Saturday, March 28, 2015, Day 34
Mark 13:28-37 (NRSV)
The admonition to "Keep awake" is sometimes anxiety-producing for the faith. I have seen religious attitudes on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ devolve into fear-ridden movements which produce no peace in those participants.
As a little child, I had such a moment when I thought that I had been left behind because of the Rapture. My faith didn't bring any comfort that morning, I can tell you that!
On the other hand, the realization that we have been asleep while the world moves on can be very sobering. There are times when we float though our lives and time passes us by in ways that seem surreal. We look back and wonder what we've accomplished.
I think of the Bob Dylan song, "When You Gonna Wake Up?" where he asks this question repeatedly and then concludes, "when you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?"
Lent is turning toward Holy Week. We have contemplated quite a bit through Mark's Gospel. How does this contemplation move us to action?
Have we been asleep?
Prayer by Ted Loder:
O God of such truth as sweeps away all lies,
of such grace as shrivels all excuses,
come now to find us
for we have lost our selves
in a shuffle of disguises
and the rattle of empty words.
Let your Spirit move mercifully
to recreate us from
the chaos of our lives.
We have been careless
of our days,
our loves,
our gifts,
our chances...
Our prayer is to change, O God,
not out of despair of self
but for love of you,
and for the selves we long to become
before we simply waste away.
Let your mercy move in and through us now...
Amen.
Prayer by Ted Loder, My Heart In My Mouth.
Picture by By Evil saltine [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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