Stefanovden

(This entry was obviously started on the day after Christmas...)

December 26th, Saint Stephen's Day.
Also, my Grandmother's birthday.
It has always been overshadowed by Christmas...an afterthought of sorts.

Saint Stephen's day gets overlooked, too.
Obviously, the first Christian martyr is not on par with the incarnation, but Stephen's death did set major events in motion. "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church," after all.

My friend Joseph reminds me that martyrdom is not a thing of the ancient past. Members of his Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt are still being persecuted and killed today. In muslim Egypt, Joseph explains, Christian parents are told that their child has "converted to Islam," and they never see the child again. In actuality, the child has more likely been abducted and sold into slavery (as was St. Patrick).

Such persecution has increased in recent years in Egypt, and Joseph tells me that believers there have recently been comforted and encouraged by appearances from the Virgin Mary, seen worshiping before the cross.

Another Josef was also born on Saint Stephen's Day, 2007. He was born prematurely, but the Lord has brought him through many ordeals. His family is preparing to go to Ethiopia to serve homeless and oppressed children. Ethiopia is another nation in conflict. So please pray for the Gross family, for Ethiopia, for Egypt, and for all who are persecuted for the sake of Christ Jesus.

And let us also live up to these words from 2 Corinthians 4 (a very appropriate Stefanovden meditation):

8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.

11 Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. 12 So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.

13 But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.” 14 We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. 15 All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.

16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

New Living Translation