Tuesday morning Bible Study will resume on January 12th at the Rectory
CHRISTMAS FLOWERS have been placed to the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of John R. and Theresa MacKinnon and Gladys and Bruce Peacock given by their family.
Our Annual Meeting date is set for February 8th at 7 P.M. To this end, would you please turn your annual reports in to the office as soon in the New Year as possible.
The end of the Christmas Season will be marked on Tuesday, January 5th, with an Open House at the Rectory (56 Williams Street), from 2:00-5:00pm and 7:00-9:00pm. Please come and bring a friend!
This Week in the Parish
The Daily Offices of MorningandEveningPrayer will be prayed in the Chapel at 8:30 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. Monday – Friday, respectively. In addition:
Tuesday Open House at the Rectory
WednesdayCamden Terrace Eucharist10:00 A.M.
Grief Share7:00 P.M.
ThursdayHoly Eucharist10:00 A.M.
Our next Community Meal will be held next Sunday, January 10th, sign up sheets are in the vestibule. Please if you are able help with this very worthwhile project.
Confirmation classes for adults and youth will begin soon. Those who are interested are asked to speak to the Rector as soon as possible.
The Origin of the Twelve Days of Christmas
We are all familiar with the Christmas song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" To most it is a delightful nonsense rhyme set to music. But it had a quite serious purpose when it was written.
It is a good deal more than just a repetitious melody with pretty phrases and a list of strange gifts.
Roman Catholics in England during the period from 1558 to 1829, when Parliament finally emancipated Catholics in England, were prohibited from ANY practice of their faith by law - private OR public. It was a crime to BE a Roman Catholic.
For this purpose, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written as one of the "catechism songs" to help young Catholics learn the tenets of their faith. It was to be a memory aid during a time when,to be caught with anything in *writing* indicating adherence to the Roman Catholic Church could not only get you imprisoned, it could get you hanged, drawn and quartered. Hanging, drawing and quartering involved hanging a person by the neck until they had almost, but not quite, suffocated to death; then the party was taken down from the gallows, and disemboweled while still alive. Then after the executioners stomped all over the entrails, the victim was tied to four large farm horses, and literally tom into five parts - one to each limb and the remaining torso.
The song’s gifts are hidden meanings to the teachings of the Faith. The "true love" mentioned in the song doesn't refer to an earthly suitor, it refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person. The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge which feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, much in memory of the expression of Christ's sadness over the fate of Jerusalem: "Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered thee under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but thou wouldst not have it so..."
The other symbols mean the following:
2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace. .
6 Geese a-laying = the six days of creation.
7 Swans a-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids a-milking = the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords a-leaping = the Ten Commandments
11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed
Let us use this old song and its hidden meaning to strengthen our own understanding of the Faith.
Saint George's Anglican Church
