5th City- Sardis

Diamond Text for Sardis “Can you not watch one hour with me?”

Sardis, called the “most illustrious” of the seven cities, had been the home of the king of legendary wealth, Croesus (595 -546 BCE). Considered the mother city of modern currency, its gold smelting factory produced some of the most intriguing gold coins in the ancient world.

The Christians in this city of 60,000 to 100,000 people had a reputation for being alive, but JP wrote, “really you are dead” (Rev. 3:1). As with the other cities, these Christians are told “Repent,” meaning: “God is about to turn your lives around” (Rev. 3:3).

God’s repentance moves on the Sardis Christians has a new twist. “Become watchful,” JP writes (Rev. 3:2). Does this mean God will make them watchful bridesmaids, whose lamps have plenty of oil, vigilant for the Second Coming of Jesus (Matthew 25: 1-13)?

Or is there a more personal, urgent “watchfulness” God is about to work in this town? The “dead” Christians there all live in their own personal Gardens of Gethsemane. Like Jesus, they have no one to watch one hour with them as they pray, “Father, let this cup pass from me.” (Matthew 26-36). God is about to turn these “drive by” Christians in Sardis into sisters and brothers who stop to watch one hour with their suffering friends.

Many years ago, I took a basic unit of clinical pastoral training at a mental hospital in Atlanta. One man sat all day long in the admissions unit, staring at a spot in the carpet. The Lord pushed me to sit next to him for 20 or 30 minutes a day. He never spoke. We just sat there for many weeks, side by side, staring at the same spot on the floor.

The day before I was leaving, I sat next to him and started to share his stare. Suddenly he spoke. “I hear you’re leaving tomorrow,” he said. ‘Yes, I replied. “Well, I want to let you know how much I have enjoyed our visits.” After all those weeks of sitting together, I woke up to what God was doing for me through this man. Sometimes it’s best to shut up and just stare at the carpet with a brother or sister who’s in his or her own personal Garden of Gethsemane.

“Become watchful,” and “Watch one hour with me.”

I am thankful for James Lee Burke, who in his novels has introduced me to personal gardens of Gethsemane.