AM: Psalm 28, 30; 2   Chronicles 24:17-22; Acts 6:1-7
PM: Psalm 118; Wisdom 4:7-15; Acts 7:59-8:8

The 2nd Day of Christmas is the Feast Day of St. Stephen, the first martyr of the faith and first Deacon.

What better way to celebrate the Incarnation than seeing the faith alive in someone so profoundly?  It is like I said the morning of Christmas Eve: YOU ARE A VESSEL.  Stephen was certainly a Vessel of grace for the Lord.

Stephen understood and lived out the incarnation, spending his life transforming the world through care, touch, generosity to the poor.  As a Deacon, as the church’s first Deacon, he blazed a trail of outreach and evangelical fervor by living out the faith, reaching out to the poor and destitute.

With his life, he could not help but sing GLORY TO GOD!  With every fiber of his being, he radiated the joy of the gospel, in rhythm with God and with those around him.  Even as he faced persecution and death, he sang GLORY TO GOD, and stood unafraid.

I invite you to watch the World Council of Churches’ Christmas message for this year: Be not afraid!  Click the video above. (Or if for some reason the video did not come through, here’s the link: https://youtu.be/u7KSvZXnVZw )

As I watched this video I thought of saints like Stephen, who stood unafraid and kept the song of our faith moving forward.

A Merry Christmas to you.

-Matt