forever time

from my sermon on 12/11/12 from I Thes. 5:16-24

How do you spend your time? I find it interesting that we treat time like money....we spend it...we waste it...in jail we "do time"....can you lend me a few minutes of your time?....I'd like to borrow an hour of your time...Do you have enough time?.....if I do this now, I can buy myself some time.

I am in a series of sermons on time. I am finding that time is our most valuable commodity. What's your time worth? In counseling, you pay $50-200/hr for really 50 minutes. You lawyers out there, you bill by the hour, actually by the tenth of an hour. Imagine every 6 minutes, you are accounting for your time.

In our culture around here, time may be more valuable than money. Graham Nash, of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (really dating myself by this music group), broke both of his legs. Being laid up gave him a new perspective. "Time is our only currency. Even Bill Gates, as rich as he is can't buy a single second. We have to use our time wisely."

Our scripture for the day has some counsel, Rejoice ALWAYS, pray WITHOUT CEASING, give thanks IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, which could be translated as AT ALL TIMES. I call this forever time.

And now you say, who can possibly do this, forever be rejoicing, praying, giving thanks...especially when you read the news of 24 children being slain in the civil war in Syria or the remains of 274 servicemen and women being cast into a landfill after giving their lives for our country. Harry Emerson Fosdick wrote a book, A Faith for Tough Times, in which he recounts a woman's struggle with the diagnosis of a painful arthritis. A friend visiting her said, This illness will certainly change the color of your life. To which the woman responded, And I propose to choose the color.

It is our choice how we respond to anything in life. We can choose to rejoice, pray, give thanks or not. For us followers of Christ, it because part of our spiritual discipline. Signs of our maturing in Christ, growing our souls, are being able to be rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks more and more. It is a process. I believe that as we go on with God, we are able to take on more of the world's pain, with greater intensity, for longer periods of time. Our box of coping skills grows. We may even get to the point where we wake up not saying, Good God, morning, to saying Good morning, God. At the early service, one man told me, he reverses the order, beginning in thanksgiving, which leads him to prayer, and finally to rejoicing. Whatever order works for you. I believe that learning to rejoice always, pray constantly, and give thanks at all times leads to the only life of sanity there is.

How do you spend your time? Annie Dillard writes, How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives. It is a moment by moment, day by day, process. How do you spend your time? I heard a talk that said, if you show me your checkbook and your calendar, I will show you your priorities in life. Eric Hoffer, that longshoreman/philosopher wrote that our busyness was not from having purpose in our lives but rather worrying that our lives were being wasted. We get crazy busy because we don't feel we real count for something.

Now you ask, Pastor Lynn, is there any good news here? Yes, first all of the verb tenses and pronouns are second person plural. There all say "you all" or as we say in Texas "y'all." It is a community exercise. "Y'all rejoice always, y'all pray constantly, y'all give thanks at all times." We do this together. Our bishop in the SWTx Conf., Jim Dorff, experienced this in Africa. He was there to see those mosquito nets we have been purchasing for Imagine No Malaria. There was supposed to be a meeting. He kept looking at his watch, folding his arms, sighing. Finally, his African host, said, "In America, you keep time. In Africa, we make time." Bishop Dorff relaxed. The meeting would begin when everyone got there. In community we learn.

Another example of forever time is from the senior pastor I began ministry with, Mal Hierholzer. One day, he was visiting one of our unwillingly absent members, a woman facing the limits of her life. She despaired that she was of no use, homebound, without purpose. Mal said to here, Here's something you can do, you can pray for me. And she did. In fact, she became a prayer warrior, getting the prayer concerns called into her. We live this rejoicing, praying, giving thanks together.

The other part of the good news is that this is God's work in us. It is not our simply gutting it out. God's desire is simply for our deepest happiness. I love what the passage says, "May the God of peace sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and your soul and your body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and He will do this."

God came from beyond time, to enter time as one of us, in Jesus Christ. In fact, we mark our time by his coming into B.C. and A.D. We live in Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord. Christ has joined us and continues to work in us his will, confronting us and comforting us. God wants us to be persons rejoicing always, praying constantly, and giving thanks forever.

So that this worship time is actually rehearsal time for eternity. Think about it....what will you be doing in eternity? How will you spend your time? What appointments will you need to keep? Look at your calendar and what entries do you find there? We are practicing here what we will be doing for eternity, rejoicing, praying, giving thanks.

A closing story, a man was in hospice care in London. He asked his nurse, Am I dying? His male nurse took his blood pressure, his pulse, his respiration. Yes sir, you are actively dying. Will you help me do this? Yes sir, I will be right here for you. No, will you help me do this? The nurse took his hand, I am right here sir. No, will you get in bed with me? I think if you help me do this, I can do it well. The nurse got up in the bed and held the man....and the man did it well.

How will you spend your time?