Yesterday was the last Sunday before Advent, traditionally known as ‘Stir up Sunday’. It’s the day that families got together to prepare the Christmas pudding. Traditionally there would be 13 ingredients in all, to represent Jesus and his disciples, though the precise ingredients would vary according to the recipe handed down through the generations in each family. On Stir up Sunday, each member of the family takes a turn in stirring the mixture whilst making a wish. The pudding should be stirred from east to west, in honour of the Magi (Wise Men) who came from the east.
I’m afraid I buy my pudding from a supermarket and microwave it in the plastic bowl. My excuse is that I inherited my grannie’s cookbook and it doesn’t contain a recipe for Christmas pudding. And so my children are among the two-thirds of British children who reported in a 2013 survey that they had never experienced stirring the Christmas pudding mix.
However, it turns out this does not preclude us from participating in Stir up Sunday. The term comes not from stirring the pudding but rather from the words of the first collect on the final Sunday before Advent which starts ‘Stir up’. We are stirred up to be ready for Advent – to show our faith through good works. Perhaps it also reminds us that Advent is a time of waiting. Waiting for the coming of Christ and waiting for the Christmas pudding to be mature. This is a good week to think about ways in which we can mark Advent this year in a spirit of expectancy, with time and space for waiting and watching rather than rushing headlong into Christmas.
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.
Collect from the last Sunday before Advent, Book of Common Prayer
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