Keep Awake

a sermon by Pastor Sonja Dalglish for FPC Weslaco

November 27, 2011

Isaiah 64:1-9, Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19, I Corinthians 1:3-9, Mark 13:24-37

 

Introduction

There is a whole genre of movies now that did not exist when I was growing up — zombie movies.  I was reminded of one of these – Shawn of the Dead – which is a humorous take on zombies.  At the beginning of the film we see people walking around in a stupor headed for work, or working at jobs that seem to require no soul.  It is hard for the hero to notice the danger of zombies because so many people already look like they are passing through their lives like the walking dead.

 

Our Gospel reading reminds me how important it is for us to wake up and realize the importance of our lives.  Wake up and notice!!  Keep Awake!  Something important is going to happen.

 

The Mark Passage -

We begin a new church year today.  This is the year that we will read the Gospel of Mark.  We begin the year with the last week of Jesus’ life.  An odd place to begin, perhaps, unless you realize that we do not start with celebration but with the preparation for celebration.  Something important is coming and we don’t want to miss it by walking around like the living dead.

 

In the four weeks of Advent, we will be waiting and watching and preparing for God to come to us – not only as the baby Jesus, but as the returning Lord Jesus at the end of time.  We want to be ready.  Christians, it is said, do a lot of waiting and watching.  Jesus warns us to watch and listen for even he does not know when he will return.

 

While we wait and watch, preparing, in this in between time – between Jesus coming as a baby and his coming again at the end of time, we are asked to be vigilant.  Jesus lifts up four times, the evening, midnight, cock crow, and dawn, that will coincide with special times in his life in the last week of his life.  He warns us to watch.  Something important is about to happen.  We need to know what to look for, how to notice when God gives us a chance to respond with faith.

 

Rev. Fred Craddock gave a wonderful example in one of his sermons of what this watchfulness meant in his own life as a Christian.

 

“He had stopped at a small diner somewhere in the South to refresh himself with an early breakfast and some coffee. He had been driving through the night and now it was getting close to dawn. So before he got too sleepy, he stopped for a while.

As he waited for his breakfast order to come, Craddock spied a black man who had just come in and had sat down on a stool up by the lunch counter. The diner’s manager then began to treat the black man with a contempt that was clearly borne of deep-seated racism. The manager was rude, insulting, demeaning toward his black guest. As he sat in his booth a little ways away from the counter, Craddock wrestled with saying something to chide this manager for his shameful, racist conduct. Eventually the black man quickly slurped down some coffee and then fled the diner. Craddock meanwhile remained silent.  ‘I didn’t say anything,’ he confessed. ‘I quietly paid my bill, left the diner, and headed back to my car. But as I walked through the parking lot, somewhere in the distance, I heard a rooster crow.’ ”

 

How many times have we denied Christ?  How many times have we betrayed the love of our neighbor?

 

 

Conclusion

Keep awake.  Because we do not know when Jesus will come, we must be vigilant.  We are faced each day with possibilities to respond with courage and love.  Jesus reminds us with his words of moments of great significance to watch for in his life that he shares with his disciples.  Evening brings the Passover Meal that we call the Lord’s Supper and the exit of Judas to betray him.  Midnight brings prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus’ arrest.  The cock crowing brings a moment of recognition and denial of identity.  The dawn brings fear of an empty tomb and the risen Lord.  Keep awake.  Something is happening.

 

In our very busy culture, anything that slows us down and helps us to recognize that our lives are sacred brings us hope.  As we light the Candle of Hope today, we remember to ‘keep awake’ or to wake up and realize the cosmic importance of our lives.  We are connected to God who surrounds us with grace and bestows gifts on this community.

 

During this Advent, this darkest time of the year, we light candles.  Today, we light the candle of hope.  My hope is that I can wake up and stay awake, that I notice the opportunities in my life to respond faithfully to God.  My hope is for love, courage, and strength to be God’s person in this world.  I hope that we are an odd people showing love and compassion to everyone regardless of race or class.  I hope to be part of a people who are courageous enough when the cock crows to declare that we are followers of Christ, to stand beside those the world puts down, the stranger, the outcast, the neighbor.  What is your hope?  What does this candle mean to you?

 

What is God’s hope for us?  Keep awake.

 

———–

The Fred Craddock illustration is from Scott Hoezee via The website for This Week at the Center for the Excellence in Preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary.

 

 

Gospel Mark 13:24-37

 

²⁴“But in those days, after that suffering,

the sun will be darkened,

and the moon will not give its light,

²⁵  and the stars will be falling from heaven,

and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

²⁶Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. ²⁷Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

²⁸“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. ³⁰Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. ³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

³²“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. ³⁴It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. ³⁵Therefore, keep awake — for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, ³⁶or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. ³⁷And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”
Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, November 27, 2011

the First Sunday of Advent (Year B)

 

First Reading Isaiah 64:1-9

¹   O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,

so that the mountains would quake at your presence —

²   as when fire kindles brushwood

and the fire causes water to boil —

to make your name known to your adversaries,

so that the nations might tremble at your presence

³   When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,

you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

⁴   From ages past no one has heard,

no ear has perceived,

no eye has seen any God besides you,

who works for those who wait for him.

⁵   You meet those who gladly do right,

those who remember you in your ways.

But you were angry, and we sinned;

because you hid yourself we transgressed.

⁶   We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth

We all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

⁷   There is no one who calls on your name,

or attempts to take hold of you;

for you have hidden your face from us,

and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity

⁸   Yet, O LORD, you are our Father;

we are the clay, and you are our potter;

we are all the work of your hand.

⁹   Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD,

and do not remember iniquity forever.

Now consider, we are all your people.

 

Psalm Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

¹   Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,

you who lead Joseph like a flock!

You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth

²        before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.

Stir up your might,

and come to save us!

³   Restore us, O God;

let your face shine, that we may be saved.

⁴   O LORD God of hosts,

how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?

⁵   You have fed them with the bread of tears,

and given them tears to drink in full measure.

⁶   You make us the scorn of our neighbors;

our enemies laugh among themselves.

⁷   Restore us, O God of hosts;

let your face shine, that we may be saved.

¹⁷  But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,

the one whom you made strong for yourself.

¹⁸   Then we will never turn back from you;

give us life, and we will call on your name.

¹⁹  Restore us, O LORD God of hosts;

let your face shine, that we may be saved.

 

Second Reading 1 Corinthians 1:3-9

³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind — ⁶just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you — ⁷so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.