A Season of Awakening!
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Bob Henry
December 5, 2021
When the light shines, it exposes even the dark and shadowy things
and turns them into pure reflections of light. This is why they sing,
Awake, you sleeper!
Rise from your grave,
And the Anointed One will shine on you.
So be careful how you live; be mindful of your steps. Don’t run around like idiots as the rest of the world does. Instead, walk as the wise! Make the most of every living and breathing moment because these are evil times.
Many faith traditions during this time of the year celebrate what they call the season of Advent. Since Quakers do not follow the liturgical church year, this may seem foreign to us.
The actual word, “Advent,” is a Latin word which means “coming.” As I said a couple of weeks ago, I grew up in liturgical churches which all celebrated these four weeks leading up to Christmas day as a season of preparation for the coming of Jesus and his birth.
This included church sanctuaries arrayed in royal purples or blue for the “Coming King” and an Advent Wreath with four candles to count down the Sundays until the big celebration.
Many churches (not just liturgical or sacramental churches) observe Advent including many Quakers. Actually, the Quaker Meeting I pastored in Oregon celebrated Advent each year.
Taking a moment to consider the season of Advent, I have realized it is one of the most Quakerly seasons in the liturgical church year, because of it’s focus on expectant waiting and preparation - two things that we, Quakers, consider very important to our faith.
But as I have continued to ponder this time of expectant waiting and preparation this year, I have had a another word that begins with the letter “A” on my mind.
That word is “awakening.”
Sure, the religious world has had an affinity for the word “awakening” – especially with two protestant revivals focused on heightened piety called the First and Second Great Awakenings.
Yet, if you take some time and look into the definition of “awakening” you will come across this important description, which I believe may describe this time leading up to Christmas even more appropriately.
The definition says that awakening is “coming into existence or awareness.”
What if we looked at the next couple weeks as a Season of Awakening for our individual lives and the life of our Meeting?
It seems appropriate when thinking about Jesus being born into this world. Jesus’ life and ministry would bring into existence a new awareness of our world.
The life of Jesus would help awaken the world to a new way of seeing. It says in scripture that he was reconciling the people to God and to their neighbors and making them aware of the importance of unconditional love.
As well, this coming of Jesus was shedding a new light on things. We often refer to Jesus as the Light of the World. Jesus was born into this world to shed light on our dark places and to awaken the light within each of us.
What if each Christmas Light that we decorate our homes and trees with and each candle that is lit was a reminder of Jesus’ life and ministry and how we too are called to live that awakened life in this world?
It just might have us seeing our lives, and especially, our neighbors from a different perspective.
This was exactly what Jesus spoke of in his first sermon in his hometown synagogue. Listen to his words as he quoted from Isaiah.
God’s Spirit is on me;
He’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
To announce, “This is God’s year to act!”
It seems clear - Jesus was announcing an awakening!
Jesus did not just awaken the people of his day to see just the prisoners, the blind, the burdened and battered - that was only the beginning. Jesus would go on to awaken them to the poor, the widows, the orphans, the women, the outcasts, the neglected, and the people from other cultures and races - even the despised Samaritans or what soon he would categorize as all the gentiles (or non-Jews).
Folks, Jesus was awakening a world to God’s Kingdom where ALL people were included and respected, and loved.
The veil would be torn and the table set for us to ALL eat together around his table.
This would have been great news to a world that was suffering from oppressive militant governments, who thought women were possessions, who swept the sick, the diseased, the crippled, and the unclean outside the city gates.
Sadly, most of what Jesus was working to awaken is still happening in our world, today.
· Many still live under oppressive militant governments - thus our need to welcome the Afghan evacuees.
· Many cultures still consider women possessions – thus our need to promote equality wherever possible.
· And even in the United States, the poor, elderly, LGBTQ+, and so many more are still neglected and put on the back burner for care and help.
It is evident that we need awakening still today.
Yet, I am optimistic. I sense an awakening happening in our world. God is again shedding light on our darkness. God’s ways are again coming into existence and we are becoming aware of the hurt we have caused by not being able to see that of God in our neighbor.
The Divine is awakening our inner lights, fanning our flames, and calling us to be ambassadors to our hurting world.
To close my thoughts this morning, I would like to share a poem written by Naima of the spoken word performance duo, Climbing Poetree. The poem is titled, “Awaken”
AWAKEN
we are in the wake
of a great shifting
awaken
you better free your mind
before they illegalize thought
there’s a war going on
the first casualty was truth
and it’s inside you
the universe is counting on our belief
that faith is more powerful than fear
and in that the shifting moment
we’ll all remember why we’re here
in a world where you’re assassinated for having a dream
and the rich spend 9 billion a year to control our ideas
and visions are televised so things aren’t what they seem
we gotta believe
in a world where
there’s room enough for everyone
to breathe
cause reality is made up of
7 billion thoughts
who made up their minds
of what’s real and what’s not
so, I stopped believing
in false idols of war
greed and hate
is not worth my faith
my mind’s dedicated
to justice
my soul is devoted
to love
and love is God
and God is truth
and truth is you
and you are me
and I am everything
and everything is nothing
and nothing is the birthplace of creation
and transformation is possible
and you are proof
we were born right now
for a reason
we can be whatever
we give ourselves the power to be
and right now we need
day dreamers
gate keepers
bridge builders
soul speakers
web weavers
light bearers
food growers
wound healers
trail blazers
truth sayers
life lovers
peace makers
give what you most deeply desire
to give
every moment you are choosing to live
or you are waiting
why would a flower hesitate to open?
now is the only moment
rain drop let go
become the ocean
possibility is as wide
as the space
we create
to hold it
This morning as we head into waiting worship, ask yourselves,
· How am I preparing for the awakening happening in my life this Holiday Season?
· Who around me is being neglected or treated poorly? Who is in need of a little respect or a blessing of love during this season? Who needs an awakening?