St Stephen; New Year's Day: Church bells

Read Acts 7:54-60 slowly. Stephen’s witness does not end with his words. As the crowd turns on him, he sees Jesus standing with God. He entrusts his spirit to Jesus and asks that his attackers not be held to account for their sin. His response echoes Jesus’ own mercy from the cross. Stephen’s courage is not a claim that suffering is easy or that every believer must face danger in the same way. It shows where his hope rests when he cannot control what happens next.

The passage also places Saul at the edge of the scene. The witnesses lay their garments at his feet. Saul will later become Paul, a messenger of the faith he once tried to destroy. Malcolm Guite’s St Stephen sonnet connects Stephen’s death with the growth of witness and remembers that Saul was there. The connection invites a sobering kind of hope: a faithful act may bear fruit in someone else’s life long after we can see its outcome. We cannot know or manage that outcome. We can ask God to make our own words and choices truthful, merciful, and steady.

Guite’s New Year sonnet turns to church bells as a call that reaches a person in body and spirit. Bells can interrupt routine and invite people to gather, pray, or begin again. A phone reminder may tell us what is next; a bell can also point beyond the next task toward God and the people around us. The Christian year returns to familiar feasts and seasons, giving memory another chance to take root. Beginning again does not erase the past. It means receiving this day as a fresh opportunity to answer God.

Notice that Stephen’s witness is both public and deeply personal: he speaks of what he sees, then entrusts himself to Jesus. His prayer for his attackers is not approval of their violence. It is a refusal to let hatred become his final word. If you are called to speak about faith, consider what truthful witness looks like in your actual relationships. It may be a patient answer, a concrete act of service, or a quiet refusal to join in cruelty. You do not need to force a dramatic moment.

As you read Guite’s two poems, consider how remembrance, witness, and renewal meet in the turning of the year. What truth do you want to carry forward? What small beginning is available today?