{"id":1307,"date":"2012-07-03T15:38:07","date_gmt":"2012-07-03T15:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=777"},"modified":"2017-08-26T15:26:28","modified_gmt":"2017-08-26T19:26:28","slug":"what-time-is-it-anyway-by-jd-penner-1-july-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/?p=1307","title":{"rendered":"What time is it anyway? – by JD Penner – 1 July, 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

See Archived Sermons<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Listen to this Sermon<\/font><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

My newspaper carrier can never deliver my newspaper on time. It\u2019s always late. It\u2019s supposed to be delivered by 6:00 AM, but usually it doesn\u2019t arrive until 6:45 AM at the earliest. On most days, I don\u2019t mind, since I usually don\u2019t leave the house before 7, but on the days when I leave earlier, I find it really annoying. It makes me angry. There \u2013 I\u2019ve confessed my anger. I feel better.<\/p>\n

So, here\u2019s yesterday\u2019s front page from the Globe and Mail (which didn\u2019t arrive on time, but I didn\u2019t mind since I woke up later) \u2013 note that there are several items related to time:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat would you do with a free Bulgari watch?\u201d Apparently, this has to do with a few politicians who didn\u2019t declare some gifts of expensive watches. Hmm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Stampede at 100\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPerdita Felicien \u2013 Time is running out to break the Olympic jinx\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

And an advertisement from CIBC \u2013 \u201c\u2026limited time offer\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We measure almost all of our activities by chronological time. Think about all the aspects our life where chronological time is important.\u00a0 We judge people by chronological age, wishing them happy birthday. We acknowledge anniversaries, particularly those with years ending in 5 or 10 (as if those are somehow more significant than the one\u2019s and three\u2019s). Oh – happy birthday to Canada, 145 years old today, by the way. We measure success in many sporting events by how quickly a race is completed \u2013 I know this from personal experience watching my kids swim in competition. We set alarm clocks to wake us at certain times, we leave the house at specific times to get to work, and children\u2019s days at school are regimented by time with the starting and ending times announced by bells. Ask any suburban commuter taking GO Trains or GO Buses, and they\u2019ll know down to the minute what time their trains or buses leave from their stations, and frequently our spouses know it too. \u201cHi honey, I\u2019m on the 4:53 train\u201d \u201cOh great, you\u2019ll be home early today\u201d.\u00a0 So much of what we do is guided by how much time we have or how much we\u2019re willing to allot to it. We rely on this chronological time to make our lives work. In fact, so much so, that for some, if there isn\u2019t a schedule they\u2019re at a loss. \u201cWe\u2019ll have supper when we\u2019re hungry\u201d just doesn\u2019t cut it \u2013 \u201cwe have to eat at such and such a time or we\u2019ll be late for\u2026 or miss\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

For many a true vacation is one where one schedules very little; it\u2019s called \u201cdown time\u201d, as if the machine in us is turned off and we\u2019re just not functioning at our normal capacity. We long for this \u201cdown time\u201d but then we frequently find we\u2019re just as tired after the vacation as before it started. Do we know how to practice proper leisure time, or do we just find another way of filling it with activities (scheduling them, even), perhaps for fear of being bored or feeling unfulfilled? So when, then, do we take the time to think about what we are doing with our lives. In other words, when do we think about questions such as \u201cIs this what God is calling me to do for myself, for my children, for my community, for my church? How do I know what the church needs from me?\u00a0 When do I even spend time thinking about the church?\u201d<\/p>\n

Those kinds of questions, though, don\u2019t come on a schedule. Frequently those questions that challenge our lives pop up at times when we think we\u2019re least prepared, through life events that challenge us, or at random moments, when, to our way of thinking, it\u2019s the least opportune. As, in \u201cReally, NOW this is happening? I don\u2019t have the time for this?\u201d \u201cNow, God, really?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s striking that the writer of Ecclesiastes seems to write with such confidence about moments and events in life and the writer does a good job of recognizing them and cataloguing them in chapter 3, even if the context of the book seems to be a writer who is questioning everything as being vanity\u2026<\/p>\n

Excerpts from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s nice, Ecclesiastes, but how do I know what time it\u2019s supposed to be? A time to break down, and a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones\u2026OK, good to know, but, uh, what time is it now? So tell me, do I throw away the stones now, or should I go and gather them now.\u00a0 What time is it anyway?<\/p>\n

The first instinct of many when faced with questions like this is to study, analyze information, look for patterns or facts that might help us determine the right course of action. Let\u2019s just study the problem, get as much information about it as we can, and maybe we can determine what the right answer is. Easier said than done, especially now. Here\u2019s an example.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Growing up, if something came up in conversation where we doubted what was said, or didn\u2019t know the answer, one of us would go running for the dictionary or the encyclopedia and find out the real answer. Nowadays, we just pull out the laptop or smart phone and Google the answer. The problem now, is that instead of just having one dictionary or encyclopedia providing the answer, you end up with 16,000 hits in Google. So which one is right?\u00a0<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve heard it said we live in the information age. We now have access to information from every source imaginable at the touch of a button. How do we sift through it all? I once heard someone say that information is the oil of the 21st century. When the H1N1 virus was flying around the earth, Google, that great aggregator of information, was able to track the virus\u2019 progress faster than the World Health Organization could. Why? Because based on the number and concentration of people making searches for flu symptoms on their search engine, combined with local media reports and other anecdotal information they gathered, they knew what the progress of the virus was, faster than the W.H.O. could get reports from medical authorities globally. Another example – Malcolm Gladwell, a writer with interesting insights about our world and human behaviour, stated during a keynote address at a conference that I was attending that the problem for the U.S. government about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 was not that the government didn\u2019t have the information; they actually did have all the information about when and where things were going to happen. The problem was that they had so much information that they didn\u2019t know which of it was the most important, and therefore on which information they should act. They simply didn\u2019t know what signs were the right ones to indicate action was necessary. The key, then, isn\u2019t just having the information you need, but to know what to look for; knowing the right signs, and then you\u2019ll know what time it is, right? You\u2019ll know where and when to act, if you just can get the right signs. So, this brings us to the Gospel of Matthew –\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Pharisees and Sadducees wanted a sign too. How do we know for sure that you are the One? Show us a sign from heaven. And Jesus responds\u2026<\/p>\n

Matthew 16:1-4<\/p>\n

Jesus talks about how people could read what the weather was going to be based on looking at the sky, but then states that although they can predict the weather they can\u2019t read the signs of the times. Interesting note about the weather reference here \u2013 you know that saying, red sky at night, sailor\u2019s delight, red sky at morning, sailor\u2019s take warning? Well \u2013 here it is in verse 2. I thought that saying was far younger than the 2000 years it appears to be now. In any case, Jesus says that they can\u2019t read
\n the signs of the times. What were those signs of the times? According to some commentators, these were actually the signs of healing that are described in the previous chapter. The Pharisees and Sadducees would clearly have been aware of these things, and yet they still wanted a sign for themselves. One just for them.\u00a0 Here Jesus calls them an \u201cevil and adulterous generation\u201d. This is the same language that was used by the Old Testament prophets whenever Israel was seen to be turning away from the one true God. \u00a0 So why do the name-calling here? What was the difference? The difference was faith.\u00a0 The people that came to Jesus to be healed already believed that Jesus could do it \u2013 they already had faith that what they were doing by going to Jesus was going to be sufficient, whereas for the Pharisees, this just wasn\u2019t enough. They didn\u2019t believe that that was sufficient. They wanted some external sign. They had become so removed from the reign of God, that they were now observers, without having a deep faith that God was already at work. So, for you, Jesus says, what you get to witness, what you\u2019ll simply observe, will be what happens after three days\/two nights – the sign of Jonas.\u00a0 Jonah spent two nights\/three days in a fish and then came out again, just as Jesus would die and be raised again after three days. So that\u2019s what you\u2019re going to get – I\u2019m going to die and be raised again. Of course, this went right over the heads of the Pharisees and Sadducees.<\/p>\n

Now before we get cocky and think that well, \u201cat least we have faith, so we\u2019re not losers like the Pharisees who were observers and not participants\u201d, the disciples don\u2019t score much better here. Jesus gets into the boat with the disciples, and he tells them beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees and what do they say \u2013 they say, \u201cOh, he\u2019s talking about yeast because we forgot the bread.\u201d I can just imagine the conversation among them \u201cDid you bring the bread? No. Did you? No, I thought you were going to bring it. Ach, we forgot the bread, now we\u2019re going to get it\u2026\u201d And Jesus says, \u201cReally \u2013 that\u2019s what you got out of what I just said? Don\u2019t you get it? You\u2019re with me when I do all these things, including feeding 5000 from a few loaves and fishes, and you\u2019re worried about forgetting the bread? Do you still not get what I, what God is doing?\u201d Only then do they realize that it was the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees that was the problem. In other words, look at what you\u2019ve already seen and heard me teach. That\u2019s what\u2019s important. It\u2019s not the bread you need most. You already are participating in God\u2019s plan. I\u2019m simply warning you not to become simple observers of it like some others.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So \u2013 we should be paying attention to what God is already doing. We\u2019re a part of the continuum of God\u2019s activity, so the signs are actually already there. Determining what time it is isn\u2019t based on our own analysis of signs that we have to seek. The signs of God\u2019s work are already there. The message is already there for us. It\u2019s after Jesus\u2019s exchange about the bread and Pharisees that Jesus discusses with the disciples about who people believe Jesus to be, and who the disciples believe Jesus is. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Matthew 16:13-15<\/p>\n

It\u2019s once they\u2019re responded that they believe him to be the Messiah that he invites them deeper into his story – he then tells them what\u2019s going to happen. So here it is \u2013 you believe I\u2019m from God, so here\u2019s what God is doing and is going to do\u2026 and he tells them about his suffering and death. He brings the disciples into the story in a deeper, more intimate way, because now that they\u2019re participants in it, they\u2019re more likely to understand it.<\/p>\n

The signs of the times \u2013 we already have the tools to read them, because we\u2019re a part of the story \u2013 not only are we observers, but we\u2019re participants in God\u2019s story. By being participants, we have the right filters for the information, but only if we allow ourselves to use them. We can\u2019t be so proud as to believe that we have all the answers just through sheer determination to find them. There is a reliance on faith, and a faith as part of God\u2019s community that gives us the ways to act. We need to immerse ourselves in the story of God\u2019s people in order to understand our place in it. Only when we put ourselves into the story, when we dedicate our lives to living within the narrative that is God\u2019s ongoing revelation, then we can understand the signs of the times. You don\u2019t need to schedule God; church isn\u2019t just yet another thing to do. God and God\u2019s church are the reason for what we are doing.\u00a0 So what does that mean for how we are to live, to determine where we fit into the story of God?\u00a0 Last week, Marilyn invited us to stop and listen \u2013a time to keep silence. This isn\u2019t simply a moment of silent meditation \u2013 it was the silence of listening for the story of God in our lives and in the lives of God\u2019s creation. It\u2019s the profound living that comes from a connection to God. That\u2019s a lot deeper than a 90 second meditation. That\u2019s a life-long quest; a call and response; an ongoing part of the journey of our lives. It reminds me of the story of one of the mystic fathers I studied at CMBC, Brother Lawrence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nicolas Herman was born around 1614 in Herimenil in the region of Lorraine, modern day eastern France. As a young man, due to poverty, he was forced to join the army which at least guaranteed him food and a little money (which, by the way, army enrolment usually surges during economic downturns). It was while he was in the army, that Herman had one of those aha moments that changed his life. It wasn\u2019t a supernatural vision; it was just a moment of clarity. During the winter, Herman look at a barren tree \u00a0 – no leaves, no fruit, and he realized that the tree was \u201cwaiting\u201d with a sure hope of a springtime revival and growth during the summer. Looking at the tree he realizes that God\u2019s grace was immeasurable. Like the tree, Herman felt dead, but he had hope that God had life waiting for him. At that moment, the leafless tree \u201cfirst flashed in upon my soul the fact of God\u201d, and realized there was a love for and from God that was eternal. When an injury forced his retirement from the army, and a short stint as a footman, he entered a Carmelite monastery in Paris as Brother Lawrence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He then lived his life simply, working in the kitchen. In his view, everything he did was an expression of love in God. Common business could be a medium of God\u2019s love.\u00a0 It was the motivation behind the task that mattered, not the importance or sacredness of the task itself \u201cNor is it needful that we should have great things to do\u2026We can do little things for God; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of him\u2026It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of God.\u201d What a simple way of expressing what it is we are called to do to understand the reign of God? We will always know what time it is because we are living in God\u2019s time.\u00a0 We are not called to be like the Pharisees and Sadducees who were observers, but not really participants in God\u2019s time. They wanted a special sign just for them since they were different from others and supposedly knew what time it already was. And we can learn from the disciples that the mundane is not the primary calling for us; that we shouldn\u2019t be so wrapped up in our own concerns that we miss the important calling from God. Everything we do in faith is in response to the story of which we are already a part. By living that faith daily, whether in quiet prayer or speech, whether we are sowing or reaping, taking the train, doing homework, running or swimming in a race, cooking for our families; when we do all those things with the love of God, we are at work in God\u2019s kingdom. The times that the writer of Ecclesiastes discusses are not times to seek; they are times that we experience when we liv
\ne fully to the people that God calls us to be \u2013 faithful followers of God. God\u2019s already part of our schedules. We need to listen, to speak and to respond to this call of God by sharing by being both observers AND participants in that story. We can BE part of the signs of the times. We will BE in those times \u2013 and then we\u2019ll know what time it really is.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

See Archived Sermons\u00a0 Listen to this Sermon \u00a0 My newspaper carrier can never deliver my newspaper on time. It\u2019s always late. It\u2019s supposed to be delivered by 6:00 AM, but usually it doesn\u2019t arrive until 6:45 AM at the earliest. On most days, I don\u2019t mind, since I usually don\u2019t leave the house before 7, but on the days when I leave earlier, I find it really annoying. It makes me angry. There \u2013 I\u2019ve confessed my anger. I feel…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-a-worship-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3931,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions\/3931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}