Wake Up and Party

DAILY BYTE

“You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep”! We hear the apostle Paul give us a wake up call this week!

It was a call that I needed, as I was writing this... Alone in my office with the door closed, I found myself reading and typing and becoming more and more and more sleepy...

Although I was completely excited about the material, I was drained by the isolation. Only when I received a phone call and got a jolt did I realize how sluggish I had become.

When we’re alone, often we become weary, we feel disconnected, we become less productive and more dissatisfied. And during nights alone in our flats or houses, I can’t be the only one who has a little feeling of uneasiness, knowing that if something bad were to happen, I’m not sure if anyone would come running to help. This uneasiness – dis-ease – you might even say – can fester in us, as we grow tired of being alone.

But looking at the scripture this week in staff meeting, Susan, the mother of a spunky teenager, pointed out that it is very difficult to stay awake when you’re alone. But slumber parties on the other hand, are often the last place you will find slumber.

Surely you can recall a slumber party from your youth where you stayed up until all hours of the morning, watching movies, painting nails, and playing hide and go seek in the dark. Somehow when others are partying with us, we forget about being tired, and the isolation and darkness fades into invigoration and bubbly excitement.

If you have spent too long in isolation, too long separated from community, whether family, the church, or the city – it’s time for us to wake up and join the party! In this first week of Advent, the season of the year where we prepare for the birth of Christ, the Prince of Peace, we’ll be looking particularly at joining the community around us to live out our calling to be a people of peace.

FOCUS READING

Romans 13: 11-12 (NRSV)

Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light...