First Sunday in Advent

Today's post is a sermon I preached for clergy colleagues of mine. Perhaps it speaks to all of us as well.

Today’s Gospel reading is, in a very real sense, a wake up call. “But in those days, after suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” Or put another way, “Wake up! There is going to be a catastrophic advent one day.”

Ever since Jesus ascended, people have been talking about the days they live in as “the last days.” And I don’t know how many times, even in modern history, some charismatic leader has convinced great crowds of people that he had it all figured out, right down to the year and the day. Many have been convinced to give away all they had and gather on a mountain top to wait for the trumpets to sound.

It’s not so hard to understand focusing on Christ’s return when you think about it. After all, in this same reading, Jesus says ominously, “Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.” Early Christians lived with the clear expectation that, literally, at any moment, Christ would return and the redeemed would be caught up into heaven in what has been called the Rapture. It must have been very confusing to them as years passed, then generations, and still Christ hadn’t returned.

In today’s Gospel, the wake up call is clear in Jesus’ words. He says, “watch—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”
I read something in preparation for this sermon that struck me and bears directly on what it means for us to “keep awake”. It said, of all the –isms of the world, the worst may be som-nam-bul-ism: sleepwalking-- failure to be awake and paying attention when we should be. If our sleepwalking is spiritual in nature, maybe this is the Advent message: keep awake.

We may sleepwalk through our days and suddenly wake up to notice that evil in the world has the upper hand. It’s hard to hear about another murder/robbery or another act of terrorism, without thinking the world has become truly a bad place. Keep awake, says Jesus.
Sleepwalking can result in slowly allowing our purpose in life to shrink to the mundane without even noticing. Once we may have believed we were called to something noble or that we could make a difference. But over time we may lose our passion, our sense of mission. I know in my own case, the idealism of my twenties has suffered from my nodding off. Like my head slumping over onto my chest and startling me awake, there’s been more than once when I realized my idealism had gone to sleep. Keep awake, says Jesus.

Sleepwalking mists over our eyes, so we never notice that our principles are being eroded. Without even meaning to, we put away our moral compass and do things we know are wrong. One small thing here, one there, one tiny one now, one then. We make these accommodations so slowly, we hardly notice when these exceptional behaviors become our normal behavior. Keep awake, says Jesus.

Sleepwalking can come upon us so slowly, we are never aware we’ve changed. It’s like a frog in hot water. It’s said, if you dump a frog in a pan of hot water, it will immediately jump out. But if you put that same frog in a pan of water and slowly increase the heat, it will stay there until it’s boiled alive. (Not that I ever tried that, but I’ve heard it’s true.)

Human life is fragile. The end of live always seem to occur before we’re ready. We’ve all heard stories about a husband and wife or parent and child who quarreled just before one was tragically killed in an accident. If we were awake, we would always take the time to make up, to say, “I love you.” Or thinking we have plenty of time to phone or write or visit a friend, we learn the friend died of a massive heart attack. If only we were awake to the transience of life we would make time to be compassionate, supportive and involved.

When I was in a college fraternity, at the end of a meeting, after all the usual business was conducted, there was always a time called “For the Good of the Order.” This agenda item was there to allow us to share those things which needed or might need our collective attention so the fraternal atmosphere could be maintained or enhanced. It was a time when significant soul searching went on as we focused our attention on the state of our corporate relational and spiritual health.

I think that’s a kind of watchfulness Jesus might be calling us all to—watching for the good of our soul. Religious orders have practiced a time of examining one’s conscience, of examining one’s actions during the day just past. The purpose was to look at how your life lived that day reflected or neglected the principles on which the Christian life is to be built. The idea behind this time of examination was simple: being a faithful Christian doesn’t just happen like mushrooms or dandelions popping up on the lawn. It requires care, attention and cultivation just as a beautiful garden does. It requires that we stay awake, that we watch, that we live examined lives so we can be constantly renewed for the day ahead.

“Keep awake,” Jesus says. Advent is a good time for checking to see if we’ve slipped into slumber. But, it is even a better time for awakening to the Lord’s constant desire to be present with us. “Keep awake” is our call to experience him today, in this moment, and for all time.

Peace,

Jerry+