Those of you who have been to Church of England services at this time of year or who are fans of the Radio 4 programme ‘The Archers’ may know that today is Stir Up Sunday. Stir Up Sunday is the name given to the last Sunday before Advent, and it’s traditionally the time when Christmas puddings were stirred and made. Nowadays, when so many Christmas puddings are bought ready-made from shops, we’ve perhaps lost this tradition of making our own puddings, but it always used to be the case that families would make their own Christmas puddings on this date and the whole family would be involved in stirring the pudding mix before it went into the oven. Parents would teach their children how to mix the ingredients for the pudding and then, as everyone took a turn in stirring the pudding mix, they made a wish for the year ahead. (Don’t forget in the days before food processors and other equipment to help with mixing ingredients, stirring was hard work and so it was a good idea to get as many people involved as possible!) Often, silver coins and other things were added to the pudding mix – the coin represented wealth and prosperity for the year ahead; buttons represented the fact that a single person would stay single for the year ahead and a ring represented the fact that a person would get married. Of course, these things were a potential choking hazard (or could break a tooth and mean a trip to the dentist’s), so they’re not encouraged these days, but the whole idea of Christmas puddings is a British tradition that goes back hundreds of years.
The reason this Sunday is called ‘Stir Up Sunday’ is because in the Anglican church, one of the prayers that is said on this day starts with the words ‘stir up’; the prayer is from the Book of Common Prayer, first written in 1549, and says “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” It’s thought that when the women in church heard those words, it reminded them they were just five weeks left to Christmas and they needed to get on with the pudding making!
Of course, there are good stirrers and bad stirrers…! Often, when we talk about someone being a stirrer, we mean it negatively, saying that that person likes to cause trouble (often through what they say about others.) The Bible has plenty of warnings about gossip (see Prov 16:28, Prov 20:19) and James reminds us we need to keep a tight watch on our tongues (James 3:1-10). Paul tells the Ephesians, ‘Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.’ (Eph 4:29)
A stirrer can also be someone who ‘makes waves’ or ‘rocks the boat’, and this can be both a good thing and a bad thing. But we’re all called to be one kind of stirrer, for Paul told Timothy to ‘fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands’ (2 Tim 1:6) and in some versions of the Bible, that command ‘fan into flame’ is rendered ‘stir up the gift of God which is in you.’ God has given each one of us gifts; when we become Christians, He puts His Holy Spirit within each one of us and the amazing truth is that each Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19), but there are times when it feels like the fire God puts inside us is in danger of dying out or we are not using the gifts and talents God has given us, and so we feel tired and listless, lacking energy and enthusiasm. In those times, God urges us to ‘stir up the gift of God which is in you.’ Fan into flame His gifts; ask Him to breathe again His life and Spirit onto us and into us.
When we are full of His Spirit and on fire for Him, we can stir others into action as well. Paul told the Corinthians, when he was talking about them raising money to help the poor in Jerusalem, ‘For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.’ (2 Cor 9:2) When we see people who are on fire for God, who are radiant with God’s glory, who are enthusiastic about what God is doing and excited about the privilege of being used by Him, it stirs us up as well! Enthusiasm, zeal for God, passion and faith are infectious! We all know about the negative side of infection: how easy it is to spread germs around and catch illnesses, but there is a positive way of infection, that other people will be stirred up to action themselves by seeing our faith and love for God. This is the kind of stirrer God is looking for!