12 days of Christmas

In the church calendar, the season has yet to begin.

The Nativity window at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Little Rock includes three large panels — shepherds on one side, wise men on the other, and Mary and Jesus in the center.
The Nativity window at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Little Rock includes three large panels — shepherds on one side, wise men on the other, and Mary and Jesus in the center.

— After the gifts are opened on Tuesday and the day winds to a close, Christmas will be over for many. The tree will come down and the decorations will be put away as thoughts turn to the new year ahead.

But in some homes and churches, the celebration of Christmas is just beginning and will continue for 12 days until Epiphany on Jan. 6. For churches that closely follow the liturgical seasons of the year, the 12 days of Christmas begin on Christmas Eve and are followed by several feast days. The season culminates in the observance of Epiphany, which in churches in the West focuses on the manifestation of Christ and the Magi’s visit to see the newborn king.

The Rev. Teri Daily, rector at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Conway, said she enjoys following the liturgical 12 days of Christmas because it allows parishioners time to focus not only on Christ’s birth but on the holy days that follow.

On Dec. 26, the church observes St. Stephen’s Day.

“He was one of the seven followers who were chosen in Acts to tend to the widows and the poor of the church and later went on to become associated with the work of deacons,” Daily said. “He was imprisoned and ultimately stoned to death for spreading the Gospel.”

The feast of St. John the Evangelist follows on Dec. 27. John was one of the disciples in Jesus’ inner circle.

“On the 28th we remember the Holy Innocents, the innocent males under the age of 2 killed by Herod the Great when he heard the wise men’s report that an infant king of the Jews had been born,” Daily said. “It has become a way we remember all the innocent victims of violence.”

ADDED MEANING

Daily said this year the day will have added meaning because of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Daily said moving from the joyous celebration of Christmas directly into the remembrance of martyrs and the slaughtered innocents brings a deeper meaning to the season.

“What I think is interesting is we don’t get to stay in that warm, idealized glow of this baby in the manger,” Daily said. “In the feasts we’re reminded that for Christ to become human is to open himself to knowing the pain we know.”

Daily said these days help parishioners understand the meaning of Christmas in a larger sense.

“It begins to point us to the cross,” she said. “When we think about the baby in the manger we also have to think about the suffering that was part of Christ becoming human. The beauty of the feast days [is that they] help us understand the history of the church and help us understand and process what goes on today.”

The church also observes the Feast of the Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ on Jan. 1. The day commemorates the circumcision and naming of Jesus.

“I think what I appreciate is the fact that we don’t rush to take down the tree on Dec. 26th,” Daily said. “Instead we get to fully celebrate the two sides — the waiting and the celebration of the coming. We are able to absorb what it means that God is present with us in the world and let that gradually sink in as we return to all the ordinary events in our lives and to reflect on that. I think that’s a gift.”

CHRISTMAS PAGEANT

The church will have Holy Eucharist and a Christmas pageant at 5:30 p.m. Christmas Eve, as well as a choir cantata at 10:30 p.m. and Holy Eucharist at 11 p.m. Christmas Day worship services will be at 9 a.m. The church is at 925 Mitchell St., Conway.

At St. Edward Catholic Church in Little Rock the congregation has been observing Advent in the weeks leading up to Christmas. It’s a period of spiritual preparation and the focus is on waiting for the celebration of Christ’s birth. That means the familiar trappings of Christmas are absent in the church.

“Walk into a Catholic church now and you’ll see an Advent wreath and most certainly not a Christmas tree,” said Father Jason Tyler. “We have one in the vestibule but it’s not in the body of the church and even that is very simple.”

The tree won’t go up until after Mass on Sunday — the fourth and final Sunday of Advent.

“We’ll take out the wreath, put up the tree, the Nativity set — all the things that look like Christmas,” Tyler said.

The music sung by parishioners will also change. In the weeks leading up to Christmas the congregation sings Advent carols and hymns, including “O Come O Come Emmanuel.” True Christmas songs will first be heard on Christmas Eve.

“Then it’s ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,’ ‘Silent Night’ and all the religious Christmas songs, and we’ll keep singing them throughout the Christmas season,” Tyler said.

SEASON EXTENDED

In the Catholic Church, the season is extended to the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord, which is always observed on the Sunday after Epiphany rather than on a particular date. Since Epiphany falls on a Sunday this year, that moves the feast day to Jan. 12, Tyler said.

“What I like is the Advent season gives us this time of preparation, of building up that expectation, that longing, and then when Christmas comes we get to remain in that celebratory, festive mood for a couple of weeks and not just end everything,” Tyler said.

The church will have a children’s Mass in English at 4 p.m. Christmas Eve. Mass will also be in English at 8 p.m. and in Spanish at midnight. Christmas Day Mass will be at 9 a.m. in English and noon in Spanish. The church is at 801 Sherman St. in downtown Little Rock.

At Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Fayetteville, the Rev. Clint Schnekloth said the celebration of the 12 days of Christmas varies from family to family, but all are encouraged to observe the entire Christmas season. In addition to church services on Christmas Eve, Schnekloth said, he encourages families to “dwell with and live with the Christmas story by reading it on Christmas morning.”

The congregation continues the Christmas season with a special service of carols on the Sunday after Christmas, as well as a celebration of Epiphany on Jan. 6. This year, as a bit of fun, the catechumens — inquirers to the faith or those returning to the faith — will have an Epiphany party that evening, including a vespers service.

ALL ITS OWN

Like the Catholic and Episcopal churches, the Lutherans will continue to sing Christmas carols after Christmas Day, but Epiphany has hymns all its own.

“The classic one that a lot of Lutheran churches would sing is ‘O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright,’ written by a well-known Lutheran hymn writer, Philipp Nicolai,” Schnekloth said. “And we have a whole set of hymns that come with Epiphany season. ... There are, in a way, as many great Epiphany hymns as there are Christmas hymns, just less well-known in popular culture.”

Schnekloth said he used to be more strict about keeping Advent in Advent and Christmas in Christmas, but his views have changed.

“I realized people really have different patterns in life,” he said. “In our community in Fayetteville where a lot are on the academic schedule, they are going to travel for Christmas, and if they celebrate it here it’s almost going to have to be before you get on the road. We kind of mix it up.”

During midweek Advent services, he selects a couple of Advent hymns, but the rest of the music is done by request from the congregation and includes plenty of Christmas songs.

“It lets people have some flexibility,” he said. “We encourage the observance of the liturgical season, but we let them flow into each other. The trick is to be both sensitive to your liturgical tradition and to the culture in which you are situated.”

The church will have a kid-friendly worship service at 6 p.m. Christmas Eve, as well at services at 7:30 and 9:30, complete with carols and candlelight. The church is at 2925 N. Old Missouri Road, Fayetteville.

Religion, Pages 12 on 12/22/2012

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