Keeping Watch

Bread and Wine Reading: "Keeping Watch", Philip Berrigan

Scripture Reading: Mark 13: 32-37
“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.”

In this writing, Berrigan cites that “psychological studies reveal that Americans live at less than forty percent awareness, as though our minds and spirits cringe before the banality and ugliness of national life.” It’s as if, then, most of us are living our lives “asleep at the wheel.” I would submit that part of the reason is that we’re overworked and overwhelmed, emotionally forced to pick and choose that with which we can really deal. I think another contributor to the problem is that we’re just too comfortable. Our lives are lived in stupendous wealth compared with most of the world and we continually want more and hastily want to preserve what we have at all costs. We spend more time looking for what we can acquire rather than being attuned to the rest of the world. Lastly, we Western Christians live in a society where individualism rules. We are taught to take care of ourselves and that others should take care of themselves. And, with that, we are taught that it’s really sort of rude to even ask for something or to offer something, lest someone’s dignity might be offended. We live next to one another yet, for the most part, we live by ourselves and in the process we have forgotten what it means to cultivate an awareness of the world in which we live.

And now the world in which we live is shaking at its very foundations as wars continue and escalate, as financial giants fall victim to greed and the gross misconception that wealth and power is acceptable at any cost, and as our whole society struggles to redefine itself in the wake of unemployment, foreclosures, and a new class of the poor like we’ve never known before. How did we get here? Were we not paying attention?

Keep alert! Keep awake! Many read the Scripture passage as a warning to be ready in case Jesus returns, in case the Kingdom of God comes to be and we are not paying attention. Keep alert! Keep awake! Because, you see, this is not merely a call to be ready in case God comes; it is a reminder to open up our minds and our lives to the God that is already here, calling us to be co-creators of the fullness of the Reign of God. The Kingdom of God is all around us, wrenching and groaning as it grows toward fullness. Keep alert! Keep awake! The calling that we have is to an awareness of what is going on. Where are the injustices in the world? Where are the places where our understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ compels us to speak out, to speak on behalf, and to speak as an agent for justice and peace? And where are those places that we are called to listen? Keep alert! Keep awake! The Kingdom of God has already begun. Berrigan states: “Watch, learn, act—the formula for a faithful and sane life.” In this Lenten season, we are called to heighten our awareness—of ourselves, of the world around us, and of God’s interaction in our lives. This is the season to awake to what God is calling us to do and what God is calling us to be.

Discussion Questions:
1.) What are those areas where we fail to “watch”, where we are seemingly “asleep at the wheel”?
2.) What things in our lives affect our sense of awareness?
3.) In what ways does our sense of awareness affect the way we live out our faith?

So go forth and watch, learn, and act. Keep awake!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli