Here we are, the start
of a new church year
—beginning the season of Advent
—our time preparing to meet God in the Flesh!
Time to get ready for that thing we can never truly be ready for
—Christmas
—God with us.
A time that also starts
a new lectionary season
—for the last year we’ve been ensconced in Luke’s Gospel,
with its focus on the universality of the Christian message,
an eye to wealth and poverty,
and a deep heart for the Lost.
Now we move to the Gospel in a different key
—Matthew’s message
—often called “The Church’s Gospel”…
it is a message that insists Christianity is in continuity with God’s
past actions,
and a message that doesn’t pull punches when naming conflicts within
the Church.
In other words, Matthew’s Gospel is written as good news for
-a Church recently thrown out of their Jewish community
-AND experiencing bad behavior and factionalism within its own ranks.
In the midst of this maelstrom,
we are met with a message:
Keep awake! Stay awake! Be ready!
Let us pray
(To be clear I’m being very blunt in today’s sermon
—I’m laying it on thick
—punctuating the big bold points made in Matthew’s Gospel
—so you’ll be able to hear it all year,
when I’m treating the text more gently)
Keep awake! Stay awake! Be ready!
Rip Van Winkle slept
through the American Revolution, and Matthew warns us of something even more devastating
—sleeping through what God is up to.
Do not be oblivious to God’s doings,
do not remain ignorant of the Gospel transpiring in our very midst!
Do not assume that God acted in the past,
and now everything since is post-script.
Instead, be aware that
God’s creation & God’s saving,
those things celebrated in Hebrew Scripture,
are still happening!
Right in front of our eyes,
Joy and rescue!
Be ready for it! Expect it! Trust God!
Keep awake! Stay awake! Be ready!
Asleep and alone, you
will not notice
when your cigarette butt falls and catches your couch on fire.
Likewise, you drift off to sleep outside,
and you’ll wake up alone in dangerous woods at night.
But awake!
You gather for a celebration feast.
Awake, you are the seasoning in the meal, bring out its flavor.
Awake, you are a candle at the meal table, illuminating the goodness of
community!
Keep awake! Stay awake! Be ready!
Don’t embrace deeds and
words—habits
—that are violent, false, or angry,
you will be sleepwalking into a life that is terrible.
Instead, be awake to the
tenderness of existence,
in thought, words, and deed
be gentle, truthful, and patient.
Keep awake! Stay awake! Be ready!
If you are asleep, you
won’t notice your hypocrisy,
those masks you sometimes put on, will be harder and harder to take off…
until they aren’t masks at all.
You’ll turn to outward piety that you can brag about,
instead of the hard interior work that makes right the soul.
You’ll embrace mottos and scruples
—missing meaning and somewhere along the line,
you’ll lose sight of God,
because God is doing a new thing,
and you’re caught snoozing.
So be awake
—like a father sneaking out of bed and up into the attic to hide the Christmas
gifts he bought for the family.
Awake to the gifts God has given you
—prayer, generosity, and moderation
—those hidden treasures that are priceless,
but evaporate if you start to show them off.
Keep awake! Stay awake! Be ready!
Be awake, because sleepy
people
start puffing themselves up with titles,
and putting people on pedestals,
from which they will inevitably fall.
Call no one Great, aren’t we all siblings?
Call no one Father, because we’re all God’s Children.
Call no one Teacher, because we are all Disciples, student, of
Christ.
Keep awake! Stay awake! Be ready!
You sleepers—you are
like weeds,
growing undisturbed,
but will be heavily disturbed in the end,
when the reaper comes.
You sleepers—you are like rotten fish,
smelling the place up,
you’ll be used for chum and bait on the next fishing trip.
You sleepers—you are like goats,
unfortunately you will be separated out by the Good Shepherd,
so you don’t hurt the least of these.
Be awake, be wheat,
brought in and made into a beautiful loaf of bread,
served and shared, sustaining the whole community.
Be awake, be fresh fish,
multiplied in our Lord’s basket, feeding the 5,000.
Be awake, sheep shorn to keep the cold warm,
little Ewe lamb, so loved by the Shepherd,
sibling of the Lamb of God, who is taking away the sin of the whole world.
Keep awake! Stay awake! Be ready!
Wake up! God is doing a
new thing!
Wake up! The Dead are raised!
Wake up! The tomb could not hold him.
Wake up! Our risen Lord is sending us out!
Go! Make Disciples!
Baptize them in the Triune name!
I am with you always!
Keep awake! Stay awake! Be ready!
Amen.
