25 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ (Matthew 25:1-9)

 

Last week I had one of those drives up to the church where when I got to the intersection of County Rd. 8 and County Rd. 5, that I had absolutely no recollection of how I got there.  I just arrived at the stop sign, blinked, and thought “o.k. What happened here?  Last time I recall I was in Athens heading north.”  I don’t think its unusual.  A lot of people who commute to work have told me that they can’t recall whole sections of their drive.  I don’t even have a whole lot of sense of what I was thinking about that was keeping my mind occupied.  I always have CBC on in the car; and honestly, have no idea what was being broadcast in that moment.

 

It’s a little disturbing that I’m ‘missing’ these whole chunks of my life, and that somehow, I just ‘wake up’ after time has gone by.  I’m told that this state of mind is called ‘dissociation’ and can range from just ‘zoning out’ or daydreaming, like I did on my commute, to a disconnection from yourself and your thoughts, often as the result of trauma.  There are described disorders based in dissociation that require really sensitive treatment and care.

 

All of it has me thinking though, about what it takes to be ‘awake’ to the presence of God in our world.  What does it take for us to notice what is going on around us, and to be ready to jump in and say, “I’m ready to see things differently, to act differently and to be a different way of living from what is being told is our society.”  There’s a whole chunk of people who are describing this understanding and world view – this calling out for justice and truth – being ‘woke.’  Originally, this slang was used to mean being aware politically and socially aware of what’s going on, but now its meant to be rude.  It’s meant to be demeaning.  Now it implies that political and social awareness is weak and snobbish; a place reserved for ‘academics and the social elite.’   Being woke is now being equated with being the teacher’s pet.  And no one wants to be targeted with that moniker, right – it just means that we get beat up after school on the playground.

 

Which kind of compounds the whole experience of dissociation, right?  When our attitudes and beliefs subject us to aggression and violence, even verbal aggression, and violence, its easier to disconnect from that experience and just exist on a different plane than the commute through awareness, right?

 

I have felt the need to dissociate on a number of issues recently; the American election and the call for really unsuitable people to the ‘inner circle’ of the Office of the President.  The blatant lying and ‘spin mongering’ from our own political leaders.  The disregard for the humanitarian crisis brought about by the Netanyahu regime, particularly with Palestine, and spreading through Lebanon and the middle east.  The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine; and the western supply of munitions rather than a concerted effort to negotiate peace.  The obvious ecological catastrophe that we are in the middle of, where I leave in shirt sleeves at the end of November.

 

Being aware, socially and politically, is battering and bruising me.   I think its battering and bruising a lot of us.  But the answer is not slumber.  Its not dissociation, its not even a casual disregard for all the news that’s around us.  I believe the faithful response is to

Keep awake.

To have our eyes wide open.  To have ourselves at the ready.

Because that’s the life that God has called us to.

A life that means that we may risk being bullied and demeaned for ‘being woke.’  A life that means that we may be ‘swimming against the current’ on some of our beliefs and our ways of being.  A life that may mean that we risk more trauma and more difficulty than we had bargained for.

 

But at the end of the day, it does mean that we are realizing the Kingdom of Heaven.   And that, my friends, is worth being awake for.

Blessings today, and remember you are Loved.