Stir-Up Sunday
The Sunday Next Before Advent
The Rev. Deacon Timothy Wilson
In England, this Sunday has been known by a beloved nickname, “Stir-Up Sunday.” The name comes from the opening words of the Collect going all the way back to the 1549 Prayer Book: “Stiere up, we beseech thee, O Lord…” Families heard those words in church and were reminded to go home and “stir up” their Christmas puddings so they would mature in time for the feast.
But the Church’s intention always ran deeper. Obviously, the Collect is not about Christmas pudding, but it is about the human heart. It is a cry for God to stir us up from spiritual sloth, to awaken within us a holy longing, to rouse our wills to good works. And it is placed deliberately on the last Sunday before Advent so that we enter the new liturgical year not half-asleep but spiritually alert.
Thus, if we read the Collect today and allow it to become the lens through which we read the Epistle and Gospel, we come to understand that God must stir us up because we cannot stir ourselves. God must raise up the Righteous Branch! Let us be clear, because no human government, no earthly shepherd or political leader, nor natural strength can save, much less sustain us. God must feed us because it is certain, we cannot feed ourselves.
The Collect pleads, “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people…”
Why? Because left to ourselves, our wills settle like sediment in a jar, heavy, unmoved, lifeless. Israel in Jeremiah’s day had experienced this spiritual inertia firsthand. Jeremiah records of failed leadership, apostate prophets, and scattered sheep. The shepherds had not stirred up righteousness but had allowed corruption and collapse.
And then comes the divine promise, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch…” (Jer. 23:5)
Israel cannot rouse itself; therefore, the Lord Himself “raises up” the King who will restore, gather, and reign in justice. You see, where human wills falter, divine mercy acts.
St. Augustine observes, “Our hearts were frozen, but the warmth of the Shepherd’s love thawed them, for He Himself sought us when we could not seek Him.” (Augustine, Sermon 46)
Advent, then, is not sentimental anticipation but divine intervention. It is God stirring up history, God raising up His King, God acting decisively for a helpless people.
This is the promise of the Righteous Branch, who is the Christ, Christ the King, whose kingdom rests not on political calculation but on righteousness; not on human promise but on divine fidelity.
The Gospel from St. John shows the promise in action.
Jesus sees the multitude, and Philip asks, “Whence shall we buy bread…?” What a genuinely simple question, but how well it exposes human insufficiency! The disciples cannot stir up the resources to meet the need.
Then a boy’s small offering is brought. It is not enough, “What are they among so many?” Yet Christ takes what is insufficient, blesses it, breaks it, and multiplies it.
In his commentary on John, St. Cyril of Alexandria writes, “He who nourishes all creation gives Himself as bread, and in the miracle He prefigures the mystery of His Body.”
So, the Collect’s plea, “Stir up our wills,” is answered in the Gospel.
Christ stirs us by feeding us. Christ strengthens us by giving Himself. Christ multiplies what is weak, small, or insufficient.
We read in Jeremiah of the promised Shepherd-King who would reign in righteousness; in fact, the Gospel shows Him as the Shepherd who feeds His flock in abundance.
Today, this Sunday Next Before Advent is a hinge between two worlds: the world we have lived in, and the world Christ is bringing.
Advent, therefore, shapes our everyday lives in a number of ways. How does it do that, Dcn. Timothy, you may ask. Well, I’m glad you asked…
First, Advent stirs holy longing.
Remember, we prayed in the Collect for God to awaken our wills. This means refusing spiritual apathy. It means believing that Christ’s coming, past, present, and future, matters more than our routines. In other words, Advent calls us to watchfulness in our homes, in our decisions, our habits, and most certainly in our desires.
Second, Advent reorders our loves.
Notice how Jeremiah’s world looked much like ours… unstable political times, failing leaders, cultural anxiety. Advent reminds us that our hope is not in elections, not in institutions, or even cultural victories, but in the Righteous Branch whom God raises up. Indeed, Beloved, this frees us to live daily life not with fear or anxiety, but with quiet confidence in Christ the King.
Finally, Advent cultivates generosity and mercy.
In the Gospel, Christ turns scarcity into abundance. If He can multiply loaves, don’t you know He can multiply our compassion, our forgiveness, our patience? If Christ does this for us, Advent, indeed, therefore, is a time to go and do likewise… it invites us to tangible, incarnational works of mercy, not out of guilt, but out of union with the Shepherd who compassionately feeds the hungry.
We are taught that Advent is a time of waiting with Hope and anticipation, but this waiting is not, in a sense, downtime, nor an escape from the world; it is preparation to enter it more faithfully because Christ is near.
So, all of this, Jeremiah’s promise, John’s miracle, and the Collect’s plea, leads us ultimately to the Table of the Lord.
The Church Fathers consistently saw the Feeding of the Five Thousand as a sign of the Holy Eucharist, and to this, St. Chrysostom says, “He gave His Body to us so that we might be united with Him, not only to behold, but to touch and to receive within us.” (Chrysostom, Homily on Matthew 82)
At the Table this morning, Beloved, The Righteous Branch, Christ the King, becomes the Bread of Life. The Shepherd-King becomes our heavenly food. And, He who stirs our wills now nourishes what He has stirred.
Prefigured in the gathering of the fragments, we see here, in the Sacrament, He gathers the scattered, strengthens the weary, the lonely, and those stricken with grief (especially as we go through the upcoming holidays). He heals the broken and feeds the hungry with Himself.
As we prepare for Advent, know that the Table, today, is the meeting place of promise and fulfillment. It is Jesus, Emmanuel, who came humbly to provide so great a Salvation, who comes to guide and Shepherd us and feed us today, and the everlasting Christ the King who is coming again to gather His Bride.
Beloved, as we stand on this threshold before Advent, I urge you to reflect on and pray the Collect this week. Let it stir up your heart. Remember the words of Jeremiah and let it awaken your hope in the Righteous Branch. Allow the Gospel to assure you that Christ feeds what He commands. And may the Eucharist strengthen you for the days ahead. As the Shepherd-King, who reigns in righteousness and feeds in abundance, stirs up our wills today to love Him, serve Him, and await Him with holy joy. Amen +
