind of 2025-year we may be heading into.

For starters we could look back at The 12 Days of Christmas, from January 4, 2015. (And yes that was 10 years ago; I counted on my fingers.) That post noted that aside from a church season, the “12 days” were also featured in an English Christmas Carol – thought to be of French origin – first published in 1780. (A “cumulative song,” meaning each verse “is built on top of the previous verses.”) One common theory said the original lyrics were part of a “secret Catholic code,” going back to a time – from the 16th to the 19th century – “when being a Catholic was a crime in Protestant England.” (As a sneaky way for Catholic children to learn their faith.) 

But enough of way-long-ago history. (Aside from the fact that Catholics survived “even to this day,” despite being persecuted for their faith by the powers that be.) From that 2015 post we could fast forward to 2020 – A Christmas[tide] like no other? Four years ago at this time of year we were just at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic; the first case in China happened in mid-November 2019 and the first confirmed U.S. case came on January 19, 2020. But as to that “like no other” question, the short answer is, “No, we actually had a similar near-Christmastide-time of disaster, back in 1918. when the Spanish flu pandemic started in February that year and lasted until April, 1920.” (Two years and two months? And in another “deja vu all over again,” the culprit was the H1N1 flu virus, which also caused the 2009 swine flu pandemic.)

Then we could move on to Welcome to Christmas, 2021, which led off with the image at left, “Stink, stank, stunk!” (A year that started off with the January 6 Capitol attack and ended – as of December 5 – with COVID and its variants having claimed the lives of some 803,045 Americans.) Perhaps not surprisingly, I included a note on why it seems that so many bad things happen to so many good people? Which could include at least one silver lining:

There is much we can do to alleviate each other’s suffering when adversity strikes. Our support and empathy toward our fellow human beings in their time of need helps them not only materially but demonstrates to them that they matter… When we act kindly, it also gives meaning to our own life, as we see that we matter to others.

Which I thought was pretty much what Christians are supposed to do anyway. (Show empathy, and try to alleviate the suffering of others. And which was pretty much the point of my post, Another view of Jesus feeding the 5,000.) That rather than waiting on God to perform miracles, we should get to work on problems ourselves. Which brings up the “Christmas spirit.”

The fact that we’ve survived these past catastrophes had to do with Christmas spirit. (Plus the fact that Americans are so ornery; we hate being told what to do.) Anyway, I Googled the phrase “what is Christmas spirit” and got 4,180,000 results. One answer: Christmas Spirit – Its Real Meaning | 7th Sense: That spirit shows in three simple actions: Giving, Appreciating, and Doing service. Another answer: What is Christmas Spirit? – Scientific American Blog Network:

The code of generosity, kindness, and charity toward others is enforced by no one other than ourselves. There are places where this code is strong, and these places (or people) are said to have strong Christmas spirit… After all, we are the sum of the individuals around us who generate the collective force that governs and organizes our social structure… When we “act out” Christmas spirit, we’re making visible this collective force, and we give it power.

So one message from all this Christmas spirit – in spite of all the obstacles life throws at us – could be that “A ‘time of pestilence’ can show there are more things to admire in people than to despise.” (Not that that has anything to do with the coming year, or two, or four…)

Speaking of which, Jimmy Carter just died – at the ripe old age of 100 – and his passing led to some “temporary moments of rapprochement” amid the barrage of “insults and smack talk” so much a part of politics lately. Even Donald Trump – not known for sensitivity to political opponents – was led to call Carter “’a truly good man’ who will be missed,” and to have flags flying at half-mast – in Carter’s honor – at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.

Which could be a good start. “Way to go Jimmy!” Now maybe we’re ready for 2025?

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The upper image is courtesy of The Twelve days of Christmas, with the full caption, “Twelfth Night (The King Drinks) by David Teniers c. 1634-1640.” I borrowed from the 2015 post, On the 12 Days of Christmas. Although it was posted on January 4, 2015, I noted that I’d “left town at 5:00 on the afternoon of Sunday December 21, thinking that he had already published this post on the “12 Days of Christmas.” But somewhere along the line [I] dropped the ball – metaphorically or otherwise – and here it is, Sunday, January 4th.” Meaning I meant to post it before leaving town, “to face the icy arctic blasts of Yankee-land for Christmas;” i.e., Massachusetts. The post includes a link – “for the sake of completeness” – to Jeff Foxworthy – Redneck 12 Days Of Christmas Lyrics, and/or 12 Redneck Days of Christmas by Jeff Foxworthy – YouTube.

The Book of Common Prayer reference: The “corporate-mystical” prayer is on page 339, the post-communion prayer for Holy Eucharist, Rite I.

“Feast days” are designated days on the liturgical (church) calendar “set aside to commemorate events, saints, or doctrines that are important in the life of the Church. These can range from Solemnities, which are the highest-ranking feast days like Easter and Christmas, to optional memorials that celebrate lesser-known saints.” Feast Days: Celebrating the Church’s Calendar.

For this post I borrowed from the 2015 post, On the 12 Days of Christmas, then later The 12 days of Christmas, 2018-2019, and 2020 – A Christmas like no other? That was a Christmas like no other – except maybe this one – but then came Welcome to Christmas, 2021 and The 12 DAYS of Christmas – 2021-22. (And finally – looking ahead – Epiphany ’23, the end of Christmas and “farewell Mi Dulce.”)

The full “COVID” link, Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic – Wikipedia.

The lower image is courtesy of Jimmy Carter set the standard for the modern post-presidency. See also, From ‘worst president’ to ‘highest respect’: Trump softens opinion of Jimmy Carter in death, noting in part, “Trump offered a far less charitable view of Carter when he was alive.” Also:

Amid the barrage of insults and smack talk were temporary moments of rapprochement between the 39th and the 45th presidents… During Trump’s first term, Carter occasionally came to his defense… Carter not only attended Trump’s first inauguration, he was the first former president to RSVP. Later that year, in 2017, Carter suggested the media had been harder on Trump than any other president. Trump responded by tweeting a message of thanks to Carter for “the nice remarks.”

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On Advent ’24 – and “Woe unto you Israel?”

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Advent 2024 – a time to prepare for a challenging year to come – or maybe two, or four…

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This time last year I posted The First Sunday of Advent. (Last year December 3, this year, December 1) And about how that First Sunday starts both a new church year and a four-week church season that calls us to look four different directions: “back to the past, forward to the future, upwards to heaven, and downwards to earth.” I added that it’s a time of anticipation, and not just for Christmas. Then I hearkened back to a blog post on Advent in 2020:

The first Sunday of Advent is the start of a new liturgical year, and yet there is a continuity with the end of the liturgical year just finished… One does not have to be a prophet of doom to recognize that this year [2020] has been filled with terrible events… We need God to come and fix a broken world. The season of Advent is about [the] “devout and expectant delight” that God will do that. [Fix a broken world that is…]

Those comments – from a post back in 2020 – showed the blogger was right. 2020 was filled with bad events that presented a host of problems, old and new. They included a just-new COVID epidemic and an Election That Seemed Like It Would Never End. And this time last year I said that 2023 would also present even more daunting problems, but then again – as the Bible says – “man is born to trouble as as sparks fly upward.” And it looks as if – in 2025, the new year starting after this Advent 2024 – the trouble and the sparks promise to continue.

On the plus side, the troubling uncertainty that marked the last year or two is over. In the election just past the Sovereign People made their choice. Which means – by all accounts – that we are about to embark on a new adventure in which the limits of American democracy will be tested. Which makes this a good time for a parable of sorts. That is, a short simple story that teaches or explains an idea, “especially a moral or religious idea.”

This parable takes us back to the Children of Israel wandering in the wilderness. It’s also about how they came up with an early version of “Golden Age Fallacy.” For starters, they were slaves in Egypt for 400 years, and that form of slavery was both “evil in motive and cruel in nature:”

Work may be physically and mentally taxing, but that does not make it wrong. What made the situation in Egypt unbearable was not only the slavery but also its extreme harshness. The Egyptian masters worked the Israelites “ruthlessly” (befarekh, Exod. 1:13, 14) and made their lives “bitter” (marar, Exod. 1:14) with “hard” (qasheh , in the sense of “cruel,” Exod. 1:14; 6:9) service. As a result, Israel languished in “misery” and “suffering” (Exod. 3:7) and a “broken spirit” (Exod. 6:9). Work, one of the chief purposes and joys of human existence (Gen. 1:27-31; 2:15), was turned into a misery by the harshness of oppression.

But later on they changed their view of that harsh misery and oppression. Simply put, they reinvented history because they couldn’t handle the problems that come with freedom.

Simple solution? Blame somebody. As in Exodus 16:3, where they blamed Moses for the fact that they couldn’t handle their new-found freedom. (It turned out harder to handle than expected.) “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Another example? Numbers 11:5, “We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.” And also Numbers 16:13, “Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?”

But they didn’t sit around pots of meat and eat all they wanted. What happened? Those ancient Hebrews may have been the first – in recorded history anyway – to fall victim to the Golden Age Fallacy. Feeling nostalgic about a past that never was. The problem? “Nostalgia is denial – denial of the painful present.” And who falls prey to such fallacies? People who “find it difficult to cope with the present.” (See also Political Lies: Altering Facts and Rewriting History.)

And again, who did the Children of Israel blame for their problems? Moses, the agent of God who delivered them out of slavery. And just to reiterate: They did not sit around pots of meat and eat all they wanted back in Egypt. There were no great quantities of fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and other goodies. They were slaves, and they were given slave rations; just enough to keep them functioning, barely. As such they initially reveled in being set free, but then found out they couldn’t handle it. Being “free” was harder than they thought.

I also wrote in a past post that “a free people doesn’t go back in time, and especially not to a ‘better time that never was.’” Except that in the election just past, the Sovereign People seem to have done just that. So what happens now? In the case of those Children of Israel reinventing history – wanting to back to a time that never was – their journey to the Promised Land from Egypt should have taken no more than 11 days. Instead it took 40 years, 40 years of mostly wandering around in circles, and not just metaphorically.

Oh yeah, there was also that moment, “Woe unto you, Israel! You have sinned a great sin.” I just hope we don’t have to spend 40 years wandering out of this Wilderness we’re entering.

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“Moses doesn’t like this.  Moses doesn’t like this one bit…*“

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The upper image is courtesy of Advent 2024 – Image Results.

The Book of Common Prayer reference: The “corporate-mystical” prayer is on page 339, the post-communion prayer for Holy Eucharist, Rite I.

“Feast days” are designated days on the liturgical (church) calendar “set aside to commemorate events, saints, or doctrines that are important in the life of the Church. These can range from Solemnities, which are the highest-ranking feast days like Easter and Christmas, to optional memorials that celebrate lesser-known saints.” Feast Days: Celebrating the Church’s Calendar.

Past-post sources on ancient Hebrew whining in the wilderness include On Moses getting stoned, January 2016, and July 4, 2024 – and a “What would have happened?” See also, from March 2017, On Moses and Paul “dumbing it down.”

Past-post sources on Advent include December 2020, Advent, and a “new beginning,” Advent 2021 – “Enjoy yourself,” On Advent ’22, Tradents, and “Scriptio continua,” On Advent 2022 – and St. Andrew, and On Advent 2023 – “Happy New (Liturgical) Year!”

The “evil in motive and cruel in nature” quote is courtesy of The Harshness of the Israelites’ Slave Labor in Egypt. See also The Golden Age Fallacy – Beyond the Rhetoric.

The Sovereign People reference. See Constitution101: The Sovereignty of the People:

The federal government acts like it stands as sovereign in the American system, but that was never intended by those who created it. In fact, the federal government was never meant to serve as anything more than an agent, exercising the specific powers delegated by the true sovereign – the people… While many Americans assume the federal government sits at the top of the power pyramid, it actually belongs on the bottom.

Something to keep in mind over the next four years…

On why the 40 years for an 11-day journey, see Why did Israel spend 40 years in the wilderness? – BibleAsk and Why was Israel cursed with forty years of wilderness wandering?

I borrowed the lower image from the March 2016 post, On Eastertide – and “artistic license.”See also The Ten Commandments (1956 film) – Wikipedia. I was originally going to use an image courtesy of Wandering In The Wilderness Image – Image Results. It came with a page, Take Bread Crumbs: We Really Do Walk in Circles When Lost, which noted “people really do literally wander in circles when there are no visual clues to keep them on track. The behavior has been observed in other animals before, but until recently it hadn’t been studied in humans.” (Interesting.)

I borrowed the caption from the May 2014 post, On Moses and “illeism.” I tried to go back and bring it up to date, but failed. It was just too old, so I left it that way it was, in part so the reader can see whatever progress I may have made and what this platform sometimes does to old images.

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