A WAKE-UP CALL

(This sermon was preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 11/13/16.)

Revelation 3:1-4

"To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.  Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.  Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

Eight years ago, almost to this day, I can recall the great joy and euphoria that many of us felt with the election of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44^th President of the United States.  I recall election night and looking with amazement at the crowds that gathered at around midnight in Grant Park in the center of Chicago to celebrate President Obama’s election. 

             I remember – as I’m sure many of us do – the inauguration in Washington, DC, the city where I was born and raised, and the pride that we shared in the historic election of the first African American president of these United States.  This pride that swelled in many of us was married with great hope and expectation that we, as a nation, had come to the place where we could finally realize in no small way what the words in our nation’s Declaration of Independence really mean – “we hold these truths to be self-evident that ALL people are created equal” - that we had come to realize in no insignificant way the Latin words imbedded in our nation’s credo – e pluribus unum – out of many one.
            As we fast forward eight years, we now find ourselves at the dawning of a very new reality.  And this is not merely because of the fact that the nation has elected as its 45^th President a person who has largely expressed disdain toward the interests of immigrants, Muslims, many Latinos and Black persons, women, the disabled, and city dwellers in this nation.   But we find ourselves at the dawning of this very different day because in many ways the hopes and dreams that many of us shared in 2008 have been delayed if not denied.   In many ways – as Dr. Martin Luther King intimated in May 1967 – less than four years after his marvelous and prophetic “I Have a Dream” speech in August 1963, that his dream had in very real ways turned into a nightmare.
           And if the truth is told – we find ourselves at the dawning of this very different reality – and for many of us a troubling reality – a very dark night in the nation -because we as a society and indeed as the church have slept on our opportunities. 

Like Rip van Winkle – the fictional character in the story set around the Revolutionary War - we been in a prolonged slumber – snoozing away opportunity after opportunity - to improve our lives – to improve our family life, to make things better for our children, to improve our communities, to make our cities better, to make our schools better, to invest our resources, to advocate for the least and lost and left our around us, and to even improve our churches. 

            We’ve been asleep, snoozing away our future and that of our children – on prolonged snooze control – hearing the alarm bells – but in no small ways ignoring them over and over and over again.
           And so this election and where we find ourselves as a people, as a nation, and as the church has to be for us a wakeup call.  If we look at Scripture, we find that we are not the first people that have needed to wake up.  All we need to do this morning is have a talk with the Church in Sardis to find out that this is not the first time that God’s people have gone to sleep.
         So let’s call up Sardis to see what we can learn from them.  If we talk to them, we find that Sardis is one of seven churches that God dealt with in the Book of Revelation.  God had problems with all seven of the churches in Revelation, but God’s specific problem with the church at Sardis was that they had fallen asleep and need to wake up. 
         So God sent John of Patmos to remind Sardis of what they had once been – a vital, vibrant, caring, compassionate, committed community of faith.  They had hope and they lived in that hope.  They worked to make things better.  The loved, and did justice, and walked humbly with God.
         Sardis didn’t blame their problems on the government or who was president or not.  They prayed and they came to church.  They held each other accountable.  They trusted God and believed that in their faithfulness, God would make things better for their children and grandchildren than it was for them.

            If we talked to Sardis this morning, then they would tell us that they got complacent and comfortable in their blessing.  They had education and jobs and some money and homes and cars and a pension plan.  They felt like they didn’t need to work as hard, pray as hard, or worship as much.  The church at Sardis had a reputation, but they had lost their sense of responsibility. 

And they started to see all their hopes and dreams begin to be trumped.

And God’s word through John of Patmos was simply that all Sardis needed to do was Wake Up - that where they found themselves was just a wake up call… and that if and when they woke up, God would bless them again as God had done before.

All this is for you and me is a wake-up call.  

The trials and trouble that we find ourselves in the midst of today is a wake-up call.  

This pain and disappoint – and yes for some of us anger and fear – that we now experience is a wake-up call – a call to turn back to God, and watch God begin to make things right for us again...

It’s a wake-up call to put our faith and trust and hopes and dreams in nobody and nothing but Jesus.  Indeed, our hopes and dreams don’t really rest with who’s in the White House or not – not Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.  Our hope is in Jesus.  Our hope is not in how high the eagle flies, but in the power of Jesus, our Lord.

So keep holding onto your hopes and dreams, and promise and possibility.

In the midst of this - heed the words of the great poet – Langston Hughes –

        Hold fast to dreams – for when dreams die – life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly… (Hold Fast to Dreams)

Our hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.  We dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.  On Christ, the solid rock we stand.  Al other ground is sinking sand! (My Hope is Built)