Sermon: Wake Up!!

Wake Up!!
Rev. Jennifer Whipple
1^st Sunday in Advent
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19 & Mark 13:24-37

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our minds and hearts gathered here this day be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer.  Amen.

“Wake up!  Jen, wake up!  Wake up!  Wake up!  Wake up!”

“Jen, if you don’t wake up I will sit on you!  Wake up!”

            My brother, John, is four years older than I am, and at the time of this “conversation” had about 40 pounds on me.  John and I have always loved each other, but we didn’t really like each other much until his junior year of high school, my seventh grade year.  One of the many reasons for his strong dislike of “little old me” was my alarm clock – our rooms right across the hall from each other in our parents’ small cape.  You see he was much better at waking up in the morning.  In fact he was so much better at waking up when we were younger that he would wake up with my alarm clock, which was inevitably set to go off before his.  Even though he was in high school, and I was in middle school, I was a snooze button person, so I had my alarm set at least 40 minutes before I had to get out of bed to get ready for school in the morning – allowing for a few opportunities to roll back over and nestle in.  He, on the other hand, was the kind of guy who waited until the last possible second to get up…or at least would have if his pesky little sister didn’t ruin it for him.  Needless to say I was squished awake more than once in those days.

            I wish I could say that I am better nowadays at the whole waking up thing, but unfortunately that is not the case.  I still have more than my fair share of mornings where I wake up (giving thanks and praise to God mind you) in just the knick of time to throw on my clothes, brush my teeth, and head out the door to my desired destination.  Even with a 6-month-old at home I have a hard time waking up.  There are days when I wish my brother was still around in the mornings!

            Yet as we read through the lectionary scripture lessons for today I can once again hear a voice telling me to “Wake up!”  That voice speaks to all of us today as we begin the New Year in the church – as we begin the season of Advent. 

            Perhaps we begin this Advent season with overwhelming joy – looking ahead to celebrations to come.  Or perhaps we feel like the Israelites in the 80^th Psalm – wondering where God is in this crazy world and crying out for relief and restoration.  No matter how we each begin this Advent season there are so many elements of our faith that we need to be aware of and engage in during these Advent days.  We must remember that we are blessed and therefore should give thanks and praise to God.  And yet we must also realize that God can handle the reality of our lives – that just like the Psalmists and Israelites cried to God – God can handle our anger, our doubt, our guilt, our grief, and even our desires and demands.  We must hold on to the hope that God is near to us each and every hour of each and every day – treating our everyday activities (whether washing the dishes, going to work, spending time with family) as opportunities to experience God. 

            We wear purple during Advent, the color of remorse and royalty in order to remind us that Advent is not only a time of waiting and expectation for the joyous arrival of the babe in the manger, it is a time of self-examination and repentance as we look to the coming of a Savior who calls us to be perfect in the eyes of our God – remembering that it is perhaps not just the world outside that needs some adjustment but our own lives and community right here.

            Jesus called for all who followed him (and continues to call to us this day) to have a change of heart, a change of mind and direction.  Jesus’ ethics prompt us to be people who repent – who turn back toward God, who follow God’s will radically, and who see the commandment to love God and our neighbors (no matter who they are or where they come from) as central to all that we do – no matter whether they bake us homemade cookies or steal our parking places and spots in line for that last perfect gift during the season ahead.

            Yet that call is not to make changes and do things just for the sake of looking like we are good faithful folks.  There was a series of bumper stickers, door signs, t-shirts, and so on that came out a few years ago that said, “Jesus is coming.  Look busy!”  What a thought!  Especially in this day and age, when there are not only rumors of wars but wars and terrorist attacks in our world; when we realize that we in the United States are approximately 6% of the world’s population using over 40% of the world’s resources and still there are people living on our streets, going hungry, and trying to survive without other basic necessities; when as we head to the 20^th anniversary of World AIDS Day tomorrow there are 33 million people around the world living with HIV and AIDS and over 45% of new cases are among youth and young adults ages 15-24 – we realize in these times that looking like we are good busy faithful people is not enough.  And we are great at looking busy – filling our calendars up with this and that, with more and more – especially in these holiday times.  But now more than ever, being busy with the important things is what counts.  It is not as much about proper clothes, gifts or decorations in this Advent and holiday season as it is about time well spent, relationships reconciled and strengthened, service done for those in need, work toward justice, and sharing the Good News with those around us.  We actually need to be people who are busy – busy being about the work of a people of faith – of life-changing and world-changing action. 

            The age old question is: If Jesus were coming tomorrow what would he see in our lives?  Would he see right decisions?  Right use of resources?  Love of God and neighbor?  True obedience and service?  Would God see us awake and alive in our faith, really living it out in thought, word, and deed or asleep at the wheel?

            The scripture lesson in the 13^th chapter of Mark served as a warning for the people in the days of the early church to stay awake and alive – vigilant in their new faith.  It was written when people were already experiencing very difficult times.  Jesus’ followers were being persecuted because Jesus had challenged all of the norms of the day – welcoming women, men, children, slaves, prostitutes, tax collectors, and so many more to follow him without reservation.  The authorities of his day had no idea what to do with him, his beliefs, or those who followed him.  So if caught Jesus’ followers could often expect the absolute worst.  To top it off, war was on the horizon as well – a war that would lead to the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem.  Any predictions about the end of days would not bother them in the least because they were already living in difficult and fearful times. 

            Our challenge is to make sense of what these scripture passages call us to today as people of faith in the beginning of Advent 2008 – in our own difficult and fearful times.  As the scriptures describe dark days, we realize that is perhaps where we are in our world and perhaps in our own faith lives.  And we realize that it is okay to sit in the dark with the small light of hope on our Advent Wreath flickering.  Because throughout these four weeks of Advent we will continue to add light – lighting the candles of peace, joy, and love.  We will hear the story and sing the songs of Christ’s birth.  The decorations will go up a bit at a time.  Our desire to turn back toward God will grow stronger, and our longing and expectation will grow as the season goes on.      

            As priest and professor Gerald Darring writes in his “Commentary on Social Justice,” “The longing for Christ causes us to want things to change for the better.  We want God to find us blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ…Advent, then, is an expression of our faith in the possibility of a better world.  We don’t have to be at each other’s throats.  We can ‘do right’ in the areas of race relations, family obligations, and personal responsibilities.  We can ‘do good’ to the poor, the elderly, the homeless, and to all our brothers and sisters at home and abroad.  We can become blameless, beacons of social justice, examples of faith and love, peacemakers.
           The message of Advent is to be constantly on the watch!  We base this constant watch not on fear but on hope in God’s promise of eternal life”  (Gerald Darring, “Commentary and Spiritual Perspectives: Social Justice Commentary”, St. Louis University ”)

             “Wake Up!!”  We hear these words ringing loud and clear today.  If you are like me, those words might make you cringe.  I would much rather prefer to stay in the comfort and warmth of what I know.  And the worst thing you can ask of me is to stay up all night long – keeping watch like the slave in the Gospel account this morning.  Because whether awake figuring out how to make ends meet, waiting for your teenager to make it home safely, or sitting vigil at the bedside of someone you love, nightwatches are tiring and can be anxiety-producing.  I remember the night we stayed in the hospital after Brayden was born.  We could not sleep – anxious about the smallest movement or noise, about him making it through the night and what the change in our life would mean for us when we left for home the next morning responsible for a new life.  Ryan and I were lucky though, because we had each other.  Even if it only meant catnaps, having someone else there to share the load meant that the anxiety was lessened at least a little bit.

             The same goes for us here today.  We are called to wake up…to stay alert and aware of the ways God comes into our lives even today and calls us to share those experiences with others beyond these walls.  We are called to renewed energy and health as we turn our attention – our thoughts, words, and deeds – back to God.   But we are not called to face this challenge alone.  We are called to be on our Advent Nightwatch, awaiting the arrival of new hope, peace, joy and love in the form of a tiny baby, as a community – sharing the load with one another, challenging each other and encouraging one another to be perfect in the eyes of God, engaging one another in the questions and concerns of our faith (especially as we begin our conversations about what it means to live into our Open and Affirming identity in this place), and looking forward to the fine celebration that will come as we near the arrival of the Prince of Peace once again.  And most importantly we must remember that, along with one another, we are accompanied on our journey by our loving, merciful, and gracious God who will not let us walk alone.

             My prayer for all of us this day is that we might take time during this Advent season to examine ourselves, to share openly and honestly with God and with each other, to grow as disciples, and that we might remain awake and alive – with a faith that is renewed and energized with each additional act of love and candle that burns.  May we be renewed and restored by our God who calls us to be all that we are capable of – striving to be examples of a simple and yet abundant devotion and perfection in an otherwise imperfect world through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.