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Boy Scout Tr #240

Scripture: Ephesians 5:15-20

I have been preaching from the Letter to the Ephesians. In this letter Paul has reminded us that we are united. “One Lord, one faith, one baptism...” We are family. We are in this together.

Paul has also said, we are “to be imitators of God.” Paul urges us to do good things because we are Christian. Paul said, “You are somebody so act like it.” We are to be and become who we are. God’s precious people who are loved before we do anything at all.

Today, Paul continues to instruct the Ephesians on how to live. He says, “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” Make the most of the time.

Time.

Here are some sayings I found about time. A Korean saying: “Put off one day and ten days will pass.” Lord Byron said, “Time, the avenger!” Will Rogers said, “Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.” St. Augustine said, “So what is time? If no one asks me, I know; if they ask and I try to explain, I do not know.” A Swahili saying is this: “Haste has no blessing.” I know another saying about haste, “Haste makes waste.” A Russian saying is: “The slower you go, the farther you will be.” A Jamaican saying is: “Today can’t catch tomorrow.” Ecclesiastes says, “There is a time for every purpose and for every work....” The wisdom of Solomon says, “Our time is a very shadow that passes away.” And I’m sure you all have heard that “A stitch in time, saves nine.”

We live in an era of the Great American Time Crunch. We have this perception that there’s never enough time to get everything done. We are always looking for ways to do things faster. Faster is better. Multi-tasking is better. We buy computers that measure time in nanoseconds We have microwaves that cook things in seconds. Fast-food places that are being built at very major intersection, fax machines, e-mail, cell phones that exchange information in seconds, everywhere you go. And still there is the perception that we do not have enough time.

Anthony de Mello tells this “parable on modern life” about the animals meeting in an assembly and complaining that the humans were always taking things away from them.

“They take my milk,” said the cow.

“They take my eggs,” said the hen.

“They take my flesh for bacon,” said the hog.

“They hunt me for my oil,” said the whale.

Finally the snail spoke, slowly. “I have something they would certainly take away from me if they could. Something they want more than anything else. I have time.”

Time certainly is thought of as a valuable, scarce, precious commodity. Time is money--the business world tells us. The time use experts tell us that “Americans generally have more free time today than they had 30 years ago--about five hours more a week, to be exact. We’re doing less housework, having fewer children, and retiring earlier than previous generations.” But are we using this extra time to relax, to play, to connect with people? No, the experts say. “Many of us are busy because we want to be.” We want to be able to do it all. We jump from activity to activity, dabbling in a rich stew of options, identities, ways of life. Today, it is possible to be a parent, hold down a demanding job, go to the theatre, do some traveling, take up a trendy hobby, and more. We have so much to choose from that it’s no wonder that many of us think we can keep doing a little bit of everything and somehow the really important stuff will take care of itself--important stuff like saving our planet, world peace, feeding the hungry, spending quality time with our family and friends, going to church.

Why do we do this to ourselves? One expert said, “Because the busier our schedules, the more important we feel and the easier it is to back out of things we secretly don’t want to do.” We measure meaning with productivity Historically, Americans have viewed an active life as morally superior. Being busy conveys self worth, even status. Some call this our Protestant Work Ethic.

A writer for the Washington Post wrote, “For years, I’ve been paying lip service to the idea of one day, becoming more active in the community, even if it extends only to the end of the block where we live in Washington D.C., or the public school my daughter attends. But now I find the challenge is to learn new habits, not so easy an undertaking for an office worker with a short attention span and a frontier spirit. It takes some unstructured time, after all, to chat with neighbors in a leisurely way over the back fence. And looking up relatives, in its own way, can be a chore. Plunging into school politics or community organizations means learning to be patient when they eat up valuable time--sometimes in the most inefficient way.” I’m sure that there are many today who could say the same thing about their intention to get involved in a church.

John Berger, an English art critic and novelist who ended up settling in a French farming village wrote: “Time passed, time went on, and it did so by turning itself like a wheel. Yet for a wheel to turn, there needs to be a surface like the ground which resists, which offers friction.”

What is the ground of our being that time uses to turn itself? Does time spin its wheels in our lives? Are we making the most of our time? Just what is the meaning of time and the passing of time in our lives?

Here’s what Arnold Bennet wrote about time in 1910 in article titled: “How to Live on Twenty-four Hours a Day.”

He said, “The supply of time is truly a daily miracle. You wake up in the morning, and lo! your purse is magically filled with 24 hours of the unmanufactured tissue of your life. It is yours. The most precious of possessions showered upon you in a manner as singular as the commodity itself! “For remark! No one can take it from you. It is unstealable. And no one receives either more or less than you receive. Wealth or genius is never rewarded by even an extra hour a day. And there is no punishment. Waste this precious commodity as you will, and the supply will never by withheld from you.”

Time is a gift given to us each day. Another translation of the phrase in Ephesians Œmake the most of the time,” is “redeem the time.” The Greek word for “time” here is kairos. The ancient Greeks had two words for time: chronos and kairos. Chronos means chronological time, sequential time....one minute passes, then the next. Kairos is a more difficult concept to grasp. It means “a time in between.” It is when something special happens. Chronos is quantitative. Kairos is qualitative. In theological terms it can refer to “God’s time.” It is a time when the human and the divine intersect, a time of crisis and opportunity. E.C. White in a recent article in Rev!Magazine wrote that “kairos is a passing instant when an opening appears which must be driven through with force if success is to be achieved.”

So, I think that Paul is telling us that kairos is a moment to be seized in the present--it is an opportunity. It may be because of a crisis, it may be because of a change. I believe it is the time that Hillsboro United Methodist Church is in right now--kairos. A time in between who we have been and who we are going to become. Kairos is a gift, an opportunity, a time to be seized now. Here’s a very vivid example of what I mean. When the passengers of the hijacked plane on 9/11 realized they were not going to survive, those who were able, called their loved ones on a cell phone to say or leave a message. They seized this moment not to tell their loved ones to be sure and make the house payment, but to tell them, “I love you.” At that kairos moment they discerned and grasped the present opportunity to do one thing--to express love.

This is the kind of time that Paul was talking about to the Ephesians—a fulfilling time, a redeeming time. The Letter to the Ephesians was a bold, cosmic vision. In our time, in our place, God has come through Jesus. The light entered the darkness. Now walls are crashing down between the Jews and the Gentiles, now nobodies are somebodies, now the song, now the shout: in Christ, our time is now, God’s time, God’s good time. It still is a bold and relevant vision.

Leonard Sweet, who is one of today’s foremost writers on the future of the church, writes this, “We are a remote-controled, security-fenced, internet-commuting, environmentally insulated society. We’re increasingly cut off from genuine experiences and expressions of community. We’re increasingly removed from real dynamic relationships. Our high divorce rates, our fractured families, our corporate superstructures, and our let’s just move mindset all evidence our failure at relationships.”

A recent gallup poll showed that four in 10 people said they have been lonely for a period of a long time. We live in a society that hungers for real relationships. Right here, right now. The world out there is looking for what the church offers--community, family, relationship--real, genuine connecting to one another. That’s the one thing we can give to each other so easily--all it takes is time. Time with each other and time with God.

And here’s the Good News. We have time. Because with God, time is limitless, time is eternal. With God, we can discover that there is always time. With God, we can work with time. With God, we are not called to do it all. The way we make the most of our time is by keeping time with God. Or, shall I put it this way--by wasting time with God.

So, ask yourself the “one thing” question. If there was one thing you wanted to say to someone, if there was one thing you wanted to do--what would it be? How would you seize that moment? When did you last have a real genuine, heart-to-heart conversation with someone you would like to get to know better, or someone close to you, or a neighbor you see regularly but hardly take the time to talk to? When did you last stop to look at the moon in awe of the universe, amazed at the connection of all things? When did you last waste time with God? When we keep time with God, we are paying attention to our relationships: with each other, with ourselves, and with God. When we keep time with each other, stories emerge, stories of parents who refused to take that extra job just to boost their spending power, stories of churches who found new ways to connect people with people in meaningful ways. Our homes, our communities, our church--this is the ground that the wheel of time turns on--the ground of relationships--the one thing that God yearns for--the place where redemption take place.

So redeem the time. Seize the moment. We are on God’s time!

Amen!

Notes: Anthony de Mello, The Song of the Bird, 1982, p. 36.

Utne Reader, “Too Busy?”, Jan/Feb. 1994.

Leonard Sweet, Rev!Magazine

Kairos from Wikipedia