It's "abomnation!"

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

         There is an episode of Star Trek where the crew encounters a creature called a "Horta". There is one Horta that is guarding a cave full of silicon nodules (Horta eggs) which hatch once every ten thousand years.  Can you imagine if all humans reproduced and gave birth once a year at the same time? The screams would rival that of the cosmic cries from Vulcan as it was destroyed. Ok, you'll have to be a trekkie to get that but it goes to my point. We in fact do not reproduce and give birth at the same time. It seems an absurd notion. Births, like unceasing prayer happen at every moment of the day all over the world.

         You just never know when it's coming, those pangs of birth.  Such is life. There isn't very much that happens on a schedule we would like to depend on. The weather, falling in love, death and even the railroad does not seem to obey any rules about timeliness.  

         According to this passage we are to be sober and stay awake. What does that mean? Never drink? Some might conclude that but I think everything in moderation is a better answer. Such strict rules and never drinking is to not to enjoy a gift that man has created from God's gracious gifts, but I digress. Being sober also means being marked by seriousness, gravity or solemnity. Life is serious. As much as my motto is "work hard, play hard, pray hard", we cannot play all the time. Again, balance. 

         What we have to do is be serious (sober) about our mission, our goal, our calling, our faith, our love. We do not know when our time will come. A man fights 3 tours in Afghanistan only to come home and be killed in a car accident. How do plan for something like that? We just never know the time of things. 

         If having a ripening aortic aneurysm has taught me anything, it is how serious it is and how serious I should be about the possibility of meeting my heavenly reward (or punishment as the case might be). Each moment of the day should be met with a soberness. I'm not talking about a seriousness of the "preacher" screaming about "abomnations!" in Times Square yesterday. That kind of serious seems seriously stupid. I am talking abut a constant awareness  of living, being present to what is going on around you and within you. That's a kind of sobriety that elevates your life, help you appreciate life and makes you prepared to meet your maker whenever that comes.

       Today I pray that I will be granted a much longer life and a life in which I can earnestly (soberly) be present to the love of God all around me. See what happens when you try it.

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you.

For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

When they say, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!

But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief;

for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.

So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober;

for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night.

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.

Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.