I can predict what the news will say today. They will send the cameras to the malls, talk about the crowds. the parking, and if we broke the record on spending. For this is the equivalent of Cyber Tuesday, Black Friday and whatever else exists in the USA combined: it is the post-Christmas sales.
But that is not what today is about. The Anglican lectionary is silent today, but the collect gives us the theme for today. Boxing Day it may be in New Zealand and England, where half the country nurses a hangover and the other half shops, but that is not what the calendar celebrates. The collect for today in the Anglican Prayer Book reads as such…
We give you thanks, O Lord of glory, for the example of the first martyr Stephen, who looked up to heaven and prayed for his persecutors to you Son Jesus Christ, who stands at your right hand: where He lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen
There are those who do not celebrate times and seasons: who ignore traditions and holidays. I have a certain cross-grained sympathy for them. But our society is not like that. it works in cycles, driven by the media, who are jealous that they have our attention, so that they can sell it. A useful lie is more useful to these people, for they can then control the narrative.
Again, controlling the narrative and managing society has been something the elite have been tempted into from ancient times.
17Now after the death of Jehoiada the officials of Judah came and did obeisance to the king; then the king listened to them. 18They abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and served the sacred poles and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. 19Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord; they testified against them, but they would not listen.
20Then the spirit of God took possession of Zechariah son of the priest Jehoiada; he stood above the people and said to them, “Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has also forsaken you.” 21But they conspired against him, and by command of the king they stoned him to death in the court of the house of the Lord. 22King Joash did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had shown him, but killed his son. As he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see and avenge!”
7:59While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.
8:1And Saul approved of their killing him.
That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. 2Devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. 3But Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison.
4Now those who were scattered went from place to place, proclaiming the word. 5Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them. 6The crowds with one accord listened eagerly to what was said by Philip, hearing and seeing the signs that he did, 7for unclean spirits, crying with loud shrieks, came out of many who were possessed; and many others who were paralyzed or lame were cured. 8So there was great joy in that city.
Top Saudi Cleric Thankful Christianity Outlawed In His Country ? “It Suffices Me Not To Hear Church Bells Ringing” https://t.co/eMZUJgNPRG
— Conservative Chick (@NaughtyBeyotch) December 25, 2015
We need to recall, today, if not all days, that people have paid with their lives for the gospel. The elite have never been afraid to shed blood so that their lives will not be confronted, and that they do not need to repent.
I thought with the fall of the Iron Curtain and the restoration of the Orthodox Church that we would enter a period of freedom. I was wrong. Islam has gone feral, and tolerates not a whiff of dissent. There are modern Zechariahs, as there are modern Stephens.
And to the elite I have but one message: the only thing that will stop the vengeance of God is the prayers of the very men and women you have enslaved, imprisoned and killed.