Holy One, keep us awake
as we pray and wait with Jesus. AMEN
Last week I spent some time walking around Butchart Gardens in Victoria.
Char and I, and friends Wendy and Sandy,
walked the paths...
stopping at single flowers growing in the midst of tender green grasses;
staring at wisps of cloud, floating in the blue of the sky;
being amazed at the shapes of the trees,
still and naked... waiting to burst with green.
We discovered tiny, tiny buds,
found one yellow tulip among a hundred red ones,
saw bumblebees dancing on fuchsia,
delighted in sunlight welcoming growth and colour.
And oh yes... we rode the carousel!
There were no crowds, so we walked at a leisurely pace,
and saw many things we would have missed,
if we had been pushing through the crowds.
A garden in the spring is a place of beauty, mystery and wonder.
When Peter, James and John, went with Jesus
to the Garden of Gethsemane,
I wonder if it was crowded, or were they there by themselves?
Did they notice flowers, the shapes of the trees,
bees or blue sky?
Having shared a special Passover meal together,
Jesus and his friends headed to the Mount of Olives,
lingering at the foot of the incline ... in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus then took John, James and Peter with him,
to pray nearby.
“Keep awake and pray”, Jesus requested,
and then he walked into the garden a little further.
Jesus returned to find his friends with their eyes closed,
sleeping.
He woke them and asked them again,
to stay awake and pray.
Somehow, though, it was too much to ask,
because three times they fell asleep.
They just couldn’t stay awake.
Some scholars would say that the three times,
mirrors the three times Peter denied Jesus.
My Dad had often fell asleep in church.
His sleeping wasn’t the embarrassing part,
he would wake up suddenly, with a snort.
And he muttered loudly, often asking “what’s wrong... where am I?”
I don’t think Jesus worries too much if we fall asleep in church.
But when he asks us to stay awake, and to pray,
and we close our eyes to the needs and hurts
of our neighbours and friends...
it is then, that Jesus weeps.
Stay awake!
Stay awake to the desperate cries all around us,
and do something that makes a difference.
Stay awake!
Stay awake to the simple, God-filled moments
and celebrate the presence of the Holy.
Stay awake!
Stay awake to children’s laughter and our elder’s laughter.
Stay awake to single flowers growing in the midst of tender green grasses,
and bumblebees dancing on fuchsia.
Be awake when a neighbour needs a kind word,
or a stranger needs us to stand with them against racism.
Be awake and pray for the healing of those who are caught
in addictions claws, or depressions void.
Pray by doing cart-wheels or in silence
or by hands folded and head bowed,
or by lingering your gaze in the tree branches out a window.
On this Palm Sunday, with its Hosannas and branches waving,
stay awake with Jesus,
celebrate the communion of bread and the juice of the vine,
and let your hearts be open to the mystery.
As we journey through Holy Week
be awake to the wonder of Maundy Thursday
and the tender love of Jesus as he washes the disciples’ feet.
Walk to the cross and linger on Good Friday,
with the questions and the tears.
Stay awake... be awake... and live well the journey.
May it be so!