Sunday 26 December 2010

Boxing Day is Also Martyrs' Day in the Christian Calendar

If you're one of those cultural dinosaurs, like me, who likes to dip into church history, then you'll know that today is not only Boxing Day but St Stephen's Day.

The Feast of Stephen is the olden days way of saying St Stephen's Day, which makes much more sense of what good old King Wenceslas was up to, surveying his realm. It has got nothing to do with a eating, (at least not in the first verse). Although you could be mistaken for thinking that he beheld the world's largest pizza: Deep pan, crisp and even! (Sorry, it was in one of yesterday's crackers and I couldn't resist!)

Stephen was the first martyr of the early church, that martyrdom continues today:



For more information on the persecuted church, click here.

3 comments:

Amy Hyde said...

thank you for sharing that ...makes me feel so humble. How lucky are we to be able to follow Christ so easily and yet we moan about how how hard it is to be a christian sometimes. As I sit at my pc I have a homemade card in front of me from my brother, it says: keep it real this christmas. How many of us keep it real on a day to day basis?

Richard Walker said...

You're absolutely right. Humbling is the right word! Keeping it real, daily is the point.

Richard Walker said...

And I need as much grace as anyone else!