Stephen sets our Christmas journey toward Jesus’s way of love by reminding us of the challenge of tradition and nostalgia.
Following his following Jesus
The Feast of Stephen
Sam Portaro’s reflection from Brightest and Best rises to the central challenge of the Incarnation, and I think, to the character of our patron, Saint Stephen.
This is no less hard to hear as we continue to bathe in the Christmas glow. But as he reminds us of the dark side of tradition, he is simply doing as Stephen and Jesus did before him.
He shares a message that we as people of tradition, whose tradition is among the most traditional of traditions; whose theology is as radically traditional as they come; whose practice and preference screams “tradition”; we had best consider all of what tradition offers us for ourselves.
Our call is not to tradition itself, but to Jesus. And our patron is the guide to our unique path to following him.
Our church is St. Stephen’s Church. His way of following Jesus invites us to see the path in the way that fits our community best.
The First
It is telling that Stephen would be the first lifted up by the Apostles to share in their authority. Stephen is a Greek name. So Stephen isn’t a Hebrew, but a Hellenistic Jew. It is most likely that he is a convert to the faith and doesn’t come from a long line of followers.
He wasn’t born into the tradition.
He was brought in.
And then was lifted up as most embodying the character of faith.
Lifted up by the Apostles who were expanding the message across borders. In spite of their tradition. And yet because of their tradition.
Stephen exemplifies that crossed border, that expanding tradition, that devotion to a faith that is not rooted only in lineage, but in the will of God. A will that would see the faith grow beyond our family, our people, our tribe, our nation, but to all of creation, the cosmos, and everything.
Let us not be shackled to such desires for tradition that we embody the way of sin. Or seek such certain truths that we destroy the creative spirit within us.
Let us seek Jesus’s Way of Love instead. A way that uses ritual to free us, hope to inspire us, and love to encourage us. And may we find the truth that brings tradition to life is well within our reach. Through faith in Jesus.