Isaiah 64.1-9, Mark 13.24-end
A few weeks ago, when the
Prime Minister reshuffled his cabinet, there was quite a bit of hoo-ha about his
new “minister without portfolio”– Esther McVey. In a supposedly “off the
record” briefing to the Sun newspaper a nameless “Whitehall insider” described
her as the “minister for common sense” and said she had been brought in
to advance the government’s “anti-woke” agenda. They plainly assumed that
being “anti-woke” would be a vote winner, at least with the Sun’s readership.
“Woke” is a word that has
become very loaded in recent years, often used as an insult, said with a sneer.
For Christians, though, wherever we stand politically, this negativity about
“wokeness” poses a bit of a problem because in today’s Gospel reading Jesus tells
us very clearly and urgently that we should “stay awake”, and it’s probably
this passage which gave rise to the slogan “stay woke” in the first place.
It's a slogan that’s been in
use in the Black American community as far back as the 1920s, a community that
was historically steeped in the scriptures, and it has a double meaning. It was
partly a warning to be aware of the danger you might be in if a white person
thought you’d stepped out of line. You had to “stay woke”, be vigilant to what
they might be thinking. But “staying woke” was also about being aware that to
be treated like this was not ok. If discrimination is embedded in society,
people often don’t see it or name it, just as a fish isn’t aware of the water
it swims in. If you are on the receiving end of prejudice constantly it’s
really easy to internalise it, to start thinking it’s your fault or that “it’s
just the way things are”. That’s true not just of racism, but of any kind of
injustice.
History is littered with
things we now look back on with horror.
How can people have thought
that slavery was a good thing? And yet they did.
How can people have thought
that women weren’t capable of voting? And yet they did.
How can people have thought
it was ok to send children up chimneys to clean them, or down mines to haul coal trucks? And yet they
did. And of course, in many parts of the world these things are still
happening.
Here in 21st
century Western Europe, though, we look back at these things and, “How could
people have thought this was ok?”, but how will history judge us. What are we
closing our eyes to that future generations will be staggered at? Over
consumption? It’s good to have our bring and swap table here today to highlight
that. Environmental degradation? Global inequality? Who knows? It’s the stuff
we aren’t seeing that is the problem…
“ Staying woke” - “waking up”
– means opening our eyes to whatever damages God’s creation, which includes
ourselves, and taking it seriously, but on its own that’s not enough. In fact,
on its own it can be profoundly dangerous. If we only wake up to the problems,
we end up chronically anxious, depressed, swamped by hopelessness. One reason
why we can’t bear to look at what’s in front of our eyes is that we don’t think
we can do anything about it; it’s too big, too complicated, too overwhelming
for finite, frail, flawed human beings like us. And we’re right to think that.
It is. And that’s why Jesus tells us in this Gospel passage that we also need
to keep our eyes open, to stay awake, for the coming of God to us, for that
moment when God shows up in our midst, maybe in small ways – as small as the
budding of leaves on a fig tree – but which make all the difference. Jesus’
words here are meant to be words of encouragement Yes, stay awake to the needs of the world, he
says, because it is there, in the need that
you will find God. Stay awake to the sorrow, because it is there you will find
his joy. Stay awake to the brokenness because it is there you’ll find his
healing.
The prophet Isaiah calls on
God “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down” – Pull your finger
out, God. Where are you? He cries. But by
the end of the passage he has come to realise that God was there all the time.
What felt like his absence was really the effect of his people turning away,
forgetting to look for him, closing their eyes and falling asleep to him. “There
is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you…” he
says. No wonder they weren’t finding him; they weren’t looking for him. But
despite that, as he says in the end, “we are all your people”. That was always
true; they just needed to realise it. For Christians, of course, the ultimate
way in which God shows up in our midst, the ultimate way in which we can know
him is in Christ. Where are you, God? We cry. Here I am, says Jesus…
So how do we “wake up” to Jesus,
Emmanuel, the God who is with us? Isaiah says that “you meet those who gladly
do right”. We can find God as we work for justice and put things right. Habits
of prayer matter too – calling on his name. And in the Gospel reading we are
reminded that we don’t have to look for God on our own. The doorkeeper in
Jesus’ parable is part of a household, a community. He has his role to play,
his job to do – literally sitting at the door and keeping watch – but others
have different roles to play in making sure the household is ready to welcome
their master when he returns. We look out for God best when we look out for him
in the company of others.
“Stay woke”. That’s what
Advent calls us to do. Not to close our eyes to the issues we need to address
because we despair of them, but to open our eyes to the presence of God, to his
love, which heals and transforms and empowers us.
In Advent – the word means
“coming” – we think about the coming of
God in the past, in the baby in the manger. And we think about the
coming of God in the future, looking forward
to a time when God will make “a new heaven and a new earth”. But also,
and most importantly, we think about the God who comes to us now, in the
present, the God who shows up, if we have eyes to see him, every day, planting
his seeds of love and courage in the hearts of anyone willing to receive them.
Am I woke? I sincerely hope
so, but if not, my prayer is that God will wake me – and all of us – up this
Advent, that he will wake us up to his glory, that he will wake us up to his
glory, that he will wake us up to his peace and his joy.
Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment