Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake. Mark 13:35-37

It is hard to believe that we are in the season of Advent once again. It is the beginning of the Liturgical year. The homeless youth are completely ignorant of this season. I doubt that they even know of its existence. In reality, not many evangelical Christians here, excluding the practicing Roman Catholics, know anything about this liturgical season. This is due to an uninteresting rivalry between the two traditions here. However, in general, most people seem to be fascinated with end times and the season of Advent is traditionally a time when we reflect about the Last Things.

In the streets, we have more than our share of doom and gloom preachers. I have mentioned them many times in my reflections. They are always around us and hard to ignore. To our horror, people do stop and listen to these dreadful messages. Our children, unfortunately, get most of their religious information from these preachers. They spent a lot of time and energy drawing attention to all the evil prevalent in society and how the world is falling apart. There is no Light in their message. There is no gospel in their world view. It is a perspective negating the active presence of God in this world.

We are a people awaiting for the King to return and establish His Kingdom in its plenitude. At the same time, this is a curious thing because we believe that He is still present in our midst in a real manner. Our Anglican tradition affirms this every Sunday. In our liturgy, we have a high view of the sacrament of the Holy Communion. In the liturgical organization of our church, the altar takes the center stage. As long as I can remember, we have had the practice of having weekly communion even though this was not always the case. Now it is an essential part of our worship. Most churches define how the presence of Christ Jesus is manifested during Communion. We believe that Christ is present in a real and concrete manner without defining how or where He manifests Himself. In this way, we safeguard ourselves from slipping into idolatry and superstition, as well as keeping ourselves faithful to the words of Jesus,

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20

The point here is not make an apology for Anglicanism. It is just to state that every Sunday we remind ourselves that if Jesus can be present in the sharing of the bread and wine, then He can very well be present anywhere He pleases in this world. Therefore, it is essential we keep this in mind when we interpret the words of Jesus when He tells us to keep awake.

The world has been going downhill since the day our Lord ascended. This is not a modern phenomenon. Perhaps, we have the technology now to make things move along faster. Nevertheless, there have always been wars, famines, plagues, and natural disasters. The threat to our very existence has always been there. We cannot deny this. However, despite its ominous presence, there is an eternal Light present and darkness cannot resist it. Jesus tells us to keep awake because it is easy to fall into slumber of inertia. If we allow the darkness to overwhelm us, we might be tempted to recoil and wait for Jesus to resolve all our problems. This is not what Jesus is saying.

Our children and youth in the streets are isolated from the world. I mean they are not upset by the latest news of wars. If there is a natural disaster somewhere in the world, they are oblivious to it. It is not that they are apathetic. Their worlds have fallen apart long time ago. They have always lived in a broken world and feel it deeply. They don’t need the news to remind them of it. They see violence and injustice on daily basis. They don’t need any reminders. As for death, it lives very close to them. Yet, they still have hope. It is not blind hope as some might assume. It is hope that is more grounded in reality than any of us could imagine. This week, we had a special encounter with Wallace. He had his usual cheerful demeanor, however, just before we met him, he had a negative experience with an elderly man. The man had walked past him and then turned around and started hurling insults and demeaning comments at Wallace. It was completely gratuitous. The intention was to make Wallace feel small and insignificant. Thankfully, he decided not to react and just move away to another location. Obviously the whole incident upset him. It upset us just listening to it. He just needed to share it with someone.

This is the problem of the darkness in this world. It is not satisfied with wielding its power and showing off its feats. It wants to dominate our thoughts and minds. The homeless youth like Wallace want to avoid it but they can’t. It haunts them just like it haunts most of us who want to be good and do what is right. We are tormented by news of cruelty and evil in this world. Sometimes the very people we call family can become agents of darkness. However, despite all these attacks, homeless youth like Wallace, and there are a few like him, have kept themselves away from the claws of darkness. He himself told us that there are many people whom he meets on a daily basis that affirm the fact that God is alive and taking care of him. In a simple manner, Wallace has articulated what it means to keep awake in this world.

There are many homeless youth, ranging from children to young adults. They have all been homeless since they were very young. Tragically, only a handful of them are able to keep themselves from bad influences. They share a similar characteristic. They are open and available to people even after countless of negative experiences. If one were ask why they maintain this attitude, they will say that there are always people who show them love and kindness. It seems like something so simple. It is the simple things in life that are the hardest. Jesus tells us to keep awake. We can interpret this as being open to see what God is doing in this world. He is not acting on the grand stages of world politics, neither is He doing anything in which the media might be interested. In the temptation of Jesus, He clearly rejected this option when the devil suggested it. However, He is actively present in this world. I am not going to say how and where because I am an Anglican. We recognize that God is free to act where and how He chooses. We just have to be open for it to happen. It can be anywhere, and anytime, among anyone, but we need to be open; our eyes and our ears need to be sensitive to discern His presence. It could be right before your very eyes. Maybe even in your home. Being open is just part of it. We need to be available because keeping awake is not a spectator sport. It is an invitation to participate. We avail ourselves to be God’s instrument of blessing and we also avail ourselves to receive from God. The opportunity comes to those who are watching attentively what our Lord is doing. This is our vocation. We are to watch attentively all the great and marvelous things God is doing. Many times they seem small and perhaps are brushed off as insignificant by many. However, those who keep awake know that these are signs that the Kingdom of God is among us. When we are faithful in the little, then we will be ready for the great things.