If You Ain't "Woke", You're Asleep!

 

Like everything else, it seems, once you find a word gaining traction among different sectors of society, a violent reaction – usually verbal, but sometimes physical - will kick in from any opposing group. So, the mot du jour is “woke,” which we take to mean “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)”, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. The word has its origins in a response to racism, especially in America and the Black Lives Matter movement. More “conservative” or “right-wing” definitions are, however, consistently negative: “WOKE - often used in contexts that suggest someone's expressed beliefs about such matters are not backed with genuine concern or action.” Certainly, in the UK, current government ministers- and most famously the current Home Secretary, Suella Braverman - promote an entirely negative and disapproving attitude to anyone deemed “woke,” considering them: “politically liberal or progressive (as in matters of racial and social justice) especially in a way that is considered unreasonable or extreme.”

(UK Home Secretary (2023) Suella Braverman - Cabinet Office photo)

Alternatively: “Woke is not merely a state of awareness; it is a force that dismantles the walls of ignorance and complacency. It is the unwavering commitment to truth, justice, and equality, igniting a flame within the hearts of those who seek a better world. To be woke is to rise above the shadows of indifference and confront the uncomfortable realities that permeate our society. It is to acknowledge the deep-rooted biases, systemic injustices, and the pervasive discrimination that persistently plague our communities. Woke is the courage to challenge the status quo, to question the narratives that uphold oppression, and to demand accountability from those who hold power. It is the unwavering belief that every voice matters, regardless of race, gender, or social standing. Woke is the realization that progress requires action, not just words…” (DL Lewis)

So, is “woke” just some New-Agey thing only good for hippies, tree-huggers, mystics, and Vegans? While it is obvious that some who identify as “woke” are people with anti-social, anti-status quo, maybe a-social people who moan about everything, are off-centre and maybe off-grid, many others see being “woke” as, well, waking up or becoming awake! You might think so, too, if you surf the internet and especially if you link “woke” with some kind of spirituality.

Take this, for example:

Spiritual Awakening & Ascension

Are you longing for more than a life of unfulfilling work, excessive screen-time, and material possession accumulation? If so, you aren't the only one, as more and more people understand the many illusions within our limited reality, certain very necessary inner transformations are happening to people all over the planet.

Are you one of these people? Are you unsatisfied with your current life and/or the outside world?

Well, that sounds pretty “woke” for starters, doesn’t it?

The development of human consciousness is, indeed, progressive – in the sense that, by and large humanity is becoming more aware of itself, more inclined towards behaviour and practices that enhance rather than degrade life-experience, including in its attitude towards the environment, Creation, and a historically long-view paradigm.

Or, of course, we are now panicking.

Overall, there is plenty of evidence of a Great Awakening occurring in the world generally and in the Church, particularly. For writers like Phyllis Tickle (The Great Emergence; Emergence Christianity) “Every five hundred years, give or take a decade or two, Western culture, along with those parts of the world that have been colonized or colonialized by it, goes through a time of enormous upheaval, a time in which essentially every past of it is reconfigured, From the perspective of the twenty-first century, and thus from our own place in history, it is fairly easy for us to see that pattern writ large over the last two millennia.” (Emergence Christianity Baker Books, 2012, p17). The last and most recent intervention, she says, was the Great Reformation, and the repercussions for the Church and the world of that upheaval.

Such “emergent” events, however, do not occur only in the Church, or in religion more broadly, but also in society at large. Likewise, as far as I can see with our “Great Awakening,” where, it seems, spiritual truth (or: “Spiritual Truth”) is, as a new dawn, breaking over humanity regardless of religion, non-religion; belief or unbelief. If “Everything is Spiritual” (according to Rob Bell) then it is no surprise that as so-called “Emergence events” affect everyone, and an Awakening is also becoming universally apparent.

Of particular interest to me is how that is manifesting in the Church, and in the lived experience of believing followers of Jesus, many of whom have been undergoing a period of so-called “Deconstruction” as the forms and fashions of their “faith” have been challenged, legitimately doubted, or even discarded.

It all boils down to our understanding “Christ in you/us, the hope of glory.” I love the Passion Translation’s rendering of Psalm 17:15 – “As for me, because I am innocent, I will see your face until I see who you really are. I will be satisfied in an awakening of your likeness in me.”

What people are rubbing their tired, myopic eyes open to is the dawning Truth – once preached, long discarded – that we are all One in Christ; that Jesus the Christ came to save the world (kosmos); that God was in Christ, reconciling ALL things to Themselves. That as we are in Christ, so, there is a new creation – all things are being made new. That also – By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, we also are in this world. (1 John 4:17 NASB)

In fact: “This is the message of Light: Christ awakens you from your intoxicated slumber and resurrects you out of the death trap of enslaved thought patterns…” (Ephesians 5:14 The Mirror Bible) And there are dozens more verses buzzing with the energy of Love and the alarmingly amazing reality of who, and where, we are, which is to say: in Christ.

For the time being, the majority of the Church – even though it is the Body of Christ – either does not know, or prefers not to believe this.

In his essay Come, Creator Spirit the late T.F. Torrance writes: “The supreme questions must be asked once again. Do we really believe in the Holy Spirit? Do we believe that at Pentecost he [sic] came upon the apostolic witnesses as the Creator Spirit and, in spite of the distorting preconceptions of the human heart, and the creative projections of the human spirit, transformed their understanding to receive God’s own witness to himself in Jesus Christ and so empowered them to become faithful witnesses to Christ themselves? Do we believe the kerygma of Jesus Christ to be the creation of God’s Spirit or the out-growth of man’s own religious consciousness? In short, do we really believe in Jesus Christ as God and Saviour?” (In Theology in Reconstruction, SCM Press, 1965, p256 - My emphases.)

The evidence, so far, is No. We haven’t believed that for the most part, and we don’t want to. Otherwise, why do those who preach The Gospel - of Grace, Salvation and Reconciliation – the one that Jesus, Paul, Peter, James and John, just for starters, preached – find themselves branded heretics, and get excommunicated, “cancelled” and barred from so many church groups and denominational systems? Why do so few of us believe that the Kingdom of God is in us all?

During a recent Bible Study at one of the congregations I fellowship with, the issue was healing. Do we believe in healing? Why do we rarely, if ever, see healing of the kind practiced by Jesus and the disciples? Why are 99.999% of our prayers for healing fruitless?

Answers on a post card please! No, seriously: because we do not believe in the power of resurrection. We do not believe that we have been raised up together with Christ. We do not believe that “God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly dimension…” (Ephesians 1:3) We do not believe that “…his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness…” (2 Peter 1:3) and so much more.

I know I don’t – and I am working on that! I, with Paul, desire to know Christ and the power of His resurrection in my life, NOW! I desire to preach and teach the True Gospel with accompanying signs of attestation and authentication – NOW! Jesus promised we would do greater works than He did. Really? Then how do I align with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to ensure that is my experience today?

Faith is the response. The faith of Jesus the Christ, which has been given through love and grace to every man, woman, and child on earth. It’s time we activated our subscription to the programme of empowerment to serve, to demonstrate Kingdom life and to live Jesus as US!

Yes, why not?

Let’s be “woke!” Let’s WAKE UP, people!

Grace and peace; go well, Wayfarers.

·       Do check out: It is Finished by Robin Smitt; The Mystery In You by Logan Barone; Quantum Life; Quantum Prayer; Quantum Faith all three by Steve McVey; The Path – How to Journey With God And Live Your Life Purpose by Schlyce Jiminez, and many others now out there!