WAKE UP AND......

Would that you would meet us doing right

and being mindful of your ways.

Isaiah 63

To live well is a lot like driving a car – you have to be able to see what is going on behind you, in front of you and all around you, but all at once. You have to learn from your past, plan for your future and be alert to what is happening in your life right now. 

In order to live well, during this season of Advent we look back, look around and look forward. Each Sunday for four weeks, we re-read the scriptures that foretold the coming of Christ, we re-read the scriptures that foretell the return of Christ and we reflect on our lives and how we are living right now “as we wait in joyful hope” for his return in glory. As we wait, as we live each day, we pray in the words of Isaiah that when he comes, God “would meet us doing right and find us mindful of his ways.” To live well, we need to look back, look forward and pay attention to all that is going on around us. 

Jesus reminds us in the gospel to be “watchful” and “alert,” warning us that “we don’t know when the Lord will come.” It says that he “may come suddenly and find us sleeping,” so we need to “watch,” “wake up” and “pay attention.” 

Living well, alert and watchful, is hard work. Our lazy side must be stood up to, over and over again. Our lazy side tells us that we have plenty of time, that we can get around to it someday and that we can cut corners for a little while longer.  Our lazy side is our sinful side. The best definition of “sin” I ever heard was that it is at its root giving in to laziness. When we “sin,” we choose the “easy way” rather than the “right way.” Laziness is the opposite of “staying awake and staying alert.” 

All sin is about laziness. Theft has laziness at its root. It is easier to take what belongs to others than it is to work for what is your own. Theft is a lazy shortcut to getting what we want. Gossip has laziness at its root. It is easier to cut others down to our size than it is to build ourselves up. Gossip is a lazy shortcut to feeling good about ourselves. Pornography has laziness at its root.   It is easier to relate to an anonymous printed or projected image than it is to build intimacy with real people. Pornography is a lazy shortcut to feelings of intimacy. Excessive eating and drinking has laziness at its root. It is easier to do the things that feel good to our bodies than it is to do thing that are truly good for our bodies. Excessive eating and drinking is a substitute for facing unpleasant feelings. Taking recreational drugs has laziness at its root. It is easier to take a pill or snort a substance that gives us an artificial high than it is to work for the high of a deeply spiritual life in relationship with God and others. “Following the crowd” has laziness at its root. It is easier to gain acceptance by “doing what everybody else is doing” than it is to “do the right thing” and risk rejection. Yes, all “sin” is about choosing the “lazy way,” about choosing the “easy way” over the “right way.” 

Advent is about “waiting in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior.” How do we wait? We wait by being “watchful,” “alert,” and “awake,” doing the hard work of remembering where we came from, where we are, and where we are going. We don’t know when it will happen, but we do know that someday we will stand before God, with our lives in our hands, to give an account of what we have done with the life that God has given us. 

Our Advent prayer is simple. It is the prayer from Isaiah, “Would that you would meet us doing right and being mindful of your ways!” While we wait, “do not let us wander from your ways or let our hearts harden so that we quit fearing you.”  “Living in joyful hope” is not about “getting ready,” it is about “being ready,” whether it happens “in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning.” Advent is a time to examine our consciences so see whether God might find us “doing right and being mindful of his ways” no matter when he comes!  To live well is to live prepared!   

St. John Paul II gave us some great advice for daily living when he put it this way: "Remember the past with gratitude! Live in the present with enthusiasm! Look to the future with confidence!"

Would that you would meet us doing right

and being mindful of your ways.

Isaiah 63