After my freshman year in high school, I had the wonderful privilege of going with my choir to Europe. Yes, you read that correctly, I sang in the choir in High School, not because of my vocal abilities, but because I needed another extracurricular activity to “round out”my time with the Swim Team and Student Government. We toured and sang in Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland... we floated the Rhine River, went to the bear pits in Bern, and saw the beautiful Alps from the resort town of St. Moritz, went to the tiny country of Liechtenstein, went to the place of the filming of The Sound of Music, we even sang in the Mozarteum. The bus was our second home, because we were only in cities for a night or maybe two. The guys once had to pick up a small car to move it so the bus could get through the narrow streets. The trip was wonderful, the acoustics in the Cathedrals in which we sang in Latin and English were amazing. The tones came alive, echoing and reverberating off the beautifully decorated ceilings, stained glass windows, stone floors, and walls and beautifully crafted wood pews, lofts, and pulpits. The buildings used to be some of the largest, most ornate buildings full of people when the Christian faith was highly valued in Europe. Now, the buildings are largely empty and faith is only practiced by a few. We loved every city and had wonderful experiences. Our least favorite city was Paris, not because "The City of Lights" wasn't wonderful with the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Musée du Louvre and other sites, but because someone pulled a gun on us in the train station our first hours there and our hotel wasn't in the best district. On the last morning in France as we were boarding the bus for the Charles de Gaulle airport to return home, I noticed my sister and her friend were not on the bus. Just before they closed the doors, I ran up to their room and frantically knocked on the door with no response. I kept knocking. They sleepily opened the door with a "What is your problem?" attitude. I began yelling, “the bus is leaving.” Their eyes got large, they said something about the alarm not going off and slammed the door in my face. They threw clothes on and grabbed their bags. We barely made it. Because the bus had such a thin margin of time to get us to the airport, the driver would have had to leave the two teens in Paris to fend for themselves, so the rest of the group could make it to the plane in time.
When Jesus was giving the church a warning, He tells them to wake up, turn back to Him, and strengthen their faith before He surprises them with an unexpected and unpleasant visit. The people, who, at first glance, had an attractive facade of being His people, weren’t acting like Him. They had gone away from their relationship with Him and their faith was empty. They were about to miss the boat. To one of the early churches He says, “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.” (Revelation 3:1b –3) I believe this warning is not only for the church at Sardis, but churches in Europe, our own country and around the world right now. As one of our U.S. presidents said, “Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation.” We need to make sure we are hearing the alarm. We need to make sure we are awake, refresh our connection to Jesus and act like His people act once again.
Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!
