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Monday, December 12, 2016

12112016 - Third Sunday in Advent - "7 Swans a Swimming AND 6 Geese a Laying"

December 11, 2016
7 Swans a Swimming AND 6 Geese a Laying
Today we reach the mid-point of our journey of exploration of the 12 Days of Christmas that are meant to be celebrated after December 24th.  We have heard about the drummers, pipers, lords a leaping, ladies dancing and the maids a milking, now we encounter the “7 Swans a Swimming AND 6 Geese a Laying”.  Clearly there is an importance of the “7 Swans a Swimming AND 6 Geese a Laying”, but believe it or not the importance clearly applies to each and every one of us today through a gift of the Holy Spirt and how our universe was created by God for us.
We have heard before about the 9 Ladies Dancing referring to the fruits of the Holy Spirit that are to be manifest in each of our lives.  Well, the “7 Swans a Swimming” alludes to the gifts of the Holy Spirit given unto each of us.  Some among us doubt we have any gifts from the Holy Spirit, but the reality is they are like some of the muscles in our body, we don’t know we have them.  Does this mean we have an equal share of each gift?  By no means, we are as unique as our fingerprints and our DNA and these 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit have one purpose, they are to be used for God’s Glory here in our world.  Listen to these gifts and see which ones resonate with your own life. 
The gifts given by God are “wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord”.  With each gift comes great responsibility.  And Christians are not required by any law, but encouraged to discern if we have ‘wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety and fear of the Lord’.  For when we seek and ask God for each gift, we like Solomon, will have more of each given unto us by God.  And these “7 Swans a Swimming”, these gifts are not only given so that grace may abound, but in order for others to hear what Jesus Christ did on Calvary for all of mankind.
The “7 Swans a Swimming” are the Gifts of the Holy Spirit that are given for the express purpose of their use by us in God’s Creation.  When we use them for God’s Glory and with a healthy fear of the Lord, bow before Him seeking knowledge, wisdom, counsel and understanding from Him, God will give it.  For in our using the fortitude like the farmers of old to carve out a homestead here on the plains, but in true piety reading their bible and trusting God for not only a harvest, but their existence, God will provide as He did for them, but also and especially for each and every one of us today.  This is why the 12 Days of Christmas song not only can inspire us to share the Gospel, but use our muscle of faith and the “7 Swans a Swimming” to help others trust in God more fully.
Our trust of God not only can and should be for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in the “7 Swans a Swimming”, but also the “6 Geese a Laying”.  For the “6 Geese a Laying” connects us to the world we live in and which was created by God in 6 Days.  These “6 Geese a Laying” represent the days of Creation and how each day was not only unique in what was accomplished, but a clear demonstration of the wisdom, forethought, knowledge and understanding of God with each Word spoken that brought into existence this world in the created elements we at times take for granted.  From the wind that at times dries the ground to driving the rain or snow.  To the ground that yields the fruits of corn, wheat and milo.  The grass that feeds the cows that we barbeque.  The air that with every breath we take not only provides our bodies with energy to move, but in a perfect cycle provides the plants the needed carbon dioxide to grow and make oxygen from the sunlight.
The “6 Geese a Laying” the 6 days of Creation were perfectly crafted and fit together in logical order by God, not only for the creative order of what needed to be done first, but the gift looked for and found in Jesus Christ.  For the “6 Geese a Laying” understood clearly how and what God would accomplish through the 6 Days that saw the creation of the world we live and work in today.
Yet, how are the “6 Geese a Laying” and the “7 Swans a Swimming” connected with us today who come to prepare our hearts for the celebration of Jesus Christ coming?  Simply this song opens a door for unbelievers.  Those who have not heard the Gospel message and have not encountered the gift of eternal life given through Jesus Christ.  The “6 Geese a Laying” and the “7 Swans a Swimming” are the opportunity for us to proclaim the wonders of God, not only of God’s Creation that we live in, but the gifts given unto us by the Holy Spirit.
Yesterday was one opportunity to do exactly that, share and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to and for the people not only in our community, but as a message of hope for our world.  When we gathered together and went and sang the songs of Advent and Christmas in our community at individuals homes and at Wheat Ridge and Good Samaritan, we not only serenaded the people, but clearly, emphatically and boldly used the “7 Swans a Swimming” gifts of the Holy Spirit and spoke of the beauty of where our Savior Jesus Christ would be born in this world that came when referred to the “6 Geese a Laying”.

It is my prayer, that we may continue as we learn more about the 12 Days of Christmas understand that each stanza of the 12 Days of Christmas points to and leads us up to the greatest gift given unto mankind in Jesus Christ.  For not only are the “6 Geese a Laying” and the “7 Swans a Swimming” instrumental in salvation history, they reveal the connection we each have of the Spiritual gifts we have been given and that we can daily use in the created world.  For it is clear, the gifts we have been given by God are meant not to be hid under a bushel basket, but daily shared and used for the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ even with the simple words of the “7 Swans a Swimming AND 6 Geese a Laying”.  AMEN.
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