Sermon preached by the Rev. Timothy E. Schenck, Rector, on December 2, 2007.

Based on Isaiah 2:1-5, Matthew 24:37-44 (I Advent, Year A).

“Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

It’s easy to forget in the midst of the pre-Christmas build-up that we are a nation at war. Or at least our leaders are waging a war in which American soldiers are fighting, killing, and losing their lives. Many of us have been lulled to sleep; we have not heeded the Advent call to “keep awake.” It’s gotten to the point where we pass by the death notices that run each day in the local paper as if they were basketball scores. While most of the country is shopping or putting plastic reindeer on their lawns, our brothers and sisters in the armed forces are risking their lives each moment of each day. While we’re stressed about getting all of our Christmas cards out on time, they're stressed about whether they’ll live to see Christmas Day. There is a deep divide between these two worlds. America is at war and most of us are neither affected by it nor passionate enough to protest.

But it also shows just how far we have to go to realize the dream of the prophet Isaiah. “In days to come they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” The stark reality is that our swords aren't being beat into ploughshares; our spears aren't being beat into pruning hooks. It feels, instead, as if our swords and spears are being sharpened to cause further destruction. The vision of peace is not being realized and, at times, it feels as if it never will.

There is a disconnect between Isaiah's vision and the global reality. And it's hard not to lose heart and dwell upon the overwhelming darkness that surrounds us. War and famine and poverty and natural disaster are our constant companions. Where is the longed for justice and peace? When will we reach that point where nation will no longer lift sword against nation? Isaiah wasn't just a dreamer or an idealistic peacenik. He offers up hope to a nation that has been sent into exile; a nation whose sacred Temple - the heart and soul of its religious identity - has been destroyed. But Isaiah proclaims that relationship with God, rather than the global situation or external evidences of faith that must be the foundation of peace. And that’s just as compelling a message today as it was 2,700 years ago.

When will things change? I don’t know. But I do know that as Christians we are called to help bring about the kingdom of heaven on earth. We can’t stand idly by while the vision has not been realized. We can’t be lulled to sleep.

When I was in the Army - it wasn’t during wartime - but we trained hard. And our tactical exercises would often take place at night. You’d find yourself lying prone with your weapon at the ready set up in a perimeter waiting for another unit to try and penetrate your lines. Since much of my training was in New England, it was usually frigid. The ground was half-frozen, your toes and fingers would start to go numb. It was quiet. Your eyes would play tricks on you in the moonlight; you’d hear all sorts of sounds - animals, the wind, perhaps a twig being snapped in two. Your senses were heightened as you waited for the imminent attack. Adrenaline coursed through your body. You were the epitome of the alert soldier, ready for anything.

But the longer you waited, the less alert you became. You started telling yourself that it was just a war game. No one was actually going to get hurt. Your defenses came down. The “sleep monster” started grabbing hold of you and your eyelids would start to droop. You'd shake yourself awake and with renewed vigor you'd keep watch. Until the minutes started to again slip by and you'd find yourself in that spirit-is-willing-but-the-flesh-is-weak mode. It was at that precise moment that you remembered the remedy to your ills: Ranger Pudding.

If you know anything about modern combat food, and I hope you don't, you'd know about MRE's. These are the packaged Meals Ready to Eat that soldiers take with them out into the field. They’re also known as Meals Rejected by Everyone. But inside each MRE is a packet of powdered chocolate. To make Ranger Pudding you'd rip off the top, pour in the powdered coffee, the sugar, the creamer, add a bit of water from your canteen and then mix it all together until you had something resembling the consistency of thick mud. You'd eat that and the caffeine/sugar high would keep you going through the night.

I'm sharing all of this because we sometimes need to go to extreme measures to heed the Advent call to “keep awake.” Jesus bids us to be vigilant in our preparations. Not just by hauling down the Christmas boxes from the attic or hanging the lights on your front porch or getting your Christmas cards out. But by being vigilant in our preparations to receive the living Christ into our hearts. Because when we start to nod off, when we get complacent, when we get apathetic in our dedication to the Lord, we miss out on the fullness of life. And when this happens on a national level we end up at war. When it happens on a local level, we end up with a cross burning on the front lawn of an African-American family in Cortlandt. When it happens on a personal level, we lose sight of the primacy of our relationship with God.

As Christians we're bid not to dwell in darkness but rather to put on the armor of light. That doesn't mean we ignore the suffering in our midst but that we work for peace and justice, that we don't lose hope. And so Advent is literally a wakeup call. In Army barracks that meant some gruff sergeant banging two trash can lids together. In the Bible it's Paul proclaiming that “Now is the moment for you to wake from sleep.” We could all use a dose of spiritual Ranger Pudding.

“Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”