Woke
Luke 1:39-55
In the US—particularly in conversations about politics—the word “Woke” has accrued an astonishing amount of baggage. “Wokeism” is blamed for the failure of politicians on the left to win elections. It is accused repeatedly as being the root of our social problems. It has become a catch-all phrase for anything spoken, or artistically rendered, that has a whiff of social critique, especially critique that is left-leaning.
And I am not sure if what has made “Woke” such a cussword is that it is left-leaning, or if it is the fact that, originally, the word “woke” describes a social critique of something our nation has struggled with since its infancy: white supremacy. Of course, nowadays, woke can mean anything from accusations about tone-policing speech, critiquing unjust economic systems and, yes, critiques of how whiteness operates in our government, economy, and society. Defend trans people? That’s woke. Fighting against corporate greed? That’s woke. Criticizing border security and a failing immigration policy in terms that uplift immigrants? That’s woke.
The criticism itself of being “woke” is becoming a bit tired and oversaturated, I think. And for Christians to take up arms against “wokeism,” is also to abandon the tradition of the Prophets that so much of the Christian holy scriptures contain.
Over the past three weeks of Advent here at Lakewood UMC, the scriptures that have been proclaimed in worship at our church could be painted as “woke.” They all consisted of prophetic words that critiqued the status quo. They contained prophetic words that challenged people in power, whether it was kings in Ancient Jerusalem, or the powers-that-be within and alongside the Roman Empire in Palestine.
More than the quality of what constitutes “wokeness,” I believe it is the fact that “wokeness” tends to critique the powers-that-be that makes it so offensive. People who want things to stay the same don’t want to hear warnings about why the status quo is harmful. Nothing is new under the sun—this has certainly been true across the millenia of human history.
Woke isn’t a cussword. And this week, our final Advent scripture proclamation is Mary’s Magnificant—a veritable hymn of “wokeness” in the Gospel of Luke!
Mary was just paying a visit to her relative, her sister maybe, or cousin—scripture isn’t clear, but that’s ok. Some family is chosen anyway. And in this visit, the infant John in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy in the presence of the infant Jesus. And what follows is a remarkable song from a young, probably 13 or 14 year-old girl from an oppressed class in a time where vocal opposition to the powers that be would have been deadly. The Magnificat isn’t just a fancy hymn for choirs to sing.
It is anchored in an ethic of justice.
The Magnificat is about as woke as anything could be before Jesus’ own radical teachings entered the scene in the gospel of Luke. “My soul magnifies the Lord…he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.”
This isn’t an idle hymn, this is a proclamation of a vision of the future that as far as anyone can tell, is still not fully come into being. Mary’s hymn was a vision of the Kin(g)dom of God long before Jesus himself spoke of it. Mary’s hymn certainly reveals where much of Jesus’ own ethic probably derived: his revolutionary mother.
My friends, I hope all of us can cling to the kind of courage that Mary had when she sang this song. It doesn’t matter if people cry out that it is “woke” or any other derogatory description. What needs to be said these days will unavoidably be uncomfortable to many who hear it—for all of us have become more comfortable and accustomed to an unjust status quo than we should for far too long.
Myself? I will gladly wear the badge of “woke” in defiance of how asleep we are to the very spiritual forces of wickedness God is calling us to resist. Even if it is meant as an insult, being “woke” to the evils at work which disenfranchise the very neighbors we are called to love as much as we love ourselves is vital to our discipleship. It’s how we follow Jesus. So.. stay woke!
Merry Christmas.
