Light Service Sermons for the Month

Wake Up Calls
Awakening to a New Day
DATE: August 6, 2000
TEXT: Matthew 28:19-20

Following Jesus' resurrection, he met with many of his followers on the Mount of Olives. The moment they saw him, they worshiped him. However, the Bible says, some others, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally. Can you imagine that? After personally witnessing Jesus being crucified, hung out to die, then seeing him risen from the dead, there were those who still didn't believe. Talk about a choice point in life.

Still Jesus turned to both believers and skeptics and commissioned them with this choice point around which we asked them to orient their lives: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day, right up to the end of the age.

Now you and I know there are plenty of other options out there by which we can orient our lives: make as much money as possible; do or don't do whatever it takes to be happy; take the road of least resistance and go along to get along; personal security as the greatest goal in life; and my personal favorite, "whoever has the most toys wins."

Jesus, however, gave his followers another choice: "Go and make disciples." Make it your life's work to help others discover the power and truth of being part of God's kingdom. I seriously don't think he meant that choice for just the religious professionals. I think he meant that for everyone. However, I believe it was their as it is now our choice whether to comply.

As far as I know, I received no instruction manual when I entered into my life experience. Knowing this, I have two choices for learning what I need to learn. One involves tapping into my internal resources and the other requires learning from external sources. However, an immediate obstacle arises. Often our internal resources have not been well enough developed to effectively carry us through every life situation. And we make lots of mistakes. As far as external sources are concerned specifically, parents, friends, spouses, etc. these also may not be as awake as they need to be, so at times relying on their perceptions and advice doesn't work well either. And we make lots of mistakes.

By consciously choosing to increase our awareness, however, we can use both our internal and external resources far more effectively. Yes, awareness itself is a choice. Awareness involves getting straight with ourselves and our environment so that we can make better life choices. The more aware we are, the more choices we have. The less awake, the fewer choices.

Last week, I talked about how some people choose to sleepwalk through relationships, careers, and other life experiences. Learning is missed as old patterns repeat. The same issues keep coming up over and over again--and we wonder why these things "keep coming up over and over again." Rather than pausing to absorb the learning, we focus on rationalizing, justifying, defending, and saving face. The resulting stuck state consumes enormous energy blocking learning opportunities.

This morning as I conclude this three week series title "Wake-up Calls" I would like to talk about how we might become aware of the new day that has dawned all around us. But before we do that, let us pray….

(PRAYER)

You are influenced more by what you think is so than what actually is so. Your perceptions of reality do more to govern your behavior than reality itself. When you learn to pay attention, you create an opportunity to switch from passive to active awareness.

To get at what I mean here, we are all going to take a little perception test. First, how many squares do you see here?

How many say 16? 17? Both answers are correct. Sixteen 1x1 squares exist. Yet a 17th--the larger one--forms the outer perimeter. To the more careful observer, however, a total of thirty are formed by 9 additional 2x2 squares and 4 3x3 squares.

Ever since childhood, we have been trained to look for "one right answer." Our schoolteachers, parents, leaders taught us that a question is either true or false, or that a multiple-choice question has only 1 right answer. When we continue to seek this "one right answer" in other life experiences, we miss many options.

As the story goes, Albert Einstein flunked out of school because he was not in sync with his teachers. If he were to be asked by the teacher how many squares he saw, Albert's likely response would have been 30. Seeing only 16, the teacher would have said, "Albert, you are wrong--again." Einstein experienced the world differently from his instructors, and because his views differed, his teachers continually marked him down. How many tines do we consider a different perspective to be "wrong"? How many times do we "mark others down" for doing or perceiving things differently from the way we do.

It should be of little surprise to anyone, that one of the major reasons that Jesus was crucified is that he was out of sync with the Jewish leaders of his days. They thought he kingdom was a political one marked by borders and violent revolution. Jesus' kingdom was of a much different sort.

Take a look at this question.

Here you might read, "What is the point?" That seems simple enough, but it is not what it says. Reread the question within the triangle, perhaps starting from the last word forward. Do you see anything differently? Usually fewer than 10% of readers will be aware of the actual question: "What is the THE point?" "The" appears twice, yet most people do not see the duplications. Our experience of reality seems accurate, yet this diagram again challenges that assumption. Examine times when you and an important person in your life viewed something differently. Convinced of your own perspective, each of you sleepwalked through another life event.

This was the major problem for Jesus' disciples. Indeed, Peter and the disciples literally fell asleep on Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. They just didn't get the "THE" point of Jesus' mission until finally that day in an upper room some time after Easter when the Holy Spirit provided them with the greatest "Ah hah!" perhaps this world has ever seen.

Here is another question.

Finding the "F's" becomes the challenge here. Look closely and count carefully. How many find 3? 4? 5? Does anyone find more than 5? How about 9? Those who find four are only looking at the body of the sentence and are ignoring the title, which contains two more. Those who find nine see two in the title and seven in the sentence itself. If you are still struggling, count the word "of." Three more "F's" now jump out of the page. Missing the letter "F" in the word "of" is common.

We have a blind spot that often makes us miss things that are present. It is no wonder that disagreements between individuals occur as each relies on his or her own perceptions of reality while locking out other options. Just because the world is experienced in a certain way does not mean that it actually IS that way.

Experience results from our perceptions, which are filtered through such factors as history, culture, values, desires, education and awareness. Given all this its no wonder that people have trouble understanding reality. Fights and squabbles between people and nations frequently arise because each side sees things from a different point of view.

Paul was perhaps the greatest of all Christian history's missionaries. He was also one of Jesus' greatest adversaries. He was convinced based on his experience that Christianity was not only wrong but also dangerous. But you have to give him credit, even though it took temporary blindness to get him to wake up, he finally accepted the possibility that he--not Jesus--could be wrong.

Here is my last test. What do you see?

This is the toughest challenge for most people. Most of us focus on the black stuff and miss the white space in between. Does this clue help? If not does this help?

Changing perspective, or viewing the diagram from a different view, enables us to discover something that now appears strikingly obvious. Called "reframing" this intentional process of viewing the same situation from different perspectives can be a powerful tool for developing awareness. When we are open to the learning, willing to move off our position, and receptive to viewing things from a different perspective, we can discover a whole new world.

The more aware we are, the more choices we have. The less aware we are, the fewer choices. Sometimes people claim: "I have no choice." When taking that attitude, we lessen our awareness which in turn means we have chosen to limit our response options. We ALWAYS have a choice, even though we may not like the consequences of the choice. We do not have to pay taxes, for example, yet the consequences of not paying them are significant.

Awareness of the world around us is like tuning in to a radio station. At any given time, scores of radio waves bombard our unconscious environment. Until we turn on our radio receiver, however, the messages go undetected. Even at that point, tuning in to one station causes us to miss others.

The same is true to our relationships, career, other life realities including our relationship to God. Could it be, brothers and sisters, that this life is not all there is? Could it be that in this room, there exists a spirit-filled dimension that is every bit as present as the flesh and blood reality we more easily perceive? Could it be there spiritual forces are at work in this world that help heal the sick, give comfort to the bereaved, strengthen the weak? If that is so, it stands to reason we ought to pay attention to those forces and attune ourselves to them for our sake as well as others.

Let me say one more thing before concluding. Awareness is the essential first step, but it becomes useful only when it leads to action. Awareness leads us to the question, "What can I do right now that will make a positive difference?" Although people do the very best they can, awareness is worth little without action. We all know of aware people who talk the talk, yet don't walk the walk. They are forever sharing what needs to be done but never lifting a finger to do it.

Some of us play hooky from life and end up sleepwalking through relationships, careers, God. We can be unaware and even closed to God's teachers and teachings. In this stuck-state cycle, we may miss the joy and fulfillment of life. Under these circumstances, we are ripe for receiving significant wake-up calls, in which we have an opportunity to switch from passive to active awareness which must lead to action for it to mean anything. Part of our lifelong challenge involves converting what we already know into results that serve God and others. The life process is not about perfection. It is about self-awareness and redemption.

Past choices influence yet do not control our destiny. Decisions we make today do more to shape our future than those we made yesterday. My friends choose the life that God dreams for us. If you have not do so, commit yourself this morning to taking charge of your life by welcoming Jesus Christ into your life.

AMEN