It's Colly Birds on the 4th Day of Christmas

Christmas 1A

John 1:1-18

December 29, 2019

St. Matthias

           Welcome to the 5^th Day of Christmas and I hope you received your 5 Gold Rings today - plus the 4 Calling Birds, 3 French Hens, 2 Turtle Doves, and of course your Partridge in a Pear Tree.  This year, if your true love faithfully follows the traditional French carol and presents you with all the gifts for each day it will have cost $38,993.59 according to the Annual Christmas Price Index published each year by PNC Bank. It is just 2 tenths of 1 percent more than last year, but since the index was first published in 1984, the cost of those 12 days’ worth of gifts has almost doubled. 

But, the real question is - DID you get the RIGHT gold rings.  If you are thinking in terms of metal circles that fit around you fingers or wrists – think again.  The 5 gold rings in the song probably refer to ring neck pheasants.  I was also rather curious about what exactly is – a Calling Bird and it probably refers to Colly Birds which are a type of black bird about the size of a Robin.  I’m sure that Dwight Lammon could spot one quite easily. 

It’s always important to know what we are talking about.  This is certainly true when it comes to scripture.  This morning we hear the beginning of the Gospel of John.  It is different.  Matthew and Luke begin at the birth of Jesus, Mark starts with the beginning of Christ’s ministry, but John begins at the beginning – the very beginning.   The early Christians knew the story of Jesus’s birth – about his life on earth, the miracles, his teachings, and of course the crucifixion and resurrection.  And now with the Gospel of John, those first believers were asking, “What does it all mean?”  No one tells us a story just so you can recite a bunch of facts over and over again.  Our stories have meaning, and they tell the world about us.  We tell stories about our families, friends, traditions and how we celebrate Christmas where we come from.  And in this we share the message of who we are and what’s important.  This is what the Gospel of John is doing - and while he talks about creation and John the Baptist and all who believe – this is first and above all else - a story about God.  In the beginning was the Word and the Word became one of us when Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

Can you recite all 12 days and what you should give your true love?  The first 7 days are all about birds.  We start with the famous partridge in a pair tree and continue with turtle doves, French hens, colly birds, pheasants, geese and swans.  Then we move on to 8 maids, 9 ladies, 10 lords, 11 pipers, and 12 drummers.   We don’t know much about the song – who wrote it – or its purpose.  It probably originated in France as a children’s game played at Christmas.  You started with the partridge and went around the circle with each child trying to remember the day and the number of gifts.  Over the years there have been a number of versions.  Sometimes its 4 mockingbirds or 12 bells ringing.  The pipers, lords, ladies, and maids seem to move around a bit and swap gifts depending on who’s singing.  In one version it is your mother who give you the gifts. There are new versions that come out each year.  I personally like the classic performance from John Denver and the Muppets in 1979.  And there is the story that make its rounds every Christmas claiming the song contains a secret code used by either the Catholics or the Protestants as a means of teaching their children because one or the other group was supposedly being persecuted at one time or another in the history of the song.  That tale goes all the way back to about 1999 and is hardly accurate regardless of how many times it is posted on Facebook.

The same is true for John’s Prologue.  Through the years different groups have claimed that it too contains secret messages from Jesus himself that could only be understood by whoever broke the code.  I think John would have been amused.  Instead his opening chapter tells us the meaning of Christmas and the whole of the Christian faith.  All you have to do is follow the words.  In the beginning was the Word.  By the Word God created the heavens and the earth and you and me and God saw that IT and WE are good.  By His Word we have LIFE – LIFE eternal and the LIGHT shines in the darkness bringing HOPE and JOY and PEACE to the whole world - and in that LIGHT of the Savior we see the very LOVE of God for all of us – and that LOVE came down at Christmas and was born in a manger in Bethlehem. 

So, you see, today you may receive 5 Gold Rings or 5 Ring necked pheasants and tomorrow you should find 6 Geese in your front yard.  Your neighbors might not be too happy about that.  Geese can be pretty noisy.  And whether your Lords a Leaping come on the 10^th day or the 12^th, know that every day – whether it’s the 1^st day of Christmas or the middle of June, God will give you LOVE.  It’s the same every day.  It costs you nothing – and there are no secret messages.  You will sing a new song.  Merry Christmas.  AMEN.