STAY AWAKE: TIME TO TAKE STOCK

(Preached on Sunday, November 27, 2005)

“And what I say to you, I say to all: Keep awake.”        

-Mark 13:37

 

Days of suffering; sun, moon and stars going dark; and Jesus appearing in the clouds surrounded by angels doing his bidding.

It has become the stuff of popular culture, filling the pages of a series of bestsellers and spawning movies.

But I really doubt it is the sort of stuff you came to church this morning hoping to hear, expecting to listen to and planning to reflect upon.

After all, this is the end of Thanksgiving weekend — one of our favorite holidays in this country, probably even topping Christmas for many.

After a few days of family gatherings, too much food, too much shopping, too much football I doubt you came here to listen to dire warnings about the final judgment and the end of the world.

 

It is actually strange, though, the way passages like this in the Bible have been appropriated today to spread gloom and fearfulness and to scare people into faith and moral behavior.

For originally, this type of literature, called apocalyptic by biblical scholars, was designed to nurture hope.

The message was meant for oppressed people.

“You need not despair!”

God is going to right the wrongs of history.

In spite of all the talk about the woes and the spasm of creation, the general intent behind the graphic word-pictures was to assure readers of a future in Christ.

This message is still powerful relevant to us today.

Not because it predicts the end of time that is upon us, (Jesus cautions us not to get caught up in such foolishness), but because it offers hope for a future.

History often seems lost and pointless, but apocalyptic thought affirms that God has a goal and a design for the progression of time.

Jesus wants his followers to understand that even though the events of history sometimes seem to be moving slowly from a human perspective, God is clearly active in this world.  A new time is very close.

 

That is why Jesus urges us three times in this passage to “Keep awake.”

There are many ways we fall asleep in our lives.

We fall asleep by falling into routine, never changing what we do in life, never taking risks or trying something new, because it is too frightening.

We fall asleep by shutting down creative thought, never challenging our perspectives on life and the world and God, accepting what some authority, some preacher, some politician, some teacher tells us to think.

We fall asleep by numbing our minds, our hearts, our feelings, through mindless entertainment, or alcohol, or drugs, or repetitive activity, moving through life in a zombie-like trance and not noticing life all around us.

 

“Wake up!” Jesus says.  None of us ever knows when the end will come — for us, for those we love, for the church, for the world.  None of us ever knows when and where God will do something new and make God’s presence known.

So “Wake up!”  We hear this call from Jesus as his own end is near, as God is about to do a radically new thing in the world.

Jesus encourages us to wake up to whatever life is bringing to us — as a person, as a people — wake up to pain, fi that is what is there for you to wake up to; wake up to the love you will not let yourself have because you are afraid to lose it; wake up to the future you are so furious about because it is not the one you ordered; wake up to all the possibilities for newness and excitement and life.

 

A famous author tells a story of his very first job in a small town general store.  This was in the days before malls and supermarket chains.  At age thirteen he was hired as a handy boy.  He would sweep the floor, bag items for customers, put up stock.  On one particular Saturday he heard the owner say to one of the clerks “It’s that time of the year again.  It’s time to take inventory.”  This was a word that had not yet entered into the vocabulary of this author.  When the opportune moment arrived, he went up to the kindly older man and asked, “Sir, what is an inventory?”  Patiently the owner explained that it was a time when you made a list of everything that you had — from groceries on the shelves to wrapping paper and string.  Still somewhat puzzled, the young man then asked, “Why?”  “Well,” responded the owner, “its easy to forget exactly how much you have each year.  Every now and then you have to take an inventory just to see what all you have.”

 

That is one way we can stay awake — by taking stock of our lives.

That includes taking inventory of what we have; all the blessings and all the things for which we can be thankful.

And by reflecting on our lives and on God’s place in our lives.  Questions such as:

“How have I walked with God this year?”

“What can I do in my life to show the love of Christ?”

“How have I devoted my life to God?”

Such questions and the reflections they lead to, are a means of helping us prepare to be more awake to the presence of Christ in our world — in the people we encounter and in our own souls.

 

Another way for taking stock of our lives regularly is shared by Dorothy Bass in her book Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time.

She tells of a mother who came up with a new version of the common parental question, “How was your day today?”

As she tucks her children into bed each night, this insightful mother asks instead, “Where did you meet God today?”

Her children are used to this question, so the answers come tumbling out: “My teacher helped me.” “There was a homeless person in the park.” “I saw a tree with lots of flowers on it.”  The mother then shares with them some ways she has met God in the course of the day.  Comforted by the awareness of God’s presence in their lives, the children fall contentedly off to sleep.  As Bass puts it, “The stuff of this day has become the substance of their prayer.”

 

It is important to stay awake and take stock of our lives, not just for our own sake but for the sake of the world.

Ann Johnson suggests that this was the critical attitude of Miryam, (the Hebraic/Aramaic name we translate Mary -- the woman we know to be the Mother of Jesus).  In a  poetic reflection she suggests this in this way:

“In those days when the people of

Judea were oppressed by Rome

in the reign of King Herod

in the town of Nazareth there

was a woman named Miryam.

In prayer Miryam watched

Eyes of her soul turned inward, she watched.

Ears of her spirit stretched out, she watched.

Watched for the Gentle One in stillness.”

 

It was certainly critical for us all that Miryam did not sleepwalk through her life, but was alert, watchful, awake.

Imagine if she had missed the presence of the angel and thus missed the reality of what God was doing in the world through her.

 

And finally, as Jesus pointed out, we never know when Christ will appear, especially in the person right next to us who needs our love, care and compassion.