On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.The two turtle doves are a reminder that there are two parts to the Scriptures. There is the Old Testament about the interaction of the Jewish people with a Faithful God and the New Testament, which is the fulfillment of all that the Holy One of Israel promised throughout the ages.
The turtle dove is a summer resident of England. Like most doves, the soft cooing sound is soothing and reminds me of the doves that roost in the trees around our house in the summer. The dove also reminds me of the carol “The Friendly Beasts” in which each of the animals tells how they helped Mary and Joseph and the Infant:
Jesus, our Brother, strong and good,
Was humbly born in a stable rude,
And the friendly beasts around Him stood,
Jesus, our Brother, strong and good.
“I,” said the donkey, shaggy and brown,
“I carried His mother uphill and down,
I carried His mother to Bethlehem town;
I,” said the donkey, shaggy and brown.
“I,” said the cow, all white and red,
“I gave Him my manger for His bed,
I gave Him hay to pillow His head;
I,” said the cow, all white and red.
“I,” said the sheep with curly horn,
“I gave Him my wool for His blanket warm,
He wore my coat on Christmas morn;
I,” said the sheep with curly horn.
“I,” said the dove, from the rafters high,
“I cooed Him to sleep that He should not cry,
We cooed Him to sleep, my mate and I;
I,” said the dove, from the rafters high.
Thus all the beasts, by some good spell,
In the stable dark were glad to tell
Of the gifts they gave Emmanuel,
The gifts they gave Emmanuel
If you don’t know this song, you can actually hear the music here: http://www.bardstown.com/~mtipton/christmas/beasts.html
Throughout both the Old and New Testaments there are references to doves. The first is in the story of Noah and the ark. You may recall that Noah sent out a dove to see if the water was receding “but the dove found no place to set its foot, and it returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took it and brought it into the ark with him.” Gen. 8:9.
Noah sends out the dove twice more and when she doesn’t return the third time, he knew that the ground was dry enough to leave the ark. Of course, our sign for peace is taken from the dove’s second return to the ark, with an olive branch in her beak. This time between Christmas and Epiphany is a good time to focus on peace and to pray for peace in the world.
You can easily make a dove to hang in your window as a reminder of the need for peace in our lives and in the world.
Cut a dove body shape from cardstock. Depending on how big you make them, you should be able to get at least 4 from an 8 ½ x 11 piece. If you are really conservative, you can get a whole flock of doves from one sheet of cardstock. A pattern can be found at: http://cynthiadavisauthor.com/dove%20pattern.pdf (or you can go to my website and follow the link from there).
Then cut slits in the body where indicated. Cut a piece of regular copy paper in quarters and fold each piece in a fan shape (you can get wings and tail for 2 birds from each piece of paper).
Insert one through slit in center of body for wings and one at back for the tail. Flair out the wings gently. After you insert the tail through the slit, fold it in half toward the back of the dove.
Add eyes with a marker, if desired, and string, ribbon or yarn to hang the dove. If you string them together like I did, you’ll need to punch a hole in the top and bottom of each bird. Try to be sure the holes in the body are lined up, otherwise, your dove will be flying at an angle. Make a knot in the ribbon at the bottom of each dove so they don’t slide together.
The dove symbolism continues into the New Testament. All four Gospels bear record of the descent of a dove onto Jesus, born the Prince of Peace. When He is baptized “And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Mk. 1:10-11
In this time after Christmas we are reminded that God’s Spirit is present. God says to each one of us, ‘you are my beloved’. Can you think of a time when you felt like God’s beloved child?
Tomorrow we will visit the 3rd Day of Christmas, which is also the First Sunday of Christmas.
