Patrick Comerford
On the Twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me … ‘twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping, ten lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five golden rings, four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree’.
We are still in the season of Christmas, which is a 40-day season and lasts not until Epiphany tomorrow (6 January 2026), but until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February 2026).
The week began yesterday with the Second Sunday of Christmas (Christmas II), and many parishes and churches transferred their celebrations of Epiphany from tomorrow to yesterday.
The Twelfth Day of Christmas is 5 January, and our celebrations of Christmas traditionally end tonight, on the Twelfth Night, which is then followed by the Feast of the Epiphany on 6 January. The Twelve Days of Christmas are a festive period linking together these two Great Feasts of the Nativity and Theophany, so that one celebration leads into another.
Nowadays, the Twelfth Day is the last day for many to take down the decorations. Some folk traditions say it is bad luck to take decorations down after this date. But in Elizabethan England, the decorations were left up until Candelmas, and this remains the tradition in Germany and many other European countries.
Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
John 1: 43-51 (NRSVA):
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ 46 Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ 48 Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ 49 Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ 50 Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ 51 And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’
Today’s Reflections:
The Christian interpretation of the ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ often sees the 12 drummers drumming as figurative representations of the 12 points of the Apostles’ Creed. But what does it mean to share the faith and discipleship of the Apostles? The great Epiphany themes include the visit of the three Wise Men, the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan, and the Miracle at the Wedding in Cana. The Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (John 1: 43-51) continues those Epiphany themes, asking us to consider our own call to discipleship, challenging us to think about who is the Christ who calls us to follow him.
God’s call comes to a variety of people, and in a variety of surprising ways. The Church in its ministry, its membership and its life, should reflect the diversity of skills and talents and personalities that God gives to the Church both as gift and as blessing. That diversity is emphasised in the Gospel story of the call of Philip and Nathanael, which comes immediately after the story of the call of Andrew and Peter.
The back story is that immediately after his baptism by Saint John the Baptist in the River Jordan, Christ begins calling his first disciples. First, he calls Andrew and Simon Peter. Andrew is called first, but before responding to that call, he goes back and fetches his brother Simon and brings him to Jesus (John 1: 35-42).
Andrew and Peter are brothers, but their names indicate the early differences and divisions in the Church. Andrew’s name is Greek ('Ανδρέας, Andreas), meaning ‘manly’ or ‘valorous,’ while Peter’s original name, Simon (שמעון, Shimon), meaning ‘hearing,’ is so obviously Jewish.
It is the same again with Philip and Nathanael: Philip is a strong Greek name – everyone in the region knew Philip of Macedon was the father of Alexander the Great; while Nathanael’s name is a Hebrew compound meaning ‘the Gift of God.’
So, from the very beginning of the story of the call of the disciples, the diversity and divisions within the Church are represented, even in the names that show they are Jews and Greeks, the Hebrew-speakers and those who are culturally Hellenised.
In reacting to false divisions in the early Church, the Apostle Paul tells us: ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus’ (Galatians 3: 28; see Colossians 3: 11).
Christ’s call came to the first disciples as a diverse group of people, from a wide variety of backgrounds, often – as with Philip and Nathanael – when they were least expecting it.
But they responded to that call faithfully. Andrew went and fetched Simon Peter, Philip found Nathanael.
How do we keep that call to follow Christ so fresh in our minds that it still inspires infectious enthusiasm?
Are we inspired with enough infectious enthusiasm to want to go back like Andrew to call Peter, to go back like Philip and find Nathanael?
Because, despite what popular preachers and tele-evangelists may say, Christianity is never just about a personal relationship with Christ. It is about a life in relationship with God as Trinity; and it is about a life in relationship with others.
There are no individual Christians. Christianity and Christian discipleship are experiences in community, experiences we share with others.
And sharing with others, sharing in community, moves us from the tolerance of diversity to the respect for diversity and then on to the point of speaking up for diversity as a gift in the Church, so that truly, as the Apostle Paul tells us: ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.’
Later, this Philip who goes back for Nathanael is the first of the apostles to bring Samaritans into the Church (see Acts 8: 4-13), much to the surprise of the other disciples, who had not yet agreed to bring the Gospel to people who were not Jews.
This Philip goes on to baptise an Ethiopian court official (see Acts 8: 26-40), who is an outsider in so many ways, as an Ethiopian and as a eunuch. Before the conversion of Saint Paul, Saint Philip, who is called in this morning’s Gospel reading, is the great missionary in the Apostolic Church, bringing the Good News to those who are seen as outsiders in terms of religion, ethnicity, nationality and sexuality.
The mission of the Church is founded not just on respect for diversity, but on loving and embracing diversity. This is not a matter of tolerance – it is a matter of knowing what the Kingdom of God is like, and knowing how that should be reflected in our values in the Church today.
Today’s Prayers (Monday 5 January 2026):
The theme this week (4-10 January 2026) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Hidden Histories’ (pp 16-17). This theme was introduced yesterday with a Programme Update by Matthew Anns, Senior Communications and Engagement Manager at USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 5 January 2026) invites us to pray:
Lord, we thank you for the increasing global commitment to reparative justice and for all committed to healing the wounds of the past.
The Collect:
Almighty God,
in the birth of your Son
you have poured on us the new light of your incarnate Word,
and shown us the fullness of your love:
help us to walk in his light and dwell in his love
that we may know the fullness of his joy;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
All praise to you,
almighty God and heavenly king,
who sent your Son into the world
to take our nature upon him
and to be born of a pure virgin:
grant that, as we are born again in him,
so he may continually dwell in us
and reign on earth as he reigns in heaven,
now and for ever.
Additional Collect:
God our Father,
in love you sent your Son
that the world may have life:
lead us to seek him among the outcast
and to find him in those in need,
for Jesus Christ’s sake.
Collect on the Eve of Epiphany:
O God,
who by the leading of a star
manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth:
mercifully grant that we,
who know you now by faith,
may at last behold your glory face to face;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s Reflections
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
