December 26, 2021: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
Well, you made it!
The stores will soon have “after Christmas” sales on, and likely have started putting out Valentine’s Day displays. Folks believe that everything can go back to normal – to the way it was. Some Christmas trees will be dragged to the curbtoday, lights will likely soon come down (or have been turned off), and relatives are heading home (or some hope they are). And folks are posting things on social media giving thanks that Christmas is finally over!
I hate to break it to them, but Christmas isn’t over – not by a long shot. Because the twelve days of Christmas, despite what the secular world will tell you, is not just a fun song, nor is it the 12 days before Christmas. It is very real, and we are only just getting started. Not only does the church celebrate Christmas for twelve days ending the day before the feast of the Epiphany on January 6th, but some even consider Christmastide to go on until after Candlemas on February 2nd!
So, not over. Not at all. In fact, we are just getting started! Those kings haven’t arrived yet, but if you are looking for them here in the church – they are here somewhere making their long journey toward the creche. And that in itself is symbolic of our faith.
The Christmas story takes a journey to really know it. That is why being here in the weeks and months to come is so important for understanding what this birth in a manger is really all about. And one of the ways we come to understand what it means to follow Jesus is in the story of the man whose saint day is celebrated today, December the 26th. His name is Stephen, and his story is one we should pay attention to, but we often miss it because of his unfortunate location on our calendar of saints. This good man was “a witness to the light,” as we hear of John the Baptist in the gospel today.
Stephen was, in fact, our proto-martyr – the first to be killed for the faith. He was one of the first deacons of the church too. Now, the diaconate is, if you are not aware, the oldest order of ordained ministry, and a full and equal order in the church. So, what happened to Deacon Stephen? This faithful man, who served the least of these, was murdered by those claiming to be righteous onto God.
He was murdered because he stood for the marginalized, he preached the good news, he was a voice for the voiceless. Another such man, the Most Rev. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, of our own Anglican denomination, died this very day – just a few hours ago, and the world is rocked with sadness this morning at this news. I will share more about him in a moment, but back to Stephen.
We just celebrated the birth of our savior Jesus – what does his life tell us today? What does it really mean to be his follower? It means being a martyr. Being a martyr doesn’t mean we have to be stoned to death like Stephen, though for some it has led to being killed. Being a martyr, being a follower of Jesus the one whose birth we proclaimed just yesterday, means being a witness.
And so it bears asking…how do we witness for the faith?
Well, maybe we need to think about the one Christmas song that thankfully at least mentions St. Stephen. It is that Christmas classic, “Good King Wenceslas.” The lyrics were written by hymn writer (and Anglican priest) John Mason Neale, and tells the legend that is based on the life of the historical Saint Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia (907–935). I should note that Neale also wrote “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” – based on the O antiphons of Advent, and another Christmas hymn, the first verse of which we have been singing as our doxology in Christmas, “Good Christian Men, Rejoice.”
In the song, “Good King Wenceslas,” we hear of the story of this Bohemian Duke (called a King in the song so we will stay with that) who noticed a man trudging through the bitter cold with whatever wood he could carry for his fire. It was on the Feast of St. Stephen – December the 26th. Now we usually only hear that first verse, right? But we need to listen to the entire story, so let me share it with you:
Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even
Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel
When a poor man came in sight
Gath’ring winter fuel
“Hither, page, and stand by me
If thou know’st it, telling
Yonder peasant, who is he?
Where and what his dwelling?”
“Sire, he lives a good league hence
Underneath the mountain
Right against the forest fence
By Saint Agnes’ fountain.”
“Bring me flesh and bring me wine
Bring me pine logs hither
Thou and I will see him dine
When we bear him thither.”
Page and monarch forth they went
Forth they went together
Through the rude wind’s wild lament
And the bitter weather
“Sire, the night is darker now
And the wind blows stronger
Fails my heart, I know not how,
I can go no longer.”
“Mark my footsteps, my good page
Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shalt find the winter’s rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly.”
In his master’s steps he trod
Where the snow lay dinted
Heat was in the very sod
Which the Saint had printed
Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing
“Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.” I still get goosebumps whenever the full song is sung. This is a song we should take with us as we step from Christmas into the rest of the year.
Why? Well, Christmas – that’s why.
There is a meme – you know – a social media image – that actually says something important (they so often don’t). It is a response to all those bumper stickers and billboards that say “Keep Christ in Christmas.” And this meme, which was posted last week on our church Facebook page, says “Want to keep Christ in Christmas, then feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger and the unwanted child, care for the ill, love your enemies.”
And in the words of this song, we get a glimpse of what that might look like. First, this good ruler noticed this man. He didn’t turn a blind eye. He didn’t look away or ignore what was right in front of him. We too need to see the ones others will not – the poor and the lost, the lonely and the stranger, the ones cast aside, the ones who have been silenced.
He could have told someone else to go out in the bad weather to care for this poor man, yet he went himself with his Page. When his Page lost heart, he gave him comfort and strength to make it through.
Perhaps most of all, he didn’t plan to just drop the stuff off. The song was clear – “Thou and I will see him dine, when we bear them thither.” This man, who could easily have remained warm in his castle, this good King…he intended to be there to dine with this poor man. To be where he lives.
And while one would rightly say that our role as followers of Jesus is to be a voice for this man, that poverty like his is forever gone, I suspect that this good King did do something about his condition, and that of others.
So it is appropriate, I think, that this story about that Bohemian Duke is set on the Feast of St. Stephen – the very saint who died for having cared for the poor, the widows, and the orphans, and proclaimed the good news of Christ. For Stephen knew how to keep Christ in his heart, and this King Wenceslas knew how to keep Christ in Christmas. Perhaps we need no other example of how to be a martyr, a witness, a follower of Jesus, than what we get in the story of King Wenceslas. We have many actually, but I want to focus on one, our beloved Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
The Most Rev. Desmond Tutu was a martyr of our faith, an example of witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ in ways that changed the world. There is so much to say about this wonderful servant of Christ and His church. He was a voice of justice – speaking the truth to the world of the tyranny of South Africa’s racist apartheid system, and fearless in his quest for peace among all people – or what he called a “Rainbow Nation.” He advocated for the equality of LGBTQ+ people, for an end to the occupation of Palestine, and for an end to the abuse of God’s creation among so many other causes.
I found him to be a model of faith within our own Anglican Communion. If you ever receive an email from me of late, you would have seen one of several favorite quotes by this good man. It is this:
“God’s dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion. In God’s family, there are no outsiders, no enemies. Black and white, rich and poor, gay and straight, Jew and Arab, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Buddhist, Hutu and Tutsi, Pakistani and Indian—all belong. When we start to live as brothers and sisters and to recognize our interdependence, we become fully human.”
May we, like Good King Wenceslas, like the Most Rev. Desmond Tutu, honor St. Stephen, proto martyr and deacon, and our savior Jesus, born to us, by exemplifying Deacon Stephen’s service and that of Archbishop Tutu – service to those in need and speaking truth to power, as we are called by Christ to do.
Or, in the words of our beloved Archbishop, “All over this magnificent world God calls us to extend [the] kingdom of shalom-peace and wholeness — of justice, of goodness, of compassion, of caring, of sharing, of laughter, of joy, of reconciliation. God is transfiguring the world right this very moment through us because God believes in us and because God loves us. What can separate us from the love of God? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And as we share God’s love with our brothers and sisters, God’s other children, there is no tyrant who can resist us, no opposition that cannot be ended, no hunger that cannot be fed, no wound that cannot be healed, no hatred that cannot be turned into love, no dream that cannot be fulfilled.”
“God is transfiguring the world right this very moment through us because God believes in us and because God loves us.”
Indeed. God believes in us and God loves us.
I have shared that quote with you a few times because it is a clear picture of our lives in Christ, of following him, of living out our baptismal covenant. If we do this, if we “extend [the] kingdom of shalom-peace and wholeness — of justice, of goodness, of compassion, of caring, of sharing, of laughter, of joy, of reconciliation,” then we will truly be keeping Christ in Christ’s Mass, in Christmas, and we will, like Deacon Stephen, like Archbishop Tutu, be the martyrs – the witnesses – of the good news of Jesus Christ – born to us this Christmas.
Merry 2nd Day of Christmas Everyone!
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
December 26, 2021
Christmas I
1st Reading – Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Psalm 147:13-21
2nd Reading – Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7
Gospel – John 1:1-18
