does anybody know what time it is?

from my sermon on Nov. 13 from I Thes. 5:1-11

Do you know what time it is? Time is a funny thing. Last Sunday, we went from Daylight Savings Time to Central Standard Time....and we gained an extra hour...how cool is that? We could use an extra hour every week or every day, couldn't we?

Last year Cathy and I went to Australia and New Zealand. We left LAX late at night on a Tuesday. We got on our Qantas flight and journeyed for some 12 hours. We woke up and arrived in Brisbane, Australia, and it was Thursday morning. Where did Wednesday go? That pesky International Date Line just took away a whole day. Here's the amazing thing: flying back from Aukland, NZ, to LAX, we actually arrived before we took off!

There's time and then there's timing. One of my favorite jokes: do you know what the most important thing in comedy is-timing.

Paul uses two words for time and timing in this passage. I know you love it when I become Mr. Language Person so the word translated as "times" in English is the word "chronos" in Greek, from which we get chronology and chonometer. It is clock time, seconds, minutes, hours, days, etc. It might sound like this (Westminster chimes). The other word translated into English as "seasons" is the word "kairos" in Greek. It is the fullness of time, the right time, God's time, the proper time. It might sound like this ( sing "To every thing, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn, turn, and a time to every purpose under heaven").

So what time is it? The clock on the wall says about 9:30 a.m. But the liturgical calendar from Godly Play says it is the second to last Sunday of the church year. Children, help me. In two weeks, we get into these 4 purple Sunday, a season of preparation we call....Advent. There's Christmas in white. Then comes these Sundays of green...epiphany...a time of revealing who Jesus is. Then comes these Sundays of purple and preparation again....Lent. This white is Easter. If we didn't have this holy day, we wouldn't have any of these other days. After Easter, there is this red Sunday....Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit. Then these Sundays of green, Ordinary time, which is really extraordinary time, because of the coming of Christ. We Christians tell time differently from the rest of the world. We tell time by the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.

What time is it? There are some other time metaphors in this passage. One is the day of the Lord. It is a day anticipated by such prophets as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Zephaniah. It would be the time when the Lord would come and set everything right. It would be a day of judgment, of reckoning, when the righeous would be rewarded and the evil would be punished. Paul says the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. He picks up on language that Jesus used about the coming of the Lord. Do you know when the thief comes? NO. That's the point. It's unpredictable. Paul also says it is like labor pains. Any women here have give birth? You are given a due date. But does the child come on the due date? Sometimes. Sometimes sooner. Sometimes later. You are not in control. You need to be ready. You have the hospital bag packed. You have the neighbors on speed dial so they can come in and take care of the pets. You don't know when, so you live in a prepared state.

Time and timing are important. Chronos can become kairos. John Wesley started the Methdodist reform movement that grew out of his control and became the denomination that we know today as the United Methodist Church. He practiced and preached the value of time. He kept a journal of what he did....every 15 minutes of the day. He was just a tiny bit obsessive-compulsive. He said things like, "The meeting shall begin on time....never spend time idly."

There was a time on April 24, 1738, where as he writes in his journal, "I went very unwillingly to a meeting on Aldersgate street where someone was reading from Luther's preface to the letter to the Romans." It sounds like pretty dry stuff, doesn't it? But Wesley's heart was strangely warmed. He had a conversion experience. Chronos became kairos. He still struggled in his faith, but a year later, on May 2, 1739, he went out to a coal field, dressed in his vestments, and preached to the coal miners as they came out of the ground. He preached about salvation in Jesus Christ as a gift. They believed him. A reform movement became a spiritual revolution. Chronos became kairos.

In truth, Paul uses the terms almost interchangeably. We know that clock time can become God's time. This past week, I attended a meeting of the Austin District professionals, pastors, educators, youth workers, musicians, etc. We heard testimonies from our Phoenix pastors, those who have come through the wildfires. Andy Smith, the pastor at Bastrop, reminded us of the timeline. The wildfire event itself took 2 weeks time. The relief period is 10 times as long, therefore 20 weeks in duration, of which we are only 1/2 through. The recovery period is 100 times longer, or almost 4 years. We live in a rescue society, where we focus on the immediate fix. I am here to tell you that we will be with the Phoenix pastors and churches for the duration. We will make these years into God's time.

Cynthia Engstrom is the associate in Bastrop. She told us that some 30 families in that congregation alone lost everything. There were many more families that didn't know the status of their homes. The neighborhoods were closed off by police. Some were given only 10 minutes to return to see if they still had a home or not. Those who did still have a home and that short time used it to grab what linens and food they could....not for themselves but to give to others. Chronos became kaipos.

There is a prison ministry, that usually begins on a Thursday evening and goes through Sunday afternoon. It mirrors passion and death and resurrection of Jesus of Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Talks about the Christian faith are given. Communion is celebrated once a day. The prison is inundated with cookies, thousands of cookies. Some of you have baked cookies for these weekends. You know what this prison ministry is called? Kairos...God's time.

I don't often do this...get so personal, but I want to tell you what happened on this past Father's day, the third Sunday of June. We went out to lunch with our older son Joel. He has been pushing off against us....as an almost 30 year old is wont to do. We were eating at Jason's Deli. I was having my 1/4 muffeleta with vegetarian vegetable soup. It was pleasant. Joel gave me the obligatory Father's Day card. It was some Peanuts cartoon, Charlie Brown and Snoopy theme, totally forgettable. At the bottom of the card, Joel wrote, "Dad, I want to spend more time with you." All of a sudden, the meal became the sacrament of communion. The prodigal son was returning home. Chronos became kairos.

I have so much to say about time that I can't fit it all into this message. But Advent is coming, and I will take the time to do a sermon series as follows:

Nov. 27 Mark 13:24-37 Wake Up Time
Dec. 4 II Peter 3:8-15a Marking Time
Dec. 11 I Thes. 5:16-24 Forever Time
Dec. 18 is Lessons and Carols or Carol Time
Dec. 24 is Christmas Eve or Celebration Time

Do you know what time it is? Hear this good news: the Lord God holds all of our times and seasons in his hands.