Keep Watch

December 3, 2023

Year B; 1st Advent

Isaiah 64: 1-9

Psalm 80: 1-7, 16-18

Mark 13: 24-37

Mark 13:24-37

Jesus said, “In those days, after that suffering,

the sun will be darkened,

and the moon will not give its light,

and the stars will be falling from heaven,

and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 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.”

Homily by Rev. Mean Limburg

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

The season of Advent begins today with the first Sunday of Advent, and marks a new year in the church calendar, that we will see in our gospel readings now focused on Mark, the purple on the altar, and with our Advent wreath and weekly prayers.

And our gospel reading today, oddly, is from the Holy Week story, Jesus already in Jerusalem, and his words to his followers and us urgent, keep awake! This reading is often called “the little apocalypse” as Jesus is speaking, as he faces the cross, of his second coming.

This first Sunday of Advent we look through what we can call, theological bifocals, watching both for the birth of Jesus, and for the second coming of Jesus.

One of the biggest challenges in the season of Advent is to be present for it. Advent is a short season, just four weeks long, so if we get distracted, we might find we have missed it!

Advent can be seen as just a countdown to Christmas.

But Advent is meant to be less countdown, and more a season to stay present in each day, to follow Jesus’ repeated call in our gospel, for us to “keep awake”, to “keep alert”.

As I studied for this sermon one writer reminded me of that beautiful prayer in our Compline service, a service in our prayer book for the end of the day, the last service before going to bed.

One of the closing prayers in Compline, attributed to St. Augustine, a bishop in the 5th century, reads:

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or

weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who

sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless

the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the

joyous; and all for your love's sake. Amen.

Amazing that a bishop from over 1400 years ago, knows how I feel when I can not sleep, and am mired in worry.

And he reminds us that, as we are called to keep awake and keep watch, we never do it alone, “Keep watch, dear Lord, with…us”. When Jesus urgently and repeatedly says to us, keep awake, keep alert, he is inviting us, calling us to keep watch WITH him, with our brother and our savior.

I have always heard in this gospel that I’m neglecting a job, messing up, caught wandering off: keep awake! Pay attention!

And it has taken a 5th century bishop, to get me to leave behind all that human, angry language of accusation, and to hear God’s invitation, the hand outstretched to us from Jesus, join me in the watch.

Last Wednesday the first session of our Advent Study met on Zoom. The study is using “The Way of Love,” a curriculum from the work of our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, that focuses on spiritual practices, that all spring from being alert, watching.

The writer The Rev. Melissa Bills notes about our gospel today:

“We can watch and wait and anticipate God’s future and encounter divine beauty at any time of day or night, in joy or in sorrow. Because the wakefulness that Jesus asks of us is nothing other than the spiritual practice of paying attention.” (Christian Century, December 2023, page 24)

Jesus’ call to us in our gospel to keep awake, is a call to the spiritual practice of paying attention.

So what are we do with this call to pay attention, that actually started 3 weeks ago with the bridesmaids and their oil, to keep watch, to be ready, to stay awake?

I know for me that I must start by confessing to my tendency to be less a keep watch person, and more a jump in and take action person. The quiet, the patience, the willingness to be and not do, that watching and waiting call for, are not my first or best skills.

But my heart problems over the last 4 years have nudged me, even required me at times, to slow down a bit, and to watch more, to be attentive more.

A new call for me, more waiting and watching, and less charging forward. But I find if I watch, and am alert and awake more, I can sometimes even see the movement of the Holy Spirit.

I do realize the Holy Spirit does not need me to pay attention for the Spirit to move and nudge and appear, like on Pentecost, like a powerful wind or a mighty flame. The Spirit is always present, but I see more when I stop charging ahead, and try to be quieter, awake, watching.

One writer, reflecting on the apocalyptic themes of our gospel, refocuses us from using this reading less for our own power in this broken world, and more for being open to God’s presence in our lives:

Keeping watch does not mean paying attention so one can be “in the know” about what is happening or what will happen next. The call to be watchful, alert, and aware is an invitation into the unfolding divine mystery. This mystery is somehow personal yet universal, offering glimpses of a boundless God amongst a groaning creation. (Sermons That Work website, Michael Toy, 1st Advent, 2023)

As my heart has caused me to slow down a bit, I pray my soul has glimpsed that invitation into the unfolding mystery of God.

That invitation, open to each of us, carries many layers: our own lives and with those we love, our faith lives as Trinity and SMWC, our lives in our community, our county, our state, our nation, our world, being awake to our groaning and tired world.

Being awake and alert can be overwhelming, though we must remember again we do not watch alone.

Which brings me back to that beautiful 5th century prayer from Compline, and those words imbedded in my mind and heart:

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night……

We can picture them, we have been them, at bedsides, in ICUs, working late, unable to sleep, watching the stars.

Teach us again, holy God, to watch more, to listen more, to wait more, and help us to remember you are there with us in the watch, and that the watch is always “all for your love's sake.”

Amen.