December 4: Wake Up
♫ Music:
WEEK TWO INTRODUCTION
TITLE: PREPARE YOURSELF, ZION: REDEEMING TIME
December 4–10
“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15–17).
The parable of the ten virgins is a solemn reminder that it pays to prepare for the coming of Christ. It’s interesting to note that this classic tale of wisdom and foolishness is traditionally referenced during both the seasons of Advent and Lent. In a similar vein, St. Paul encourages his readers to be aware of the fleeting quality of time. In Ephesians 5 he calls Christians to redeem time with wisdom, realizing that it is a precious gift to be used with purposeful discernment—especially in light of the great evil that exists in the surrounding world.
It’s a given that most people in our society are accustomed to preparing for Christmas by shopping, cooking, decorating, and entertaining. The often exhausting whirlwind of holiday activities is sometimes overwhelming, encouraging a sigh of relief when things return to a more normal, post-holiday pace. Spiritually preparing for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany should in contrast energize and renew us as we quietly focus on making sure our hearts are ready to welcome Christ anew.
How important it is to walk in wisdom with a clear view of God uppermost in our thoughts and actions during this special time of year! The Romans' idea of seizing the day (carpe diem) urged people to live it up with little thought for tomorrow. In sharp disparity, Christians are called upon to rescue time from the potential dump heap of waste, sloth, and mediocrity, with eternity’s values always before them. This is possible only by watching, praying, and being ready. ”For in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh” (Matthew 24:44).
Day 8 - Sunday, December 4
Title: WAKE UP
Scripture #1: Matthew 24:36–44
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Scripture #2: Romans 13:11–14
"And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts."
Poetry & Poet:
“Meditation after Jehudah Halevi”
by Carl Rakosi
How long will you remain a boy?
Dawns must end.
Behold the angels of old age.
Shake off temporal things then
the way a bird shakes off the night dew.
Dart like a swallow
from the raging ocean
of daily events
and pursue the Lord
in the intimate company
of souls flowing
into His virtue.
WAKE UP
We sleep but fitfully:
unrested, though we doze;
unwatchful, though on edge.
Recently I attended an interview with the Washington, DC Chief of Police. A young journalist expressed concern, asking if we are as safe on our city streets as we used to be. The Chief’s response was telling. Regardless of statistics that demonstrate otherwise, our issue—he claimed—is that we feel less safe.
Our minds are full of the events of our times: wars and rumors of wars; plagues and dread of plagues; shootings and anxious reactions induced by shootings. Even a small dose of daily news is enough to send our hearts racing. What data can we trust? Which leader can we rely on? Jesus spoke of such things as He prepared His disciples for His departure, warning of dark days to come. Wars, natural disasters, and betrayals would be par for the course of human history, He explained, but––with that twist so characteristic of Him––not a cause for panic. Just as the darkness of God’s absence within the temple kept Simeon watching with anticipation for His return, so Jesus urged those in Jerusalem to keep watch—not on the conspiracies that swirled around them nor on the oppressive regime that ruled over them, but rather for the coming of the Lord to reign on their behalf.
The lyrics of the song “Wake, Awake for Night is Flying” acknowledge the darkness of the world we inhabit, and yet they focus on the jubilation at hand as the long-awaited One shows up in that world. In between the plea of the Hosannas (which literally mean “O save!”) and the exuberance of the Alleluias lies the quiet watchfulness of faith. This vigilance refuses to lose heart and drift off to sleep, which we (like the disciples in Gethsemane) tend to do when we are overwhelmed. But it also refuses to panic and react, which inevitably escalates conflict and adds to the mess (as Simon Peter learned when he took up the sword).
For those engaged in the works of darkness, news of Christ’s coming should induce dread. It means the exposure and overturning of all they have been up to. But for those who long to see God’s kingdom come, news of Christ’s inbreaking into our world engenders not anxiety, but courage. It calls us to stand and look up, brutally aware of the mess all around us but even more fixated on the Savior who comes to inaugurate His new creation in our midst. This is the world in which He takes birth. These are the messes for which He dies. And—as His people—ours are the lives through which He intends to show up and reign.
Jesus, the ever-present One, comes repeatedly, showing up to do His God-thing in and through us. This is a reality that allows us to rest in peace, trusting that God is good at His job and therefore we are ultimately safe. At the same time, it is a reality that wakes us up, preparing ourselves and those around us for the final coming of our Lord.
Prayer:
Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace.
–– The Book of Common Prayer
Tiffany Clark
Assistant Lay Minister at Christ Church, Georgetown in Washington, D.C.
Author, Spiritual Director
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Artwork:
Mask II
Hans Ronald Mueck
2001–2002
Mixed media
77.0 x 118.0 x 85.0 cm
Gift of Helen and Charles Schwab
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco, California
This sculpture entitled Mask II is one of Ron Mueck’s most well-known works. A self-portrait that is nearly four times larger than life-sized, Mask II demonstrates the subtle play of realities that characterize much of Mueck’s work. Our attention is immediately arrested by the artwork’s vivid hyperrealism and monumental scale. Though Mask II has the look of solidity, if one walks around to the sculpture’s back, one sees that the face is just a thin shell showing that this face is an artifice that is only “skin-deep.”
About the Artist:
Hans Ronald Mueck (b. 1958) is an Australian sculptor working in the United Kingdom. Mueck grew up in the family business of puppetry and doll-making. He worked initially as a creative director in Australian children's television, before moving to America to work in film and advertising. After working as a model-maker in film and television in the United States and London, Mueck shifted his focus to the fine arts in the mid-1990s; among his first sculptures was a figure of the young Pinocchio, commissioned by artist Paula Rego in 1996. He came to international attention the following year with Dead Dad, an imagined, half-scale portrait of his naked father laid out in death—one of the standout works featured in Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection, organized by the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Mueck draws upon memories, reveries, and everyday experience as he portrays his subjects with extraordinary compassion. Mueck's sculpture responds to the minute details of the human body, playing with scale to produce engrossing visual images (a style known as hyperrealism). Mueck spends a long time, sometimes more than a year, creating each sculpture. His subject matter is deeply private, and is often concerned with people's unspoken thoughts and feelings. Mueck has continued to build his career around figures that span the cycle of life.
https://artsology.com/ron-mueck-sculpture.php
https://www.mfah.org/blogs/inside-mfah/introducing-ron-mueck
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Mueck
About the Music:
“Wake, Awake” from the album Awaken Our Souls O God of Hope
Lyrics: “Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying”
Wake, awake, for night is flying,
The watchmen on the heights are crying:
Awake, Jerusalem, arise!
Midnight’s solemn hour is tolling,
His chariot wheels are nearer rolling;
He comes; prepare ye virgins wise.
Rise up with willing feet,
Go forth the bridegroom meet,
Hallelujah!
Bear through the night your well-trimmed light,
Speed forth to join the marriage right.
Hear thy praise, O Lord, ascending
From tongues of men and angels
blending with harp and lute and psaltery.
By thy pearly gates in wonder,
We stand and swell the voice of thunder
in bursts of choral melody.
No vision ever brought,
no ear hath ever caught,
Such bliss and joy:
We raise the song,
we swell the throng,
To praise Thee ages all along.
About the Performers:
The St. Olaf Choir, with seventy-five mixed voices, is a premier a cappella choir in the United States. For over a century, the choir has set a standard of choral excellence and remained at the forefront of choral artistry. Conducted since 1990 by Anton Armstrong, the St. Olaf Choir has set a standard in the choral art, serving as a model for choirs of all levels. The ensemble’s annual tour brings its artistry and message to thousands of people across the nation and around the world. The St. Olaf Choir has taken fourteen international tours and performed for capacity audiences in the major concert halls of Norway, France, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and the Twin Cities. https://wp.stolaf.edu/choir/
About the Composer:
Philippo Nicolai arranged by F.M. Christiansen
Philippo Nicolai (1556–1608) was a German Lutheran pastor, poet, and composer. He is most widely recognized as a hymnodist. Nicolai is supposed to be the last example of the Meistersinger tradition, in which words and music, text and melody stem from one and the same person. Nicolai lived through a time of terrible pestilence, which claimed some thirteen hundred lives in his parish alone. Nicolai turned from the constant tragedies and frequent funerals (at times he buried thirty people in one day) to meditate on "the noble, sublime doctrine of eternal life obtained through the blood of Christ." As he said, “This I allowed to dwell in my heart day and night and searched the Scriptures as to what they revealed on this matter.” Nicolai also read Augustine's City of God before he wrote this great Advent text and arranged its tune. The parable of the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1–13) was the inspiration for stanzas one and two, and John's visions of the glory of Christ and the new Jerusalem (Rev. 19, 21, and 22) provide the basis for stanza three. Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying is a great hymn about the joyful anticipation of Christ's coming again.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philipp_Nicolai
Fredrik Melius Christiansen (1871–1955) was a Norwegian-born violinist and choral conductor in the Lutheran choral tradition. At seventeen, he emigrated to the United States, where he attended the Northwestern Conservatory of Music and in 1897 he moved to Leipzig, Germany, to study at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Following his studies, Christiansen moved back to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he enjoyed success as a violin faculty member of Northwestern Conservatory of Music. The St. Olaf Choir was founded as an outgrowth of the St. John's Lutheran Church Choir in Northfield. From 1912 to 1944, Christiansen led the St. Olaf Choir, striving for perfect intonation, blend, diction, and phrasing. He assumed direction of the St. Olaf Band in 1903, and took the ensemble on tour to Norway in 1906 to play for King Haakon VII, making it the first college music ensemble to conduct a tour abroad. Christiansen was considered a pioneer in the art of a cappella choral music and composed and arranged over two hundred fifty musical selections and his choral techniques were spread throughout the U.S. by St. Olaf graduates.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Melius_Christiansen
About the Poetry & Poet:
Born to German Jewish parents in Berlin, Carl Rakosi (1903–2004) immigrated early in life with his parents to Wisconsin where he later studied at the University of Wisconsin, earning a master’s degree in social work. Following thirty years of social work, Rakosi turned his attention to poetry with greater determination and acclaim. His collection Poems 1923-1941 won a PEN award in 1996.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/carl-rakosi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Rakosi
About the Devotion Author:
Tiffany Clark
Author and Spiritual Director
Tiffany Clark (M.A., I.C.S.) is an author and spiritual director, specializing in the ongoing spiritual formation of global Christian leaders. Tiffany and her family recently relocated to Washington, D.C., after twenty years of service in South Asia. She continues to facilitate graduate courses and virtual workshops for Christian leaders around the world, and blogs at messytheology.wordpress.com. She serves as Assistant Lay Minister at Christ Church, Georgetown in Washington, D.C. Tiffany completed her MAICS through Biola’s Chiang Mai Extension Center during the twenty years she and her husband served overseas, primarily in South Asia.