Snow Days by Charles Smith
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone; the day is near.
(Romans 13:11–12a NRSV)
Of all the memories I can recall from my childhood, some of the most delightfully pleasurable are of frosty winter mornings when I would inch myself awake, toe slowly out of bed (trying to keep as much of my body under the blankets as possible), peek one eye ever so slightly through the smallest gap in the blinds of the window, and blink quickly in the brilliant light of the sun reflecting off a snow-covered landscape, unable in that moment to tell quite where the yard stopped, and the road began. I would then knowingly sink back under the covers, stretch one arm to turn the alarm off and drift back to sleep, fully aware that the responsibilities of the day had been swirled away in the flurry of the night.
I have never been one who willingly chooses to wake from sleep. On the occasions when I would accompany Dr. James Dunn, my former professor, and mentor, to Washington D.C. to boldly stand with generations of staunch Baptists in the pursuit of a robust separation of Church and State, he was slightly taken aback each morning upon seeing my face and would often purse his lips and pointedly mutter in his distinct Texas drawl, “You can’t howl with the wolves if you want to fly with the eagles.” The problem for me, of course, was that I had done no such howling. I just felt that late morning or even early afternoon was a better time to fly.
So when Paul writes, “You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep,” I instantly take issue. I have enough conflict with my physical alarm clock; I certainly don’t need a symbolic one.
And yet, in this passage, I am reminded of the importance of spiritual wakefulness, of working towards the in-breaking of a new dawn. Jesus would often remind his followers to stay awake, to keep their lamps trimmed and at the ready, for the hour of his arrival is known to none. During Advent, we await the coming Incarnation when God is made flesh.
But in this time of anticipation, we must also be mindful that the fullness of hope is not encapsulated in one birth in a Bethlehem stable on a cold winter’s night. Paul implores us to remember that joy comes in the morning. “The night is far gone; the day is near.” On this Advent morning, may we embody the promise of love that lingers over creation, and live into the peace that reigns forever. But first, give me five more minutes, just five more minutes, zzzzz.
Charles Smith, Associate Pastor for Student Ministry