Sermon:
Keep awake and sleep well
Mark
13:24-37, 1 Advent
The
Rev. Shelby Ochs Owen
Trinity
Church, Staunton, VA
Let’s
go back a couple of thousand years to Mark, the writer of this
Gospel, writing his account about Jesus. In today’s reading Mark
paints a very strange picture of the second coming of Christ. In
this passage, sometimes referred to as the “little apocalypse,”
as opposed to the “big apocalypse” in Revelation, the sun will be
darkened, the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall
from the heaven. Taken in its proper context this image is not to be
read literally but metaphorically. Marcus Borg, well-known biblical
scholar, says that “metaphorical meaning of language is its more
than literal, more than factual
meaning.”1
Here the meaning behind these cosmic images is the
end of the world as we know it
(recalling the famous R.E.M. song from the 1980’s).
In
Mark’s gospel Jesus is clear on this - that the end of the
established world will
come; what Jesus is also clear about is that no one except the Father
knows when
this will happen. And three times in this short passage the listener
is exhorted to “keep awake” or “keep alert” during the time
between Jesus’s departure and his return. In our Eucharistic
liturgy we proclaim that Christ has died, Christ is risen and Christ
will come again. We are living in that in between time. And while
we wait we are to keep awake. Are we never to sleep? For what are we
keeping awake? Again, the meaning behind Jesus’ admonition is to
pay attention to God in our midst and to do the things that allow us
to be present to God- to believe, to pray, to put our trust in the
Word that will not pass away even though heaven and earth will pass
away, and to do the work that God calls us to, the work of justice,
the work of forgiveness, the work of love.
Now
let’s go back just a couple of days. It is Wednesday afternoon,
and I have just received a Caringbridge update from my good friend,
whose husband has a debilitating, progressive disease. Caringbridge
is a web site available to those who are experiencing an illness and
their friends so that they can connect easily with current
information. Today they have just gone back to the E.R. My friend
is exhausted. They have been to the Emergency Room and spent the
night in the hospital too many times to count in the past 12 months.
Ups and downs; lows and highs. Good news and then difficult news and
then o.k. news, but their underlying message in their Caringbridge
post is always the same, that God is present and at work in their
lives. Sandi and Bob have tremendous faith in God, and they are
instruments of God’s healing grace, even from the hospital bed;
they have actually been directly involved in healing ministry for
decades. And now they are very tired, and one of them is very, very
sick. Focused on this passage in Mark where Jesus is calling his
followers to “keep awake,” one must wonder what in the world God
is saying to these two people. They both need sleep; they need rest.
What would this gospel message be for them?
In
their updates over the months Sandi and Bob have been the bearers of
the gospel message throughout: They pray for others and themselves,
they ask for prayers, and they believe that God answers prayer. They
engage the hospital staff and talk about Jesus and somehow they
constantly encounter folks in their daily experience who bring Jesus’
healing love to them. They laugh and joke for theirs is a very
joyful faith and they attract others’ joy. They also allow
themselves to cry; the transplant Bob needs does not seem to be
imminent and times are often challenging, yet always they are with
hope. For both Sandi and Bob know that whether they live or whether
they die they belong to God, that the love of Jesus is ever present.
They are clearly awake to God’s presence, clearly awake to their
call, clearly awake spreading the love of Christ, clearly awake as
God’s healing instruments even as patient in the ER. They need
rest and sleep tonight. “Guide us waking O Lord and guard us
sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest
in peace.” (Compline, BCP, p.135)
This
first Sunday in Advent we are called to watch for the coming of
Christ. One of our kneeler cushions here at the altar rail reminds
us, “Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.” The
presence of the Lord IS in this place. Can we be awake to God’s
presence? We are at the beginning of a very potentially loud and
busy season, which in and of itself is not a bad thing, yet sometimes
we become more awake to the divine when we slow down, stop talking so
much and turn down the ambient noise. When we are not running so
fast past our neighbor we might actually see the tears running down
her cheeks and offer her an ear or a shoulder. When we slow down we
might actually feel God’s nudge to forgive the friend who offended
us last summer. When we are quiet with God we might let that still,
small voice of truth and love penetrate our heart and mind that frees
us up to do what makes us whole. When we have spent quiet time with
God and allow that peace that passes all understanding to settle
within us, we can take that peace to the noisy department store where
we shop, take that peace to the Christmas party where we might not be
feeling outwardly all that confident, we can take that peace to the
family gathering and share God’s love.
Later
today at the end of a busy weekend for many, here at Trinity we will
have an Advent Silent Retreat and I invite you all to come. I invite
you to bring your children who may be ready to be still and silent
with God. Beginning at 5:00p.m. and ending at 8, every half hour we
will have a person do a 2-5 minute reading or reflection followed by
silence. Healing prayer will also be offered from 7:30 to 8:00p.m.
You can come for 15 minutes or for the entire three hours. This
retreat is intended as a window of quiet and stillness with God, an
occasion to consider that “Surely the Lord is in this place” and
an opportunity to awaken the spirit to the still, small voice of the
divine. If you cannot attend this retreat, I invite you to make your
own retreat, even if it is one minute long every day during Advent at
home. It can be a time just to devote yourself to the presence of
God, that the deep peace and stillness that God offers may be taken
with you wherever you go, and that you may be awake to God and his
purposes in you even in and especially in the busyness of life. At
the noisiest of parties, in the deepest places of distress and pain,
at moments of greatest stress, may you be awake to God’s presence
and awake to his love. “Guide us waking O Lord and guard us
sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest
in peace.” (Compline, BCP, p.135)
Amen.
1
The Gospel of Mark, by Marcus J. Borg, p.8
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