Patrick Comerford
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me … ‘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’.
Although New Year’s Day has passed, and many of our New Year resolutions may even be forgotten, we are still in the season of Christmas, a 40-day season that lasts not until Epiphany (6 January), but until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February).
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: 29-34 (NRSVA):
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” 31 I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ 32 And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’
Today’s Reflection:
The Christian interpretation of the song ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ often sees the ten Lords a-Leaping as figurative representations of the Ten Commandments (see Exodus 20: 1-17).
In modern Roman Catholic usage, today celebrates the Holy Name of Jesus, which is marked in most other traditions, including the Anglican and Lutheran traditions, on 1 January.
When I read this morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (John 1: 29-34), I am surprised when John the Baptist says of Jesus: ‘I myself did not know him’. For this is the same John who leapt for joy in the womb of his mother Elizabeth as soon as she heard the sound of the greeting of her pregnant cousin, the Virgin Mary.
How did John not know his cousin Jesus?
Yet, John also points to Jesus as ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’.
During Advent and Christmas, while I was singing with the choir of Saint Mary and Saint Giles, Stony Stratford, our repertoire included ‘The Lamb’, a choral work written in 1982 by John Tavener (1944-2013) and one of his best-known works. It is a setting for unaccompanied SATB choirs of William Blake’s poem ‘The Lamb’ (1789).
‘The Lamb’ had its premiere in Winchester Cathedral on 22 December 1982, and was performed again two days later at the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, on Christmas Eve. Since then, it has remained popular with many churches and choirs, especially around Christmas.
Tavener often composed pieces for family and friends. He wrote ‘The Lamb’ as a birthday present for his three-year-old nephew, Simon, without any intention of commercial success. He wrote ‘The Lamb’ on a car journey from South Devon to London, and completed it within 15 minutes. He said the work came to him ‘fully grown so to speak, all I had to do was to write it down.’
The chordal verses of ‘The Lamb’ feature a musical device that Tavener called the ‘joy-sorrow chord’, sung on the word ‘Lamb’. He used the chord in other pieces too, including ‘Funeral Ikos’ and ‘Ikon of Light’.
‘The Lamb’ is part of William Blake’s collection Songs of Innocence and Experience (1789). Blake’s poem draws primarily on the Agnus Dei and the concept of Jesus as the Lamb of God. His text highlights various binaries, including the contrast between youthful innocence and older age, and the pairing of lamb the animal with the Lamb of God.
Inspired by ‘The Lamb’ while reading Blake’s poetry, Tavener said ‘I read the words, and immediately I heard the notes.’
After finishing the composition, Tavener sent it to his publisher Chester Music, asking if they could share it with King’s College, Cambridge, for the service of Nine Lessons and Carols in 1982. When he saw the piece, Stephen Cleobury, Director of Music at King’s College, decided to include it, and ‘The Lamb’ has been popular with churches and choirs ever since.
The Lamb (William Blake and John Tavener:
Little Lamb who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee
Gave thee life and bid thee feed
By the stream and o’er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight
Softest clothing woolly bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice
Making all the vales rejoice!
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee?
Little Lamb I’ll tell thee,
Little Lamb I'll tell thee!
He is called by thy name
For he calls himself a Lamb:
He is meek and he is mild
He became a little child:
I a child and thou a lamb
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
Today’s Prayers (Friday 3 January 2025):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘We Believe, We Belong: Nicene Creed’. This theme was introduced on Sunday by Dr Paulo Ueti, Theological Advisor and Regional Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 3 January 2025) invites us to pray:
Creator God, as we reflect on the unity of the Trinity proclaimed at Nicaea, we are reminded of you as creator and our responsibility to care for your creation. Teach us to be faithful stewards of the Earth.
The Collect:
Almighty God,
who wonderfully created us in your own image
and yet more wonderfully restored us
through your Son Jesus Christ:
grant that, as he came to share in our humanity,
so we may share the life of his divinity;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
whose blessed Son shared at Nazareth the life of an earthly home:
help your Church to live as one family,
united in love and obedience,
and bring us all at last to our home in heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
God in Trinity,
eternal unity of perfect love:
gather the nations to be one family,
and draw us into your holy life
through the birth of Emmanuel,
our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yesterday’s Reflection
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
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