Minor Festival -- The Festival of St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr

               Lutheran worship is liturgical.  While that often refers to an order of worship, it can also refer to the calendar of the Church Year.  The Church Year includes major festivals, such as Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, etc...  Today we recognize a minor festival, the Festival of St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr.

               “Good King Wenceslas went out on the Feast of Stephen.”  So goes one of the Christmas carols we hear during the season.  The reason it is a Christmas carol has to do with the Feast of Stephen, celebrated the day after Christmas.  Stephen was one of seven men called to be a deacon in the early Church.  Stephen and the others were to assist the apostles in their ministry.  Though the deacons were originally called to help distribute charitable aid to the widows in Jerusalem, that did not prevent them from proclaiming the grace of God in Jesus Christ.  Stephen faithfully and fearlessly proclaimed Christ at the cost of his life.  Stoned to death by the Jewish religious leaders, Stephen became the first martyr of the Christian Church.