What do St Stephen, wrens and leftovers have in common? by Nicki Copeland

 

Today, the day we call Boxing Day, is also called St Stephen’s Day, after the first Christian martyr (see Acts 6–7). It’s called Boxing Day from the practice of giving little gifts and leftover food to household servants as a thank you for their work. In Ireland, it’s also sometimes known as Wren Day. In days gone by, a wren would be killed and children would parade it round the streets, offering one of its feathers, which were believed to bring good luck, in exchange for money. (I didn’t know that.)

By Boxing Day, for many of us, all that’s left of Christmas Day is a bin-liner full of screwed-up wrapping paper and a mountain of leftover turkey and roasties. Yesterday was perhaps a different Christmas from usual for many of us. We may not have been able to see the family we had been planning to. Some of us may even have spent it on our own, or in a much quieter manner than we had been anticipating. For others of us, with family members still at home, it might not have been so different from the norm.

However we spent Christmas Day, today, Boxing Day, is likely to be a little quieter than usual. I’ve seen posts on social media saying, ‘Christmas is cancelled.’ Is it? Really? Just because we can’t have big parties and large get-togethers doesn’t mean the reason we celebrate in the first place has gone away.

The year 2020 has caught every one of us by surprise (except God, of course – He knew exactly what was coming). A different way of celebrating Christmas is just another in a long list of things we’re doing in new ways this year. I’m sure, for many of us, these changes are reflected in our writing. What we write is affected by our mood, by the way we feel, by the things we’re experiencing. Writing can be a good way to process things, especially if things are very different from our expectations, which might be causing us to feel stressed or anxious.

It might feel as though life and pandemic restrictions might be changing more often than we change our clothes at the moment, and we head into a new year with some uncertainty (to understate it somewhat, perhaps) as to what life will look like this time next year. Fortunately, we’re not reliant on hanging a little bird on a pole for good luck. Like Stephen, let’s remember that our hope is built on Jesus, and, no matter what stones life might throw at us, He is our hope, our solid foundation.

And He is the hope that the world so desperately needs too – let’s do what we can in 2021to share this Good News with a hurting world.

 

 Nicki Copeland is a freelance writer, speaker, copy editor and proofreader – and loves anything to do with words. She is the author of Losing the Fig Leaf and Less than Ordinary? She is also responsible for the day-to-day running of Instant Apostle publishers. When she has the luxury of some free time, she can invariably be found with a book in one hand and some chocolate in the other.