It's About Time

Ephesians 1:3-14
John1:1-14

Today, we have a problem with Time. Not just the lack of it, or our capacity to waste it in trivial TV watching, but in our very understanding of it. Today, we process Time in very short chunks. We abbreviate it, as we cook our food in the microwave. We truncate it, forsaking even the dumbed-down daily half-hour news show (17 minutes when you take out the commercials and feel-good fluff), for Facebook posts and Twitter-feeds. We rape Time by our reluctance to ask the big question about how history is shaped, and where it all will end. Apocalypse is not just a prelude to Zombies, it is one answer to the vital question, How will Time end?

 

We care so little for Time that we have stopped asking about it. Not so, the people of the Bible. John takes us back to the beginning, before the big bang, when the word was with God and was God. Later, John will take us to the end. Paul, in Ephesians 1:3-14, gives us the long-view on Time. In the beginning, God had a plan. Here and now, we experience Jesus as the mysterious manifestation of that plan. In the end, we will all share in God’s Glory as Time comes to its resting place.

 

Failing to yield to the awesomeness of this revelation, we have settled for a hurried and ho-hum experience of the Glory of God. I think that people like Stephen Hawking have done a good thing in giving us a glimpse into the awe that those who study time for a living experience. I may never understand black holes, but I can, and should, ponder the Lord of Time and the fact that his love for me and all frail humans, will manifest itself in Time, and at the end of Time. Paul writes:

 

[God has] a plan for the fullness of time, 

to gather up all things in [Christ], 

things in heaven and things on earth.

Postmodern Christians yawn when they see timelines like this
Christmas 2
1st Sunday of New Year