Stir-up Sunday
The last Sunday of the Church Year is the Sunday before Advent. These days it is known as the feast of Christ the King, but traditionally it’s known as Stir-up Sunday. The name is taken from the Collect for the day in the Book of Common Prayer:
- Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
But the happy coincidence of the Collect with the timing of Christmas preparations has led to a double meaning here, for this is also the Sunday that traditionally is the day for giving the home-made Christmas pudding a final stir.
The pudding was made with thirteen ingredients, to represent Christ and his disciples, and the stirring was supposed to be done from East to West, in memory of the great journey of the Magi. Every member of the family would take a turn at stirring the pudding, before it was sealed up ready for cooking, and while they stirred they made a wish – and, like most wish-making traditions, the wish had to be kept secret if it was to come true.
Into the pudding would also be stirred a few more wish-making features. A coin was stirred in, either a silver sixpence (about the size of a modern-day 5p piece) or a threepenny bit, a ring, and a thimble. On Christmas day each person would hunt through their serving of pudding to see if they had got one of the good l;uck charms – the coin was supposed to bring wealth, the ring foretold a marriage, and the thimble was the sign of a life of good luck.
You see what you miss if you buy a ready made pudding in a plastic pot?
EDIT: Andy asks in the comments whether there’s a reason for having a Christ the King sunday, and for it to come as the last sunday of the church calender and not earlier?
The answer to that depends on whether you mean why was it put there in the first place, or how has it come to be interpreted subsequently. ‘Christ the King’ was insituted as a feast by Pope Pius XI in 1925, and was celebrated at the end of October. It raised no small controversy (still does from time to time) because many felt that the idea of “King” was outmoded, and didn’t any longer convey the meaning it had once contained. The Pope, however, thought it should convey King of all creation, rather than an oppressive King. After Vatican II the feast was moved to the last Sunday of the Church year, the Sunday before Advent, and placing it there gives the idea of Christ the King the sense of the fulfilment of the journey from anticipation through birth, life, death , resurrection, ascension, pentecost. And conveniently, the contemplation of Christ as the fulfilment of everything at the end of everything takes you right back to the already-but-not-yet aspect of the Kingdom of God, which neatly leads you back into Advent the week after. So I have to say its location as the last Sunday of the church year works rather well from that point of view.
Having said that, and although I don’t dispute the theological concepts that feed into Christ the King, I do think that the name itself gives all sorts of problems of interpretation. The ideas could just as well – or perhaps better – be delivered with diferent language, I think.
7 Responses to “Stir-up Sunday”
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Maggi has kept a blog since September 2003, writing about theology and faith, the arts and literature, and a little about life and random nonsense...
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Maggi – is there any reason for having a christ the king sunday and for it to come as the last sunday of the church calender and not perhaps say earlier?
andy, the answer to that depends on whether you mean why was it put there in the first place, or how has it come to be interpreted subsequently. ‘Christ the King’ was insituted as a feast by Pope Pius XI in 1925, and was celebrated at the end of October. It raised no small controversy (still does frm time to time) because many felt that the idea of “King” was outmoded, and didn’t any longer convey the meaning it had once contained. The Pope, however, thought it should convey King of all creation, rather than an oppressive King. The feast was moved to the Sunday that falls Nov 20-26th (last Sunday of the Church year) after Vatican II (1969 ?). It makes sense at that point in the CHurch year, as the idea of Christ the King is the fulfilment of the journey from anticipation through birth, life, death , resurrection, ascension, pentecost.
But, conveniently, the contemplation of CHrist as the fulfilment of everything at the end of everything takes you right back to the already-but-not-yet aspect of the Kingdom of God. And that rather neatly leads you back into Advent the week after. So I have to say its location as the last sunday of the church year works rather well from that point of view.
Having said that, and although I don’t dispute the theological concepts that feed into Christ the King, I do think that the name itself gives all sorts of problems of interpretation. The ideas could just as well – or perhaps better – be delivered with diferent language, I think.
Maggi as I would expect you are very helpful. thanks for this interesting history. I’m preaching this sunday on john 18 and one of the things I want to explore is the whole notion of how we understand the kingship of Christ – and does christ determine what king means or is the other way round.
I think I would find it impossible to preach on Kingship without pointing out the difficulties of the concept in the 21st century. you might like to check whether Dylan’s lectionary blog has any archive on Christ the King – she’s good at interpretation on controversial issues
Maggi – thanks for this post. I love the posts you do like this where you bring Church traditions and aspects of the Church calender alive.
As I was pondering on what my major themes would be this Christmas and Advent (if they are not already given!) I came across an article by Giles Fraser
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/fraser/article_061114purity.shtml
This isn’t exactly about Christ the King, but it does offer a nice polemic. What are the differences between Christ the King, the conqueror, the acheiver? compared to that of the babe, the helpless, the incapable?
I think this year, I’m going to get ready for the Christ who was born ino the ‘mud and thorns of life.’ (a prayer by Terry Hinks)
Funny you should mention “Stir up” Sunday… I’ve never heard the term before, but yesterday (Sunday, the 26th) a visitor arrived, female, older, and said, “today’s Stir up Sunday”… I looked puzzled and her friend accompanying her, in his thirties or forties said, “whatever that is.”
Thanks for the education… we seem to learn surprising stuff all the time.