The prayer said in Anglican churches today (Stir Up Sunday, the last Sunday before Advent) talks about asking God to stir us: “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.”
God is the greatest stirrer of all! If we think about stirring as the means for change, we have to admit that God is often more eager for change than we are. God wants to stir us up so that we don’t settle down into familiarity and complacency and indifference. Sometimes, His stirring doesn’t always seem pleasant: the Old Testament tells us He stirs up leaders to bring about His purposes and sometimes that involved judgment, which is never easy to take (see Jer 50:41, Jer 51:1, Amos 6:14). When God starts to stir us up, it can be unsettling; we can feel uncomfortable, not really sure what to do. God often asks us to move beyond our comfort zones: to give something up, perhaps, which we like doing or to go and talk to someone we don’t know and we think ‘oh, I can’t do that!’ But if we say ‘yes’ to God – ‘I desire to do Your will, my God’ (Ps 40:8) – we’ll be surprised at what God can do in and through us.
We need God to stir up our wills, because it’s there that our actions are shaped. We do what we want to do, what we determine in our hearts to do, what we are determined to do. If we’re not determined, we’ll soon give up when the going gets tough. But if we are determined to do what God says, if we hide God’s word in our hearts so that it directs our paths and actions at all times, then we can do far more than we imagine and the result will be the bringing forth of the fruit of good works, for after all, ‘we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.’ (Eph 2:10)
Whether we stir up our own Christmas puddings or not, God is able to stir up our wills and breathe new life into us so that we are constantly being transformed into His likeness. (2 Cor 3:18)
