10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” Ephesians 5:10-14

            I spent over an hour today trying to awaken a sleeping teenager. He responded at 6:50am, sounding bright and animated, so I ate breakfast. There was no sound from the bathroom – no shower running or fan whirring so I returned to the scene of the sleeper. He was very much not awake. I exaggerate not one little bit to tell you that it took an hour and eleven minutes to wake that young man!! And on a school day. Of course, there was a list of Very Good Reasons why he hadn’t woken. He’d had a bad day. Then a bad sports practise. A bad sports injury. Then his sleep was bad… and I suspect I probably made the list too, but I was deep into actively not being mad at him so that he got to school okay.

            On the brink of Advent, the call of God to us is one of waking and of receiving the light of Christ. Grumpy teenagers, middle-age brain fog, fatigue, lack of sunshine and the unceasing pummelling of our souls by the news cycles of so many bad things can mean that we are susceptible to sleep walking through the world. We maybe occupy that place where the murky and gloomy things seem like reality, or truth, or life.

Changing States

            “Awake O sleeper” is a call to us to shift from one state to another. We wake up at this call which comes with a promise. It is a call for us to receive light of Christ which will illuminate our entire being. This is a much better promise than the ones I was making to my teenager… a lot less threat and whole lot more hope! Once illumined by the light of Christ, our eyes are given clarity and our minds are sharpened to the things around us. Our desensitisation is deactivated. Our sensitivity to the Spirit and our right responses to the world are reactivated.

            We can’t be ‘a bit awake’ or have ‘a bit of Christ’s light’. If we are pulled into sleep, than that is where our focus and intentions are. Rooted to the mattress with the duvet cocooning us in warm sleepiness (do you have duvets in the States? They are so cosy!) Our answers from this position are unenlightened. Our attitude is closed off to reality. 

Bring the Light

            When God says “Let there be light”, light fully happens. When the light of Christ comes into the world, darkness is driven away. Fully awake, full of light, we are able to fully respond to the things of this world with a Christ-like, Jesus-centred attitude.

            This Advent, I’m taking this call to be fully awake, to the things of the world. To embrace the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit and allow my attitudes to be full-on awake to what God is saying. We are not grumpy teenagers any longer… maybe some of us are prone to brain-fog and tiredness, but we have wisdom too! Wisdom of years of experience and we so know when we are kidding ourselves. “Awake O sleepers!” Move deliberately into the good things of God’s gracious giving — His hand is on the light-switch just waiting for you to stretch yourself awake and open your eyes!