Tick, Tock

“Tick, Tock”     Text: Psalm 90:1-17
Elpis Christian Church
August 30, 2009

 Can you believe summer is almost over?  Already we are fast becoming consumed with talk of our upcoming fall festival; the children are moaning and groaning about being back in school; and I’m looking forward to taking just a little time off before hitting it full speed again in preparation for all of our fall programming.  Time marches on . . . relentless, unforgiving, and totally uninterested whether or not I want it to move on.  It just does.
 So today – I want to talk about that “tick, tock” of our lives some.  I want to put the movement of yet another season in a larger perspective.  And I want us to be reminded that through it all there is one unchanging, yet ever dynamic reality, called GOD.  Not a GOD who is relentless, unforgiving and uninterested.  But a God who comes to us again and again, particularly in the person of Jesus Christ, who goes with us through all the changes of time whatever they may be.
 I remember a time – when time seemed to be at a complete stand still; when it seemed as if there was nothing to worry about, no one who had to be seen and no one who had to see me.  All was right with the world – although, now looking back through adult spectacles – I realize there is never really a time like that.
 I was about 11.  After school I would ride home on my bike, letting the late afternoon rains wash over me, then, sitting under a tree – would help myself to a big, juicy, ice cold navel orange – taken fresh from the refrigerator.  As the rains subsided, and the sun returned, I would watch great, puffy, white clouds float by overhead.  And I would drench myself in orange juice and pulp.  Those were the days.
 In reality – the world was on fire.  Race relations were at the point of race riots.  The war in Vietnam was raging and the body bag counts grew daily.  And presidential candidates were being assassinated.  But I had my orange, and my puffy quiet clouds, and my late afternoon showers to refresh me and comfort me.  And that’s how it should be when you’re 11 years old.
 What I understand now, from an adult faith perspective – is that even when I don’t fill my days with such lovely inactivity – and they are fewer and fewer now – the eternal loving God is still there in the midst of it all with me – and that – that, ultimately brings far more lasting peace than a slice of orange.  And that’s the real perspective we have to keep on time and its passing – isn’t it?
 Ron Blankenship, in a piece called “You Can’t Save Time in a Bottle,” writes about it this way:
 “Time, as valuable as it is, cannot be kept.  Time can never be replaced when it is gone.  I wonder sometimes if Father Time – the mythical old man who supposedly controls time and keeps it in balance – ever laughs at the way mankind tries to save time.  But who really is in charge of time?  What does the Bible say about the elusive abstraction called time?”
 “To begin, the foundational biblical concept is that eternity exists beyond and above time.  Eternity stands before, during, and after time.  The psalmist declared, ‘Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hast formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting thou art God’ (Psalm 90:1-2).  Eternity could not exist without being linked to the eternal nature of God.  Before time was created, the great ‘I am’ – God – existed.  The primary difference between God and idols is that God’s nature is eternal and the nature of idols is temporal.  God is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.  Idols, on the other hand, come and go on the wings of fads of the times.”
 He’s right.  Idols are all about being tied to the “wings of fads of the times.”  God is all about being the loving, guiding, creative source that was before even time itself was created – and who will always be.  And which of those two we chase after makes all the difference in the world.
 Today we are blessed to have with us some very talented musicians.  We’re going to spend some of our precious, fleeting time today with them.  We’re going to eat together and enjoy each other’s company then listen to them as they share their talents – and their faith witness - with us.  In my opinion that’s a very good use of a couple of hours.
 But I want today for us to use this occasion as an example – and illustration if you will – of how such choices can be a great blessing, or to be frank, a total waste of time.  It’s all in where we see and recognize God in the process.
 You see even congregational luncheons –and gospel concerts – if we’re not careful – can be mere, passing fads and entertainments.  They can just fill a couple of hours with something relatively pleasant to do.  Or – if we keep our eyes and hearts and minds open to it – such times can be timeless in their length and filled with meaning of eternal consequence.  Let it put it more simply.  We can spend the time communing with God.  And we can feel Christ’s presence here with us.  We can grasp and celebrate what Jesus means when he talks about “two or three” being gathered together in His name – and how that invokes his loving, life-saving presence with us.
 Things like Sunday School, and worship, and Vacation Bible School, and congregational meals and gospel concerts become the core of being in God’s presence.  And then – equally important – having been renewed and strengthened together – we can leave this place and spend some really important time elsewhere.  We can take the love we’ve experienced; the strength we’ve been given, and we can go and share it with someone else. And hopefully they will then decide to take some precious, fleeting, time and spend it with God and well.
 Well, speaking of time – I’m going to close out my comments early – so that we can allow our musicians to set up.  Let me just leave you with this.  In that relentless and unforgiving passage of time – even on all those days when you feel pulled in a direction that isn’t what you have intended or for what you have hoped – there is the kernel of opportunity.  It can become just so many wasted minutes and hours.  Or – it can be an opportunity to see the face of God and feel His loving, sustaining presence in your life.  Don’t waste time.  Embrace it – even as it slips through your fingers – and feel the touch of God.