Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night,
needing to go to the bathroom, and you just didn't
want to turn the light on? You know turning the
light on will help you see. But you know that
feeling, waking up at 2 .30 in the morning, making
a quiet deal with yourself, I'm not turning on
that light. Because you know the rules. If the
light goes on, your eyes will sting, your brain
kicks into gear, and your body thinks it's morning,
and suddenly you're awake. when all you wanted
to do was stay half asleep and go take care of
your business. So you shuffle in the dark, eyes
half closed, hand on the wall like a sleepy zombie,
making way more noise than anybody needs to hear
at any point in time and being called by your
older cousin a super spy. Thank you, Jock. You're
trying not to wake up. You're trying not to see
too clearly. You're trying to stay inside the
comfort zone of drowsiness where the dark lets
you pretend that you're still asleep. You tiptoe
through the dark hoping that the night can just
keep lulling you along and you can get back to
bed quickly. Sometimes we avoid light on purpose.
If we turned it on, if we really saw things,
we'd have to be awake. And being awake is inconvenient.
Being awake demands something. It breaks the
spell of comfortable sleep. Turning on the light
forces awareness. Once the light is on, you must
face the reality that the night is over. That
you're awake and that you must act. That's the
worst part. If you're awake, it means you're
supposed to be doing stuff. We live in a world
that constantly lulls us into sleep. Sometimes
it's the literal sleep of the night, but more
often it's the moral, spiritual, ethical sleep
that quietly settles over our hearts. We like
it that way. Darkness can be comfortable. It
keeps us from having to face truths that we'd
rather ignore. It allows us to postpone uncomfortable
conversations with ourselves, with others, with
God. Darkness is seductive because it allows
us to stay unexamined, unchallenged, and unaccountable.
And the same is true morally and spiritually.
We can live, speak, and act without fully seeing
ourselves, without being fully honest with God
or our neighbors. But the moment light shines,
whether through conscience, scripture, or God
Himself, we can no longer pretend. The night
is over. The dawn is near. Wake up! You're welcome.
Paul captures this urgency in Romans 13 when
he writes, The night is far gone. The day is
at hand. So let us cast off the works of darkness
and put on the armor of light. We cannot pretend
that moral sleepiness is harmless. The night
is ending. The light is coming. We often prefer
spiritual drowsiness because if the light comes
on then that means we have to admit something
if Christ's truth shines on our words our habits
our excuses our compromises We'd have to acknowledge.
What's really there if We step into the light
we can't keep pretending that everything is in
order if you turn on the light Then you have
to see the mess that's on the floor the clutter
in the corner, the things that we've tripped
over a dozen times, the things that we try to
navigate around, instead of realizing the need
to clean it up. Darkness lets us stay numb. Just
like that 2 .30 a .m. trip to the bathroom, with
all of our resentments, prejudices, hidden sins,
and comfortable habits, we sometimes whisper
to our souls, don't turn the light on, don't
wake up. Don't look too closely Let me stay in
the half darkness a little longer, but Advent
says wake up The dawn is here and Christ is shining
the light has risen But you've just been keeping
your eyes closed Consider the darkness that grows
when no one is paying attention for years here
in Houston it appeared executives were running
a perfectly successful business climbing to unprecedented
financial heights, but behind the scenes, accounting
tricks, manipulation, and deception were running
unchecked. They created shell companies to hide
losses. They shifted debt off their books so
it wouldn't be noticed. They reported profits
that were not actually profits after all. People
trusted numbers because they wanted to believe
everything was fine. Darkness thrived because
people don't want to look too closely. They didn't
want to turn on the light. But you see, the consequences
were devastating. Not just for the Enron executives,
but for the employees, the retirees, the investors,
and the communities who trusted the company.
Jobs evaporated overnight. Life savings disappeared.
Families were uprooted. Communities were shaken.
All of this because darkness had been allowed
to grow unchallenged. because people had been
lulled into ethical sleepiness. And the strange
thing was, many of the people involved were not
villains in their own minds. They weren't waking
up each morning thinking, how can I be evil today?
Mwa ha ha, where is the wax for my mustache?
Do do do. Do you think that anyone being evil
ever really says, yes, I am evil today, you caught
me? Most of them were simply operating in what
had become business as usual, because that's
how darkness works. It doesn't show up wearing
a dastardly cape and a top hat. It shows up disguised
as normal. And because so many people were spiritually
and morally sleepy, because they were used to
the dark, they kept walking forward without ever
turning on the light. But you see, we don't even
have to look at corporate America to see the
same patterns. We can even think about churches,
communities, families. When trust is misused,
when authority is wielded irresponsibly, when
darkness thrives in silence or in secrecy, the
damage is real. People are hurt. Faith is shaken.
Hope is diminished. Darkness thrives. We've all
seen the news lately about a large prominent
Houston congregation where a leadership structure
was upended in a massive internal shift. Decisions
were made behind closed doors, authority was
redirected in ways that many members didn't actually
understand, and people suddenly began to feel
as though trust had been broken when they discovered
they had no more say in their own church. Even
churches can drift into a kind of organizational
darkness, secrecy, power struggles, defensiveness,
fear of the light. and the damage always spreads.
It doesn't ever stay in one place. People become
disillusioned. Young adults walk away. Members
feel unseen or unheard. Communities fracture.
Darkness, even when it feels safe, always costs
more than we think. But isn't that how things
have to be though? Don't businesses have to act
that way? No. There are plenty of examples whenever
doing the right thing may cost quite a bit, but
people still do it. When Johnson & Johnson in
1982 found out that seven people died after cyanide
-laced Tylenol capsules reached the market, the
company did not hesitate. They recalled every
single Tylenol bottle in the nation. Over 31
million bottles at a staggering cost that no
one helped them with. They acted transparently,
decisively, and sacrificially. Or Patagonia,
on Black Friday of all days saying, don't buy
this jacket, rather than trying to manipulate
guilt or pressure, instead asking that, do people
really need to buy our product today? And if
they choose to buy, do they trust that their
money is used responsibly? Or CVS Pharmacy, when
they stopped selling all tobacco products in
2014 because they wanted to align themselves
with health care rather than addictive substances
losing two billion dollars every single year
and even now having to close over a thousand
locations over the last three years ten percent
of its locations streamlining to continue its
mission of doing what's right for the community
But when scripture talks about darkness, it's
not always talking about dramatic things or obvious
rebellions. Often darkness is the stuff that
we've stopped noticing. Habits we excuse, patterns
we justify, sharp words that we shrug off, grudges
we quietly feed. sins that we rename so we don't
have to feel convicted, the things we keep in
the corner because we hope God doesn't bring
them into the center of the room. Do we really
think that the sins listed in Romans 13 were
just exceptions to what everyday people were
doing? Darkness allows us to say, I don't want
to deal with that yet. I don't want the light
to expose that. Let me stay comfortable, but
the longer we stay asleep the more damage that
we do Even as we know that Jesus is coming It's
like this time I was having this terrible dream
one night as a child and I began screaming bloody
murder To the point where my father jumped out
of bed Ran down the hallway slipped on a dryer
sheet, began pinball bouncing from wall to wall
in the hallway, and then finally jumped up on
my bed to protect me from imaginary dogs, whatever
I was dreaming about. And I did not want the
lights to come on at all because I did not want
to know just how beat up my dad was because of
my bad dream. I didn't want to see what was needed.
But the problem is that you cannot put ice on
the bruises if you haven't turned the lights
on to figure out where they are. See, you can't
fix the brokenness in the world or inside of
yourself without allowing the light to come flooding
in and show you what is happening inside so you
can change. But you see, Matthew is reminding
us that just having better ethical behavior or
more vigilance is not enough. The wake -up call
is about Jesus. Advent introduces us to a child,
a child who steps into the world when we are
unprepared, vulnerable, and still half asleep.
You see, children have a way of revealing what
we would rather hide. They ask questions that
we cannot ignore. They let the pastor know if
he's preaching way too long. But you see, the
thing is that the children are the ones who are
the most likely to tell you things that you didn't
want to know. They're the ones who are going
to say, wow, have you always had a mole there
in the center of your forehead? Wow, do you always
talk with that lisp? or even along the lines
of, did you ever have hair on your head? They
noticed, though, the inconsistencies in our behavior,
the speech, our ethics. They're the ones that
challenge us with moral clarity that we often
lose as adults. And the thing is, is that we
know that when we were children, someone taught
us honesty, fairness, compassion, justice. We
were instructed not to cheat, not to deceive,
not to take shortcuts. But somewhere along the
way, adulthood gave us permission to forget.
We rationalized our compromises. We found ways
to hide darkness instead of shining light on
it because it wasn't quite as dark as something
else. And then we look at the next generation
and wonder why they seem to prioritize career
advancement over integrity, why they don't seem
to have any loyalty to the places where they
work, why their ethical actions seem optional.
Why they make TikToks that make light of anything
they do with their bodies. Why the world feels
so fractured. As the words in Cats in the Cradle
would remind us, I'm gonna grow up to be just
like you, Dad. You know I'm gonna be like you.
Children imitate what they see. They learn from
actions. They learn from attitudes. And they
learn from our failures. When we work too hard,
The kids work too hard. When we look for the
easy way out, the children can't handle life
either. But the good news is that it's never
too late to model the right way. No matter our
past missteps, we can begin today. We can choose
integrity, honesty. We can follow the light and
have a chance at the next generation seeing it
and following. But you see, as inconvenient as
it may be, it's still needed. Whether tiptoeing
through the dark and we stub our toes because
we didn't want to turn on the light, or when
we realize that the bruises are going to be there
whether we see them or not, the truth is better
than the fear that we may imagine. But the child
of Advent, the Christ child, works in the same
way. He exposes darkness not to condemn us, but
to redeem us. He illuminates our shortcomings,
our ethical lapses, our moral sleepiness, because
He's offering us grace, forgiveness, and the
opportunity to start anew. The light does not
shame, it heals. The light does not punish, it
restores. The child comes for the ethically distracted
people. The child comes for us. The ethical life
though, it's more than businesses It's communities
families Legacies, it's more than children. It's
nephews nieces our students our neighbors kids
the children in our own church They pay attention
to whether ethics matter in real life They pay
attention to where ethics matter in our life
Because if all they see is compromise and self
-interest They will do the same if they see integrity
and courage They will be inspired to walk in
the light What does Romans 13 look like when
we put on the armor of light? It's more than
just avoiding the things that it listed in there
There are things listed in there that I've never
really had to worry about in my everyday life
But if we're honest, it looks like truth -telling
even when it's uncomfortable It looks like fair
treatment of others and not exploiting or manipulating
It looks like generosity being free and honest.
It looks like forgiveness and patience to others
and to ourselves It looks like daily resisting
choices That can lead us into darkness The ones
that we say well everyone else is doing it. I'm
sure it's not that bad But you see, Advent is
a season when the church stands between darkness
and daylight. It's that early morning moment
when the sky is starting to turn blue, but the
sun hasn't yet risen. I have no idea what it
actually looks like in real life, but the thing
about the sunrise, rumor has it you cannot stop
it. You can't close the blinds and try to pretend
it's not there. You can close them, but it's
still there. You can try to bury your head under
the pillow, but it's still there. You can pretend
it's the middle of the night, but the dawn keeps
on coming. Because Jesus says He will come at
an hour when we do not expect. But that's exactly
why we need to be awake. Because the light of
Christ is not about being harsh. It's not about
humiliating. It's not a gotcha moment from God.
I caught you. It's helping us to finally see
a way forward to be healed to be children of
the day the light the dawn and So as Paul says
that once Christ has been put on once we are
clothed in his righteousness Then we shed off
the shadows Because putting on Christ is more
than what's on the outside It's what transforms
us on the inside So let's be honest about the
things that we have kept in our darkness. The
bitterness that we've nursed. The habits that
we've justified. The lies that we've told ourselves
to get past the decisions that we've made. The
secret selfishness. The fears, the pride, the
excuses, the unspoken resentments. You don't
cast these off in order to earn God's love you
cast them off because God's love is already shining
on you And as we do the scripture illuminates
the prayer centers The community strengthens.
The service wakens. Compassion, worship keeps
our eyes open. We are meant to wake up not just
to a moment, but to a rhythm that is meant to
change our life. This whole next month is meant
to be about resetting before a new year has dawned.
Where we offer forgiveness, correction, grace,
and a new beginning. but especially with ourselves.
So here we stand, the first Sunday of Advent,
the Sunday of hope. The light is coming on, but
are we going to fight the sunrise today? Are
we going to keep condemning everything around
us but refusing to awaken ourselves? The alarm
is going off. The curtains are opening, the horizon
is glowing, and you're pretending that that alarm
is just a good beat to dance to. But let's be
honest, the day is at hand. So if we wake up,
today is not a day for fear or shame, but hope,
mercy, and restoration. So today, as the baby
is going to be in the manger, Let us let the
child show us what is good and what is true,
but also the forgiveness for when it hasn't been
true for us. Because today is when the dawn draws
near, the light is shining, and today is the
day when we are called to wake up. Thanks be
to God.