Don't You Dare Turn Away: Advent I Sermon

Don’t You Dare Turn Away

A Sermon Preached by Rob Lee

Mark 13:24-37

FBC|WJ

Will you pray with me?

God may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be pleasing in your sight oh God our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

I am a basket case of anxiety. Now you may wonder how that’s different from any other day in my life, but nonetheless this week I have anxiety on top of anxiety. You see in the scheme of things I shouldn’t be worried; in the scheme of things what I’m anxious over pales in comparison to the realities of our world today. Even still anxiety has overtaken my life. You’ve all heard it from me before, some time before December 19^th, I will hear from Duke Divinity School regarding my acceptance or lack thereof from that prestigious university.

            Now some of you who know me may feel like I am a broken record. While children have sugarplums dancing in their heads, I have the blue devils dancing in mine. I’m pretty sure my girlfriend Stephanie has watched me flip out every time the phone rings. I’m pretty sure my mom and dad are ready to move on with their lives and not hear about Duke as much as they are right now. But for me, this is one of the most important moments in my life thus far. This is the reality in which I live, and for right now, I’m having to be patient and wait. But honestly at this point it’s keeping me up at night.

            Today we hear eschatological words from Jesus. Eschatology, a theological term for the study of the end things, but today my favorite part centers around the last part of the passage. Jesus says, “Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.  It 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. Therefore, 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, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” I love how one translation puts it, “Keep your eyes open.”

            Keep awake. In our go, go, go culture it can be hard to stay awake and keep watch. But I’ve been especially mindful this week that God calls us to keep our eyes open, wide open to the complexities of this world. And this time around ground zero for where God is calling us to look is Ferguson, Missouri.

            For those of you who haven’t turned on the television this week, Darren Wilson, the white police officer who shot an unarmed black teenager wasn’t indicted for his actions, regardless of what you think of what happened, racial tensions are at an all-time high with looting and protests in the streets and threats of Ku Klux Klan activity. This has been a rough week for race relations. But where has God been in all this?

            God has been pleading with us to keep our eyes open, to keep awake and see the horrors of systemic racism and inequality in our society. You see Advent is a time when we are called to see the terrible things that go on in our world.

            Right here at home, I think of how this is playing out, I think of Kelly Vannoy and Michael Sexton who every day keep their eyes open at the Sharing Center to homelessness and poverty right here in our back yard. I think of Laura McClure and her ability to keep her eyes open to the pain our world feels and her combatting that by working with Operation Christmas Child. I think of our youth who every year keep their eyes open to pain of a community like Birmingham or Washington DC every time they go on a mission trip.

            Perhaps this year, this Advent season as we wait for the crescendo of our year at Christmas we could begin to keep our eyes open. Perhaps we could stay awake. Maybe just maybe we could fight the injustices we face with an Advent hope. A hope that says nothing, NOTHING can keep us from the love and grace of the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

            You see as the text suggests, we are all along the watchtower keeping our eyes wide open to the hope of the incarnation of God. The fullness of our beings will be made complete in the hope of this time of year. In a world hell-bent on commercialization of this holiday, we as the church must keep awake to the coming glory of Christmas.

            You see the problem with Ferguson, Missouri and other places of violence in our world is that we as a people don’t let our hearts break. Why you might ask? We’ve become numb to the problems of our society. But let me assure you that the God we know, the God we have our hope in, God’s heart is breaking. So my prayer for you this season is that the things of this earth that break God’s heart might break yours as well. Keep awake dear people, keep awake.

            This season don’t you dare turn away. Don’t you dare fall asleep because ultimately who else will face the problems of this world with the love and compassion that Christ offers. For this season, the incarnation means that we are the hands and feet of Christ.

            But where is the hope in this sermon? Of course it’s the Sunday of Advent where we celebrate hope. Our hope is that our hearts don’t have to stay broken. The reality of the incarnation is that God loved us so much that God incarnated God’s self into humanity’s form. God came to our backyard, and we should welcome him into our hearts yet again this season.

            Dear people of God I wouldn’t be a good preacher if I didn’t address the rest of the text, especially this week. Jesus is telling us to keep awake because the end is near. Christ reminds us that Christ had died, Christ is risen, and that Christ will come again. What would you do if the world would end tomorrow? Martin Luther was once asked what would he do if the world would end tomorrow, and he said he would plant a tree. I’ve been thinking and if I knew the world would end tomorrow, I’d give my family and friends a big hug and I’d go down to a place like Ferguson, Missouri and I’d plant a tree. I’d plant a tree and remind whoever would listen that God is still God. That in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free. I would hope that in some small way, that tree would stand as the world ended and Christ would know that there is still hope for humanity.

            Where would you plant your tree? Where would you find your hope if the world were to end tomorrow, you see with the promise that world could end at any time we have the duty of investing in today. We have the duty of keeping awake to the problems of our world because the end of our time here on earth could come at any moment.

            Every Christmas Eve I stay up and watch the Christmas mass from Vatican City, as Calvin Miller says I’m the Pope of First Baptist so I might as well do my religious duty and tune in to watch the other pope do his duty. It lasts forever and is often times goes late into the night. It often makes me tired and in need of sleep come Christmas morning. But regardless of how tired I am, it’s worth it because I know I have seen the incarnation of God here at First Baptist and at Vatican City.

            As Christmas is on the horizon, as we reach the hope of this season, keep awake. Keep awake and know that God is in the business of using you to change the world. This is the hope of this season. Know that in the economy of God, racism and sexism the things we’ve witnessed this week along with all the other “isms” will ultimately be eliminated.  

             Duke Divinity School has made me anxious these past few weeks and especially now. But I was reminded of the beauty of this season by none other than Pastor Michael, you see Michael and I have a deep relationship and he always keeps me on the right path. He’s one of the greatest mentors I’ve ever had, and I’m thankful for his friendship. I texted him one night and told him about my anxiety, my lack of sleep, and my fear of what would happen if I didn’t get in. Michael texted me back and said, “I know you are anxious, but you are going to have to continue to exercise patience and genuinely trust in the peace of Christ. Duke is not the essence of your identity.”

            First Baptist Church, I echo those words today. As we keep awake and keep our eyes open to the terrors of this world, we’re going to have to genuinely trust in the peace of Christ, and remember that Duke Divinity School, that our jobs, that our fears and anxieties are not the essence of our identity, God is. God is the essence of who we are and who we are called to become. So keep awake, keep awake and know that God is still God. Thanks be to God. Amen.