​Sleepers Awake

Marc Chagall - United Nations - "Peace Window"

SLEEPERS AWAKEN
Awake, the voice is calling us.
​

Matthew 25 - Authorized (King James) Version

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 

​O Lord let our souls be still
Let the dark come upon us
In this bare winter light
Which is the darkness of God
Waiting for sleepers to waken
As the watchmen call out
High upon the city citadels
O Jerusalem arises at midnight
Let us shine forth our lamps 
In the obscurity of this night
To assemble as one kind
Calling out in a clear voice
O welcome the wise maidens
Rise as the bridegroom advances
Send bright blessings to the bride
Make ready for this evening
For a wedding feast and gifts
​Go and greet them together
To celebrate this new union

After the altar candles are lit
After the vows are sworn
Before lovers become one
As the guests sing Hallelujah
Shouting with endless joy
Before the newlywed couple
Retire to their nuptial chamber
As doors are thrown open
And inner candles lit to glow
As the hearth fire warms
As darkness turns to light
Let the watchers rejoice
For the Son of man cometh
To repair the wayward paths
Proclaim both truth and life
O unity of heaven and earth
Where eternity forms time
Where no sorrow breathes
Where all that lives and enchants
Is enclosed in creation’s holiness

O Sleepers Awake — to be “Woke” is to be awakened, to be as we are called to be in all our humanity and full human potential to love. Conversations on being roused and awakened touch on the very ground of our being and the greater mysteries of creations. Too often, we let our collective and communal vocabulary, our language, divide us in unseen ways.
 
The poetic metaphor in the – “Parable of the Ten Virgins” is a greater mystery. Let us awaken to the world around us and the people we are blessed to know, love, and are called to serve by God's greater consciousness. To awaken is to "Rise-Up" for all humanity, as Christ once did in his ministry of faith. This is what the parable teaches us; we are more than we imagine. We are more than we may imagine to one another, beyond all the mysteries of creation arising within this world.
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The politics and rhetoric of a nation dismiss this with harsh brutality, with a cruelness we cannot often see, and we should.  
 
To be "Woke" - Is to be Awakened. O Sleepers Awake!  
 
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140
 
— Awake, the voice is calling us.