Keep Awake! Text: John 6:60-69 Dr. Stephen D. Jones, preaching First Baptist Church, KCMO July 19, 2015

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1 Keep Awake! Text: John 6:60-69 Dr. Stephen D. Jones, preaching First Baptist Church, KCMO July 19, 2015 This sermon is a preacher s dream! Instead of saying, Why don t you just go ahead and take a nap?!, my sermon title is Keep Awake! My mother and father sang in their church choir for many years and Sunday was my father s only day off during the summer season, and occasionally he would doze off during a sermon, to the consternation of my mother. I would often see her glance over just to make sure that dad was awake. In one church, a parishioner dozed off during the sermon. The preached asked, Will all who want to go to heaven, please stand? All stood, except for the sleeping parishioner. After they sat down, the preacher asked, Well, will all who want to go to hell please stand? Someone suddenly dropped a hymnbook and the sleeping man jumped to his feet and stood sheepishly before the pastor. He mumbled, Well, preacher, I don t know what we re voting on, but it appears like you and I are the only ones in favor of it. I can t claim this sermon title for myself, because, believe it or not, it is something Jesus often told the crowds and his disciples. But it was also a message from the Psalmist who said, I will sing and make melody, O God. Awake my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn. Psalm 57:7-8; 108:1-2 And a message from Isaiah, Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord! Awake as in the days of old! (51:9) And Jesus said, Keep awake, for you do not know the day your Lord is coming. But know this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. (Mt 24:42-44) On another occasion, Jesus said, What I say to you I say to all: keep awake! (Mk 13:37)

2 Is the first spiritual challenge of life: to keep awake? Surely there is nothing wrong with restful sleep. We were created with a need for sleep. Try staying awake for 2-3 days at a time, and you ll quickly learn what it feels like to be a zombie! But Jesus means more than not falling asleep. He is urging us to keep alert! To keep our eyes wide open for the possibilities around us! To keep watchful for God s Presence. He even told us where to look whatever you do to the homeless, the alien, the hungry, the incarcerated, you do to me! I m with those folks! We cannot deny that there is a strong urge to go numb, to shut down, to not really pay attention. We may not be fully asleep, but neither are we fully awake. We may have one eye closed and only one eye open in order to shut out the world around us as much as possible while still being able to function. Often we are distracted by issues that have nothing to do with our fulfillment. Often, our minds are clouded by false or superficial worries that keep us from being soul-fully awake! We may fantasize that life is easy for some people. Maybe for Bill Gates, or Oprah Winfrey, or the Dalai Lama, or Desmond Tutu. But life can be hard for everyone at times. And we become intent on finding the easiest path, the road of least resistance, where we can pay the least amount of attention to what is happening around us. Who wants more struggle? So, we shut down; we close down; we stop looking. I have enough problems of my own without taking on the problems of an undocumented work or a person incarcerated for minor drug possession. We are mindful of Robert Frost s immortal poem, Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry that I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth. Then, took the other, as just as fair And having perhaps the better claim Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same. And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. (the Road not Taken, 1920, Mountain Interval)

3 To stay awake and alert is the harder, narrower path of which Jesus spoke. Through Jeremiah (29:11f), God said, For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for you, you will find me if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your future God is staying awake! God is on the alert! God is watching for those rare moments when we turn with receptivity and say, I m right here, Lord. Come beside me. Whenever we say those words, I assure you, God will not be asleep. The killing of the nine members of Mother Immanuel AME Church in Charleston stirred the nation. It woke us up. So many of us who have come to tolerate persons filled with racial hatred and superiority were stunned that a young man, who had been clutching a Confederate flag, would walk into a prayer group, be accepted with respect and hospitality, and then after an hour take out a gun and kill nine people including the pastor! How can this happen? It forced us to acknowledge that the Confederate Flag is not a symbol of someone s heritage it is a symbol of the racial divide, a symbol of white superiority, a symbol of racism, a symbol of longing for a time when treason against our nation forced us into a civil war. Confederate flags fell out of use after the Civil War and did not return to popularity until after the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling, desegregating schools. We know of hate groups we read about them on the edges of our society and we want to ignore them -- but once the Confederate flag was taken down at the South Carolina Statehouse, our President was greeted this past week in Oklahoma by people waving Confederate flags. And, over the past several weeks, black churches across the South have been burned which has been an historic way to punish black people. Are we paying attention? Are we fully awake? Are we aware that all of us came to this land as immigrants, as refugees? The Native Americans are the only true natives. Some of our ancestors came here on slave ships. And others of us, or our ancestors, came to these shores in hopes of a better life. Have you thought about many immigrant children in the USA who cannot access their rights as citizens? Are we paying attention? Are we fully awake? Are you aware that nearly every time we gather here for worship, there are spiritual seekers in our midst? They didn t come here out of habit, or because they know anyone here. They don t come here to be seen by others. They d probably prefer to be invisible. Yet, they come here, almost every Sunday, because they seek a place of spiritual belonging and the way we welcome them could make all of the difference. Are we paying attention? Are we fully awake? Are you able to read others around you? Can you read the sub-text in the lives of people around you? Can you detect a small tear forming in the corner of someone s eye? Can you hear a

4 hesitation in someone s voice? Can you sense when someone is trying really hard not to show evidence that their life is falling apart? Are we paying attention? Are we fully awake? God is speaking, right? God is whispering in our souls, right? Are we listening? Are we paying attention? Are we fully awake? God is in nature, right? God is in a flower in full bloom. God is in the fragrant rose. God is in the grass freshly mowed. Are we paying attention? Are we fully awake? God is actively present within our congregation, right? God is moving among us, do you agree? Are we paying attention? Are we fully awake? There are neighbors, co-workers, friends, relatives, people all around us in need of a positive word of hope. In need of affirmation. In need of encouragement. Are we paying attention? Are we fully awake? There are children at Bethel who cannot afford school supplies. There are children at Red Bridge in need of a tutor or mentor. There are many children who have not heard the incredible story of Jesus birth. Are we paying attention? Are we fully awake? In 1833, Mormons were pouring into Jackson County and the city of Independence. Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormons, had visited the County. Conflict was real between the Mormons and the rest of the community. Wild rumors circulated that the Mormons were armed for a lifeor-death battle and that the Indians may take their side. A mob destroyed a Mormon press and newspaper in Independence. A fight broke out in November, 1833, in real warlike style leaving several killed and wounded on both sides. On that day, Isaac McCoy, the Baptist missionary to Kansas City, went to Independence to help ease the situation. McCoy had his eye on the Native Americans, both the local tribes and those from the East coming into the region. But McCoy was also paying attention and realized that the conflict in Independence could spill into the entire region and involve the Indians. He wrote, Two guns were at one time cocked for the purpose of shooting a Mormon, when I rushed forward and prevented it. I had to use similar efforts afterwards to prevent one from being beaten with a stick, and another with a gun. A week later, at a meeting with the town s influential citizens, McCoy presented a resolution to defuse the situation. (p. 161, An Indian Canaan by George Schultz) McCoy was paying attention. He was fully awake. A church with spiritual vitality is awake. It is ready. It is alert. It is watchful. It is receptive to what is happening around it and how to make things on earth, as in heaven. I m less excited about the church engaging in long-range planning as I am in the church being in a constant state of readiness. When the Spirit moves, when God calls, when the door of opportunity opens, we must be alert and ready! We must be nimble and light-footed, not bureaucratic or tardy. Jesus did no advanced planning with his disciples when his death was imminent. Instead, he prepared them to be ready for whatever the future holds, and that small group of disciples went on to change the world!

5 Jesus words, spoken so long ago, offer a clarion call to us as well, What I say to you I say to all: keep awake! (Mk 13:37). Amen.

I Did It My Way Abraham s Story: A Dramatic Monologue Genesis {text: Hebrews 11:1, 6, 8-13; 12:1-2a} 1

I Did It My Way Abraham s Story: A Dramatic Monologue Genesis 12-25 {text: Hebrews 11:1, 6, 8-13; 12:1-2a} 1 Good morning! My name is Abraham... that s right, Abraham. My name isn t used much anymore,