Sharing.... Moments With God. Twelve Days of Christmas Day 12 January 5 On the Day Twelve Christmas my True Love Sent to Me Twelve Drummers Drumming The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed: 1) I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. 2) I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. 3) He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. 4) He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell [the grave]. 5) On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. 6) He will come again to judge the living and the dead. 7) I believe in the Holy Spirit, 8) the holy catholic Church, 9) the communion of saints, 10) the forgiveness of sins, 11) the resurrection of the body, 12) and life everlasting. Please click the Jukebox to select music. Twelve Days of Christmas? Come on, isn't one enough? Interesting tradition combines the festival of Christmas with the celebration of Epiphany. Twelve days, twelve "gifts," and all looking forward to Epiphany with insurmountable hope. But Drummers? For some reason every time I get to this point in the song, the line, "the drums keep pounding a rhythm in my brain" transposes itself and "my True Love" takes on a slightly different meaning. It probably shouldn't, but I'm still a child of the late 60's. Drums march, they accent, they compliment, they establish the cadence. Who is playing, and what is being played makes a tremendous difference as the cadence of life is played in our hearts. According to tradition, the 12 drummers represent the tenets of the early church. We call it, The Apostle's Creed. Recently I saw a friend of mine questioned about his Christian belief. That he was questioned is not a matter of impropriety. We are admonished to be ready to give account for the hope which we have. What was interesting was that the questioner had doubts as to whether or not the original question had been answered. The questioner simply missed the drumbeat. Faith is such a personal thing. It's far more a matter of being than it is of knowing. The drumbeat keeps playing and whether or not we understand it, it compels us to continue to "march in step." I used to be the "row captain" in marching band, even as a freshman in High School. It was my responsibility to establish the correct gaps between us and the rank ahead. "Eyes right" became to mean more than just doing one's own thing. The cadence was established to keep us moving in right relationship to each other. If the row was off, the responsibility was mine. The gift, the drums, the drummers.... all intended to establish, not personal wrong, but corporate beauty within the art of marching. It really isn't much different with the Christian faith. May we choose our drummers carefully. The good ones have been divinely provided. And may our Hope resound. Joe Hittle, Ottumwa, Iowa, USA Lord, When You sound the drums of Hope in my life, help me to have my ears clearly open enough to hear them plainly. Help me to find others who march to the same drums and help me to support them in every way. May the things that unite us as Your family become far more precious to each of us than the things that would keep us apart. Amen [Psalms 2, 110:1-7] [Jonah 2:2-9] [Col 6:10-20] [John 11:17-27] You may send e-mail comments or suggestions to Yvonne Edwards. Page designed by: Yvonne Edwards The background set is provided by Jaguar Woman. Copyright © 2000 NazNet All rights reserved. International copyright secured. |