November 27, 2005

Wake Up !

Isaiah 64:1-9
Romans 13:11-14
Mark 13:30-37

"... it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep." What a great passage for a bleak November morning. Wake up! This is what we preachers try to get our congregations to do every Sunday morning. One Sunday a pastor wasn't sure if he'd gotten through to his flock, so he asks his son, "Do you think the congregation reacted favorably to my message this morning?" "I'm sure of it, Dad," replies the boy. "I saw several of them nodding all through the service."

The great preacher and founder of Methodism, John Wesley, was once preaching to a rather drowsy congregation, and in the middle of his sermon, he suddenly yelled, "Fire! Fire!" "Where?" asked a startled listener, awaking. Wesley's warning was to the point: "In [you know where], for those who sleep during the sermon." So, stay awake!

Advent is upon us, that gloriously recurring time in the church year, when there's a note of expectancy, of watchfulness, of urgency, of preparing for someone coming. We may sing, "Santa Claus is coming to town," but the real reason for the season is Jesus. Jesus is coming. If we allow ourselves, we will be swept up in the groundswell of those who are looking forward to something, an expectation of better things to come, when all around us the evidence seems contrary. Jesus is coming. Of this we are sure.

"... it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep." Paul's words ring with a sense of urgency, like an alarm clock that won't stop buzzing until we're out of bed with our feet firmly planted on the floor. Paul had good reason to sound such a warning to the early Christians. He was convinced that the Second Coming of Christ was imminent, and that some of those who were hearing or reading his words would still be alive to witness it. But Paul was wrong. Jesus did not come in that generation, and so, Christians down through the ages have lived in the tension between the now and the not yet, between the present age and the new age to come. We Christians stand in the shadows of night, but our faces are lit by the coming dawn.

Whether we believe that Paul's warning of a literal Second Coming is for our days or not, we still need to pay attention to his message. His logic is clear: we need to wake up and start living now, because we do not know when the hour will come when we will be called into the realm beyond this life. We have hope in what lies beyond, just as we may have hope in the Second Coming, or just as we may hope for the renewing glory of Christmas soon - but there is that unknown element called time, and the uncertainty of what may come when we least expect it.

Why should we listen to Paul's words? Why wake up? For some of us this is a very good question. Some days we'd rather stay in bed, pull up the covers around our ears, and block out the whole world. But, we all have responsibilities, and because of them most of us need to wake up. Some of us have the responsibility of waking up sleepy children and spouses, giving them breakfast, and getting them off to school or work. In many households, if mom oversleeps, family schedules are in shambles. Whether we work at home, outside of home, go to school, or whatever, we have responsibilities to wake up, get up, and get our lives in gear. Paul says that we who are Christians have an obligation also. We have a duty to live Christ-like lives as disciples of Jesus. We wake up in the morning because this is what we're expected to do. We're also expected to wake up to our Christian duties.

Consider the alternatives. What if we didn't wake up this morning? What if we were like bears hibernating for the winter? Sleeping is nice, but don't you think it would get awfully dull and boring if it went on and on? Dreaming and fantasy are fun, but the reality of living - being fully awake - is so much more invigorating. Most of us would choose life over other alternatives if we had a choice. And we do have a choice.

Wake up - from what? Literally, from sleep. But we know that the Bible often reveals deeper truths. Perhaps we should wake up from our old selves, from the darkness of behavior that we despise in ourselves, from the enslavement of attitudes that we know are not part of our true character. I'll bet each of us has one or more things we'd like to change in ourselves, and Paul urges us to put on the "armor of light" to battle them, to put on the light of Christ that will light our way.

Perhaps some of us are saying to ourselves, "Well, what I want to change in myself is too difficult, too deep-seated. It seems hopeless to try again." Wake up and hear this story about St. Augustine, who lived in the 4th century, and who has been revered over the centuries as one of the most important teachers in the church. But when Augustine was a youth, he was a rogue. He was somewhat religious and prayed and read the Bible, but one of his prayers was: "Lord grant me chastity ... but not yet." He wrote, "I was afraid that [God] would hear my prayer too soon, and too soon would heal me from [my desires] which I wanted satisfied rather than extinguished." Yet his failure to lead a moral life distressed Augustine, and he prayed for deliverance from his sins.

One day while in his garden, he hears a voice say, "Take and read, take and read." He hurries back inside and picks up his Bible where he had been reading in Romans. "I snatched it up," he says, "and read silently the first passage my eyes fell upon: '... not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.'" He continues, "I had no wish to read further, and no need. For in that instant, with the very ending of the sentence, it was as though a light of utter confidence shone in all my heart, and all the darkness of uncertainty vanished away." (i) His life was changed forever, and he went on to true greatness.

God's Word had found Augustine just as it will always find the willing and receptive human heart. If you are immersed in some kind of darkness in your life, try turning to God's Word. It may speak to you also, and may bring you into the light. But don't delay, for we do not know what hour or what day our Lord will come.

I'm no one to be preaching, "don't delay," because I am quite a procrastinator myself. Maybe you've heard about "The Procrastinator's Club of America." They have half a million members, but most of them haven't gotten around to joining yet. They have a big Christmas celebration - in June!

There's a fable that William Barclay tells about three assistant devils who are ready to come to earth to finish their apprenticeship. They're getting last minute instructions from Satan, the chief of the devils, and are telling him of their plans to tempt and ruin men and women. The first one says, "I will tell them there is no God," but Satan replies, "That won't delude many, for they know there is a God." Then the second says, "I will tell them there is no [punishment for sin]." But Satan replies, "You will deceive no one; all know that there [are consequences to sinning]." Then the third says, "I will tell them there is no hurry." "Go," says Satan, "you will ruin them by the thousands." Barclay comments: "The most dangerous of all delusions is that there is plenty of time. The most dangerous day of our lives is when we learn that there is such a word as tomorrow. There are things which must not be put off, for none of us knows if for us tomorrow will ever come." (ii)

We have discussed why we should wake up, and what we should wake up from. Finally, to what shall we be awaking? If we shake the sheets and knock off the cobwebs, what is there to wake up to? The answer to this question will be as varied as there are people here today, different for each one of us. One thing we can be sure of - there is a lot of God-given potential within each of us. As I wrote in a song many years ago: "A new day is a-dawning within [us], a new way, a new chance to do right; God, please give [us] the strength and the wisdom, so that [our lives] might reflect your light."

We are invited to walk in the light, to walk in the light of God. Just as the early morning rays of sun blind us temporarily as we face them coming over the horizon, just as an electric light turned on in a dark room in the middle of the night makes us want to dive under a pillow, so God's light can brighten, but also disrupt our lives. God's light is brilliant and beautiful, but it bids up to wake up, and so, it's disruptive. We're asked to change, to discard our old selves and put on Christ who will be the only armor we'll need to ward off the powers of evil within us or beyond us.

Watchwords for Advent are "Wake up," "Be ready," and "Be prepared." Let us remember them as we journey through this holy season together, and let's not forget that we are a community, one of another, helping and caring, guiding and directing, teaching and learning, and most of all loving. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. Wake up! Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord together. Amen.

The Pilgrim Church of Duxbury
Rev. Kenneth C. Landall

i Augustine, Confessions, Book 8.
ii William Barclay, The New Daily Study Bible, Matthew, Vol. 2, p. 370.