The Readiness Potential

​The Venerable Joan Clark

Luke 21:25-36

That is the prime question as we get ready for Advent. In other words: “Are you ready?”

What’s your RP?

RP is the abbreviation for “Readiness Potential,” a term in cognitive science which technically stands for your brain’s potential readiness which precedes voluntary action, the brain signal linked to voluntary movement, your awareness or readiness that occurs before conscious intention. Sounds complicated. But it’s actually not. It simply means that humans have a kind of preparation or expectation that occurs in our minds, our brains, before we jump in to do something or even think something. Kind of like “free will,” our brains decide we have the potential do something before we actually do it.

Your readiness potential is the sense of readiness you have in your mind even before you’re consciously aware of it. Cool, huh? We are indeed complex and unique creatures.

A lot goes on in our brains without us knowing it. We know that from our dreams, and advent is a time in which dreaming is vital to prophecy, acceptance of new directions, admission of supernatural occurrences by the Holy Spirit, and things that exist far outside our awareness. Think of Mary’s encounter, of Elizabeth’s, of Zechariah’s, of Joseph’s. Joseph had multiple dreams that would guide him to protect his family.

These are what we call “signs.” Signs are everywhere around us. We see signs that sometimes we attribute to simple occurrence, or to coincidence. But we also see signs that we feel somehow go deeper than that, which have meanings that are meant especially for us.

Some of you may feel that way in prayer, or in reading the scriptures, in worship, or in hearing beautiful music. You may experience anomalies in your life, gifts from God just when you needed them, direction from the Holy Spirit, or guidance from Jesus in a difficult time. No matter how rational we are in our workplaces and daily lives, we all know that knowledge and wisdom go far beyond what our conscious minds can perceive. That’s why we are people of faith.

In a sense, faith is the grounding for your readiness potential. Somewhere inside of you, your mind has knowledge that extraordinary things are possible, and this knowledge prepares you to act upon your faith, to prepare for things outside of the ordinary to happen, to help you feel the joy of Advent and the coming Christmas event, to know in your heart, even if you don’t know why, that something amazing happened that day Jesus was born, something that is still amazing today in your life and in the lives of people all around the world. You know it, because deep inside of you, you feel it and believe it.

In a sense, this is what Jesus is trying to explain to his disciples in our scripture for today. He’s explaining the meaning of “signs,” those subtle hints of perception we can recognize in our world, because our faith prepares us to see them. The deeper your faith, the more aware you will be of these kinds of signs of God around you, signs that will help prepare you for the future and protect you from harm.

Jesus gives the disciples examples first that they can recognize, examples of how their minds already recognize signs without them even knowing.
When the fig tree sprouts leaves, you know summer is coming.
You might also say…
When the sun comes up, you know it’s morning.
When the sky gets dark and the wind cold, you know it’s going to rain.
When the temperature drops, you know we are entering into the season of autumn.
When advent begins, you know Christmas is coming.
When the stores put out red and green décor, you know Christmas is near. 

There are so many others.

We recognize signs every single day and our brains connect them to coming events, events that we have definite feelings and intentions about.

Jesus explains that we must also allow our faith to guide us, must be open to trusting our faith’s intuition, so that we also recognize the signs of God all around us. For, as he explains, there will be signs. There are signs. The more you see Jesus in your life, the more secure you will feel, and the more intentionally you will act upon your faith in discipleship and in mission.

How do we do this? Simply by paying attention, Jesus says. And listen to this advice. It could be written for anyone today as well as in the past:

“Take care that your hearts aren’t dulled by drinking parties, drunkenness, and the anxieties of day-to-day life.”

“There will be signs…when these things begin to happen, stand up straight and raise your heads, because your redemption is near.”

I have to laugh a bit when I read this. Let’s translate for today.

Don’t get so caught up in holiday parties, in shopping excursions, in the stress of  meeting cultural expectations, in spending your time drinking and frivolity, in cooking, in    rushing around and doing what needs to be done, that you miss the signs of God’s      amazing gift of life. and the signs of warning God is giving you about the need for    readiness for the future.

Now, this Christmas, we may not experience a hurricane, an earthquake, or the end of the world, but in our busyness, we may easily miss the joy, the peace, the promise that God has bestowed upon the world in the coming Christmas event. For this is what we celebrate. This is what we prepare for.

Christmas is not simply a recognition or celebration of a past event. It’s a readiness for change in our own lives and for our own futures, and invitation for God to take root in our hearts in a new and vital way. It’s a time of renewal and a stark reminder of who we are and what we are here for.

It’s time to get ready….for everything as we know it to change. For us to change. For when we change, the world changes.

Some years back, some scientists wanted to prove the existence of “Readiness Potential,” and so they did an experiment called “Ready, Steady, Jump,” in which they measured readiness before Bungee jumping. They felt that with such an enormous event, which goes against all reason, there would be a cognitive sense of readiness that would happen before the jump, which would make that jump possible. They felt their experiment succeeded in proving the existence of this vital step.

It’s how athletes prepare for a competitive game, or how students prepare for an SAT or GRE. It’s how Christians prepare for Christmas….for life as we know it to change.

So, I ask you again, are you ready? You must decide.

Will Advent this year be the time when you let your faith take the reins to encourage you to do things you’ve never done before in the name of Christ? To see the signs of Jesus all around you working within your life to mold you and use you? Will you take the plunge and focus on the true meaning of what is happening around you at Christmas? This is your time.

Ready…..steady……jump!