{"id":1292,"date":"2023-10-26T17:37:25","date_gmt":"2023-10-26T16:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/chaplaincy\/?p=1292"},"modified":"2023-10-26T17:37:25","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T16:37:25","slug":"stay-alert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/2023\/10\/26\/stay-alert\/","title":{"rendered":"Stay alert"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Then Jesus said to the disciples,<\/p>

Be ready for whatever comes, dressed for action and with your lamps lit, like servants who are waiting for their master to come back from a wedding feast. When he comes and knocks, they will open the door for him at once.<\/p>

How happy are those servants whose master finds them alert and ready when he returns! I tell you, he will take off his coat, have them sit down, and will wait on them. How happy they are if he finds them ready, even if he should come at midnight or even later!<\/p>Luke 12.35-38<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

There was a T shirt people used to wear which said on it: \u2018Be alert!  The world needs lerts.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s reading Jesus is telling the disciples to stay alert. He uses picture of the servants whose job it was to welcome their master back into the house after the wedding feast – or maybe the honeymoon. They don\u2019t know when he\u2019s going to come – it\u2019s probably going to be late – but instead of taking themselves off to bed or going off to have a good time themselves they stay \u2018dressed for action\u2019 and with their lamps all lit, ready to greet him. It\u2019s a picture Jesus uses several times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We might think that this is about Jesus\u2019 return – the coming of the Son of Man at the end of the age. There\u2019s another T shirt that people used to wear: \u2018Jesus is coming – look busy!\u2019 But you can also think of this as being about having an attitude of readiness – being expectant each day for how Jesus will be with us, and what God will bring to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve borrowed these hands from my Mum – we used them for the Gatherings for Peace. They say something to me about being open to the gifts that will come each day. If our hands are constantly busy, or clenched shut, or laid down because we have \u2018switched off\u2019, then they can\u2019t be open to receive. It\u2019s quite demanding to stay in an attitude of openness and expectancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can across this poem this week, by Mary Oliver:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As deep as I ever went into the forest
I came upon an old stone bench, very, very old,
and around it a clearing, and beyond that
trees taller and older than I had ever seen.<\/p>

Such silence.
It really wasn\u2019t so far from a town, but it seemed
all the clocks in the world had stopped counting.
So it was hard to suppose the usual rules applied.<\/p>

Sometimes there\u2019s only a hint, a possibility.
What\u2019s magical, sometimes, has deeper roots
than reason.
I hope everyone knows that.<\/p>

I sat on the bench, waiting for something.
An angel, perhaps.
Or dancers with the legs of goats.<\/p>

No, I didn\u2019t see either. But only, I think, because
I didn\u2019t stay long enough.<\/p>Such Silence by Mary Oliver<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

She is in this special space – in a time that feels different – \u2018waiting for something\u2019. Maybe in a way she received what she as waiting for\u2026 \u2018such silence.\u2019 But she feels that there could still be something more, if she could stay longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two weeks ago in our Communion in Oxstalls Sanctuary we were thinking about some other words of Jesus – \u2018Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened\u2019. What is there, in between the asking and the receiving? I think it\u2019s this time of waiting, ready and alert, with open hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often, I know, my hands and my head are busy – I\u2019m impatient or anxious, and I try to sort things out myself. But just sometimes, when I\u2019m not sure what to do, or what to say – or maybe when I\u2019m exploring some bigger questions about my future, I do have this sense of active, alert waiting. Not just in my times of prayer, but somewhere deep inside of me. And when I look back on my life, it\u2019s those times which have led to being given something from God – a hint, a nudge, a thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus says \u2018How happy are those servants whose master finds them alert and ready when he returns! I tell you, he will take off his coat, have them sit down, and will wait on them\u2019. If we wait on God, alert and open and expectant, then he will come to us, he will \u2018wait on us\u2019, he will place into our hands what he wants to give to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might like to close your eyes and open your hands, as an expression of your openness\u2026<\/p>

Lord Jesus, you know how busy our minds are and how impatient we can be to do things ourselves\u2026<\/p>

Help me to hand over to you all that makes me anxious or over busy.<\/p>

Help me to be open to all that you want to give to me.<\/p>

Help me to tune in to all that you want to say to me.<\/p>

Help me to wait on you – awake, alert, and ready to receive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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