In the year 2017, I wrote the song “Awake, Oh My Soul.” The lyrics of the first verse are pretty easy to catch on to. They go, “Awake, awake, oh my soul,” four times in a row. I know, I know, the song is amazingly elaborate.
But, I wrote this song during a particularly tired time of my life. Isaac, my son, was newly born and was certainly not sleeping through the night. Neither were my wife and me. I do not remember very much from this period of time…at all. But, one thing that I do remember is writing this song.
We would sing it as a lullaby to Isaac, but also as a reminder to ourselves, to be awake to God and awake to the other people in our lives. I did not want to miss chances to love the other children and create special moments with them. I did not want their only experience of me to be one of a tired, cranky adult.
I am not certain that I pulled it off very well, but, that was the purpose of the song of the song in the first place; to remind myself to keep awake. I was so tired, but the bottom line is that I just did not want to miss what Jesus was up to in all the chaos.
It is unbelievably easy to miss what Jesus is up to after-all. Even the disciples missed what Jesus was up to and fell asleep in the garden of Gethsemane while Jesus prepared for the most important event in his life, and in the life of the world: the cross.
“Could you not keep awake one hour?” Jesus retorted to the heavy eyed disciples (NRSV, Mark 14:37).
“Keep awake!” Jesus repeated to his followers again and again. But, the disciples just could not stay awake.
Evidently they were not awake when Jesus warned them to look for darkened skies and shaken heavens. Whenever that happens, you know that God is about to move. So, when the skies did darken and the heavens did shake as Jesus breathed his last breath on the cross, in the gospel of Mark, the disciples were nowhere to be found. The disciples missed seeing the moment of salvation itself.
They may not have been literally sleeping. Who knows? But, they certainly were not awake to what God was doing.
I still sing the song every once and a while. It is a simple tune with simple words that remind me to keep awake. I sing it, not because I am certain that I can keep awake to all that Jesus is up to in the world, but precisely because I am certain I cannot stay awake, without help that is.
For example, there are times that I do not understand why a tragedy occurred, and I question what God is up to, if anything. I wonder if the disciples felt this way as Jesus was lead away to die on the cross?
Instead, of looking for what God is up to in such confusing times, I am lulled into sleep.
There are times that the concerns and deadlines of the world overtake everything else, including my time and my attention. I get so focused that those around me could definitely mistake me for being asleep. And, in reality, I am very close. Instead of caring about all that Jesus cares about, I am lulled into sleep.
And, this pandemic is really, really tiring. Am I right? How many of you have thought or stated outright, “I am so over this thing!”? Well, I am too! And, our exhaustion is lulling us all into sleep in a variety of ways.
Some of us are lulled into actions that could compromise the health of others.
Some of us are lulled into inaction, forgetting those who are lonely and need our attention the most…in some way, shape, or form.
Some of us are lulled into a form of depression that just makes us want to visit the couch eternally.
Churches are lulled away from proclaiming the gospel when the means of doing so have become difficult.
We are lulled gently into a sleep that forgets that Jesus is coming and forgets that Jesus stills cares about the world that he promised to save.
Evil would love to lull us into a sleep that forgets about others; that forgets about love, and grace, and forgiveness. Evil would love to lull us into a sleep that would make us forget completely about Jesus Christ.
But, here is the thing for you to realize as you deal with your own sleepiness. The disciples did fall asleep. The disciples were not present at the cross. They were not present while Jesus accomplished the greatest thing that ever happened to creation: dying so that everyone and everything might have new life; dying that the world might be saved.
More than that, the twelve missed it as Jesus rose from the dead and showed clearly the good news that death cannot win. Jesus rose and proved that evil cannot win. Some women disciples were there to see it, thank God for the women of faith! But, the twelve were nowhere to be seen the morning of that third day. Yet, they still were able to, afterward, preach that word of good news that we still hear preached today. Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.
Here is the point. Jesus does not need us to be awake so that he can do good things for the world. The disciples were not awake.
Jesus is who he is. 1 John 4:16 tells us that “God is love.” Therefore, Jesus is love. And, Jesus will always be that love, and Jesus will always act out of that love. That is Jesus’ gift to us, and it is not dependent on whether or not we show up to be with him while he hangs on the cross. Jesus does not need us to be awake in order to love the world, or love us.
However, if we want to see the day that Jesus acts, if we want to see Jesus’ love in action, if we want to see just what Jesus is up to in the world… And, who here would not want to see and understand what Jesus is up to in this world? Who would not want to see what Jesus is planning on doing about this mess that the world is in? …If we want to see Jesus in action, and we desire to jump into action with him, then we will keep awake.
“Keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come,” Jesus reminds us.
So we will do our best to keep our eyes open. We will do everything in our power to not be lulled into sleep by the world. We do this, not to save ourselves, but so that we will be right there when Jesus shows up; ready to walk wherever he leads.
My son Isaac right now does not want to take naps, because he is afraid he will miss something great. Usually, the great thing that he would be missing during a nap would be doing chores around the house. Go ahead, nap while you can little buddy! But, just in case something great actually happens, he does not want to miss it.
And, we are the same way. We do not want to miss what Jesus is up to. After-all, it is probably something really, really great. It is probably very life giving, and we do not want to miss that! Besides, being awake for one another is what the family of God does.
We strive to stay awake until Jesus comes, so that we might walk with him as he gives new life to people. We strive to stay awake so that we might be a part of what Jesus is doing. Being awake for each other is what the family of God does.
So, I still sing the song. I sing it while I wait for the Lord. I sing it so that I remember, even on my worst days, to keep awake. Jesus is up to something, and like my little Isaac, I want to be there to see it.
Awake, awake oh my soul.
Awake, awake oh my soul.
Awake,
awake oh my soul.
Awake,
awake oh my soul.
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