Thinking Anew:Two words from the liturgy used in churches at this time of year bring together in a strange way the sacred and the secular. The words "stir up" - in Latin "excita" - introduce several prayers associated with Advent and imply anticipation and action.
One of the prayers is provided for use tomorrow in the Book of Common Prayer, earning the day the unofficial title "stir-up Sunday". Through an association of ideas the day came to be identified with the preparation of Christmas puddings. It was a sort of "best-before date", a reminder to be ready to celebrate and enjoy the coming Christmas festival.
Of course the prayer takes us deeper: "Stir up, O Lord, the wills of your faithful people" It reminds us that religion is not just about emotion or feelings. There are many examples in the world today to suggest that religion - or any human activity - dictated by emotion alone can be dangerous and destructive.
That is not to say that feelings have no place in our spiritual lives. After all, love is the central command of the Christian gospel. Nonetheless, this prayer alerts us to the limits of unthinking attitudes to life in general and religion in particular.
We can easily become dulled by the routine of daily life conditioned by an advertising industry which is always keen to point out our deficiencies and what it means in their terms to be a successful human being. But we need to think for ourselves and not become the plaything of negative feelings driven by external influences. It is important to nurture relationships and to refresh other important aspects of our lives.
It is said that an artist will often pause and stand back to examine carefully what he is doing. In the same way, we need to stand back and take stock and make sure that we are comfortable with, and accept responsibility for, who and what we are.
This is particularly true of our spiritual lives where we are sometimes tempted to do things because that's the way we were brought up. That is not to devalue heritage but rather to underline the importance of making it our own. Informed commitment is important because we live in an age when to be a Christian, or indeed a believer in any of the great world religions, is difficult. Credibility is important and each Christian must in some way deal with the blunt question that Jesus put to Peter: "And you, who do you say that I am?" That demands more than an emotional response.
It is one thing to have religious feelings; it is quite a different matter to stir the will to embrace faith and live it in a meaningful and costly way. The fact that prayer is needed reminds us that this does not come easily. But a spirituality that has the commitment of will as well as feelings has the capacity to survive when life becomes difficult and things go badly wrong.
Archbishop Janani Luwum was appointed Anglican Archbishop of Uganda in 1974. He was a leading voice criticising the excesses of the Idi Amin regime of the time. The archbishop protested to the dictator against arbitrary killings and unexplained disappearances. Shortly afterwards he and other leading churchmen were accused of treason. Luwum was arrested, and the following morning it was announced that he had been killed in a car crash. A government statement said the crash had been a tragic accident, but later claimed the archbishop had been shot while trying to overcome the soldiers transporting him to detention. According to witnesses, the facts were that an enraged Idi Amin killed the archbishop after he had refused to sign a confession and instead began to pray.
Archbishop Luwum was by no means unique in the modern world, for it is said that the 20th century has seen more martyrs for the Christian faith than any other period of history - men and women who by acts of will refused to deny the faith that was in them and paid the ultimate price. .
"When we speak with God, our power of addressing him, of holding communion with him, and listening to his still, small voice, depends upon our will being one and the same with his." - Florence Nightingale.
GL