"John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from
him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who
are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the
firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth." -
Revelation 1:4-5
So, what are French Hens anyway? Ya know, "on the 3rd day of Christmas my true love gave to meeeeeee, three French Hens."
Well, I have fun learning something everyday as I try to have something to say to all of you. In this case, I learned that, although we usually think of French Hens as being a French female chicken, a hen commonly refers to any of the following female animals: chicken, other poultry, game bird, octopus, or lobster.
And if a hen can be any of those things, I wonder, then, if, by three French Hens, the songwriter meant "three female octopuses off the coast of France." Ya think? And while we're doing random trivia, there are three words for the plural of octopus; they are octopuses, octopi, and octopodes.
Anyway, in the continued spirit of randomness, many of us Christians love the thing about the "12 Days of Christmas" song being a symbol for Christian teaching, which makes the Three French Hens symbolize the Trinity or the Wise Men or the days Jonah was in the whale or the days Jesus was in the
grave or some of the other three things.
Aaaaanyway, the always trustworthy internet tool, Wikipedia (smiley face, y'all), tells us this about The Twelve Days of Christmas song being a tool of Christian teaching. Wikipedia says, "A bit of modern folklore falsely claims that the song's lyrics were written as a catechism song to help young Catholics learn their faith, at a time when practicing Catholicism was criminalized in England (1558 until 1829). There is no primary evidence supporting this claim, and no evidence that the claim is historical, or
'anything but a fanciful modern day speculation.' The theory is of relatively recent origin. It was first suggested by Canadian English teacher and hymnologist Hugh D. McKellar in a short article, 'How to Decode the Twelve Days of Christmas,' published in 1979. In a later article published in the music journal The Hymn, he reiterates that the associations are his. The idea was further popularized by a Catholic priest, Fr. Hal Stockert, in an article he wrote in 1982 and posted online in 1995."
Sooooo, since there's no consensus out there as to what French Hens represent and since I'm writing this Day of Praise in a random sort of way, then I'm gonna throw in my proverbial two cents about the whole three French Hens thing.
On this third day of Christmas, I personally think the three French Hens
should have something to do with the three things that God says Jesus is in
one of today's Bible verses: "Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth" (Revelation 1:5).
Got it?
Jesus is:
1 - the faithful witness,
2 - the firstborn of the dead, and
3 - the ruler of the kings of the earth.
Now, I may not be the sharpest tool in the toolshed, but, if Jesus is those three things, then I figure that he's kinda in charge. After all, he's got The Truth (faithful witness), The Victory (firstborn of the dead), and The Throne (ruler of the kings of the earth). And anybody who's got The Truth, and The Victory, and The Throne must be in charge.
And that being said, we can all stop worrying about French Hens and put our
minds to rest knowing that Jesus has French Hens and everything else under
control.
As they say, "It's all good, because God is good...all the time."
Merry Christmas, Day #3!
And don't forget...
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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