大象传媒

Good morning. For countless people across the country Boxing Day is an opportunity to spend time with family, sorting out presents, recycling Christmas dinners, and then for many the chance to get some fresh air and perhaps watch some football in the afternoon. In short, a day for relaxing.聽

But in the Christian calendar it鈥檚 also the feast of St. Stephen, my namesake, and the first Christian martyr. His death is a reminder that the baby born at Bethlehem, grows up into the Christ who dies on a cross and calls his disciples to take up their own cross and follow him.聽

It may seem a stark contrast, but then other events remind us that suffering is as much a part of life as joy and celebration. It鈥檚 ten years to the day since the devastating tsunami which wreaked havoc across South East Asia and cost some quarter of a million lives. It鈥檚 hard to imagine the scale of suffering involved; but it was brought home to me by the experience of a Sri Lankan colleague who on hearing the news returned home to discover his village destroyed and many of his own family killed. He stayed on to share in the slow process of rebuilding that community and restoring hope amidst the devastation. But his story reminds me of the fundamental truth which goes to the heart of Christian faith; that in the midst of life we face the reality of death; but also that we don鈥檛 do this alone, but in the presence of the God who comes to share both life and death with us.聽

So let us pray;聽

Almighty God,

As you come to share in the joy of Christmas, so you are present also on the road that leads to the Cross; help us to trust in you in our times of suffering as well as celebration, that we may bear witness to your Son who is the way, the truth and the life.

For Christ鈥檚 sake, Amen.