Well, don’t judge me (and it’s going to be hard not to), but I’ve gotten into a certain television show for about the last month. Late at night after the work day is over, the kids are in bed, and Heather is happily watching a singing competition show or her latest favorite crime drama or comedy, I have been known to creep back to our bedroom and turn off all the lights and watch a horror series from AMC called The Walking Dead.
It’s a show about zombies, dead people who stumble around hissing
and grunting, and just rip into and swarm whatever living flesh they can find. Once a person’s been bitten by a “walker”, as
they call them, then they get sick and die in a matter of days, and just a
minute or so after death, they come back themselves as a “walker”. So the whole show begins after this pandemic
has taken over the city of Atlanta, and we presume the entire globe. And the basic premise is that a small band of
humans are just trying to survive. I
would classify this show as an apocalyptic zombie action thriller.
And I never would
have guessed that I’d take an interest in this, but I’m kind of hooked right
now (thanks to my brother Tim, who kept telling me to check it out). And like anybody who watches a show like
this, we have to always make our justification: It’s not about zombies and
violence so much as it’s about the relationships and the “deeper” questions
that the show explores. Yeah, well. But you know how when you watch the same
show, or read the same book over a longer period of time, then many other things
in life remind you of whatever you’re reading or watching? I was out at the shopping mall the other day,
and just looking around at the people...
…And nobody was looking back at me. I mean, everyone, and I noticed this in
myself too, we were all just walking and looking past each other, practically
hissing and grunting, ripping into
whatever “deals” are available, almost senselessly handing over our attention
and our money for stuff, ignorant of where or who others are, really just
focused on ourselves and maybe on our
closest friends and families. I know
those are some pretty morbid thoughts to have during this festive time of year,
but I couldn’t help it after watching this show:
Today we reflect on our weariness, and I would go so far as
to say that if we’re not careful, as busy and as consumeristic and self-centered
as we can be, if we’re not careful, we human beings can almost be a certain
kind of walking dead, stumbling through this world, empty, directionless, void of
passion and conviction, just ready to devour whatever happens to come before us.
And I’m right in there, at times...it’s
almost like we’re walking dead, even while we’re alive.
Eyes glued to a screen perhaps. Hearts set on a thing. Not seeing, not breathing (trust in God,
living faithfully). Maybe even in church
we can drone on with little life, just doing what we always do, or desperately
trying to find something new in order to give us a quick thrill. I remember reflecting on the Nicene Creed or
the Apostle’s Creed, as a “droning on” with little passion or conviction. These are the words that shape us as a
community of faith, down through the centuries, but how we can just read it
like zombies.
In this and so many ways, it can be like the life has been
sucked out of us.
And maybe it’s just ‘cause we’re tired. It’s not ill-intentioned. We’re good people, but we get so tired, and
then we get care-less and stop seeing others.
How weary we can be!
Weary of fighting, weary of working, weary of crying, weary
of searching, weary of worrying, weary of watching, weary of hurting, weary of
walking this path. How weary we can be.
But today, a prophet’s voice cries out in the
wilderness. I’d suggest that we imagine
replacing wilderness for weariness. A
voice cries out in our weariness, for weariness is a certain
wilderness: “Prepare the way of the
Lord! In the midst of our overwhelming
fatigue, comes a cry: “Make his paths straight.” …in other words, instead of
wandering aimlessly through what can sometimes (or many times) be a parched
life, let us orient our direction to God’s direction! Let Christ be our compass. “Every valley shall be filled, every mountain
and hill shall be made low.” That is to
say, when we’re feeling low and in the dumps, God, through Christ Jesus, born
in the dumps, in a lowly manger, will lift us up, will fill us in. And when we’re feeling on top of the world – tall
as mountain, confident as a top gun pilot, strong as a lineman, wealthy as
Donald Trump, un-needing of God, because we’re pretty much the next best thing…when
we’re up there, then the prophet cries, we will be leveled. Every mountain and hill shall be brought
down. Because when you’re up there, you
can’t see everyone else. And there’s a
certain walking dead quality to that life as well. Un-caring, un-noticing, un-concerned,
un-interested. But the prophet cries
out: the low shall be lifted up, the
haughty shall be brought down, and ALL flesh shall see it together! The salvation of our God. All flesh shall see the salvation of our
God!
Sisters and brothers in Christ, we are brought back to life
in the advent of our God. We are raised
from walking dead to walking in Christ!
We are humbled to see all flesh together in need! We are filled with Christ this day, filled to
brim with love and forgiveness and grace.
We are with God. God is with us,
this day, in the malls, in front of the tv screens, and computer screens, in
our work, in our play, in our sleep, along the way, God is with us, and so we
awake, to see in all flesh, with all flesh, that God has come to save us, right
now, and into eternity. AMEN.
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