9-13-09

I hope you had a wonderful summer. We did. Too short, of course. Not quite enough camping. But it was wonderful while it lasted. I know, I know, a little inclement weather in August, but isn't it wonderful now. Join us for the picnic. May we continue to rejoice...

Even as we turn the page to fall. Yes, it is happening, the changing of the seasons. You can see it in the trees, as we did in the aspens driving through Glacier Labor Day. In some groves leaves were already falling. You can feel it in the air. Still warm by day, as I say, but a crispness in the morning and a coolness in the evening. Indeed, the days are growing shorter, school is back in session, church boards are meeting again, and this is our Rally Sunday.

Yes, all the signs are there, "there is a season, turn, turn, turn..." and our season now is autumn. So, brothers and sisters, fall in!

More than any other season of the year autumn makes me aware of time. Summer helps me to forget about time, which is perhaps why I love it. But come fall, the awareness of time, the passing of time, presses upon me. The children are another grade older, one beginning high school, another having finished with high school, and yet another beginning primary school, and so it goes in our household, on and on. The flowers are fading, the fruit is falling, and football is in the air. Yes, we know what come next, as we begin to brace for yet another winter of our lives. How timely!

This sermon is about TIME. Your time, my time, our life-time. Which is all we've got.

24 hours a day, 1,440 minutes each God given day.. If you are an average adult, this day: your heart will beat 103,680 times, without missing a beat; your blood cells will travel 168,000,000 miles - tired blood? You will take 23,040 breaths; inhaling 438 cubic feet of air, aren't you glad you live in Montana? You'll ingest 3 1/4 pounds of food and excrete less than a pound (7/8), which explains some problems; washed down by 2.9 quarts of liquid. Hopefully mostly water. You will speak 4,800 words, some of us more, some less; move 750 muscles, most of them involuntarily; and exercise, we pray for the good, 7,000,000 brain cells, some of which will die for the cause.

All in one day's time. No wonder we need naps.

If you live to be 70 years of age, you will spend:

20 years sleeping, not counting the naps;

20 years working;

7 years playing;

6 years eating;

5 years dressing;

1 year on the telephone, mostly between ages 13-16;

2 1/2 years smoking, if you do that, hey, it's your life-time.

2 1/2 years convalescing in bed, unless you smoke. Then it's more.

3 years waiting and otherwise relating to people. Choose your spouse well.

5 months tying your shoes. Obviously a pre-flip flop study.

Leaving 2 1/2 years for other things, like church, community service and prayer.

An average life-time. Or so my sources say. I have no idea how accurate these dumb stats are.

What I do know is, life is time. This is how it is measured. And "this is the day the Lord hath made." (Psalm 118:24) As Ralph Waldo Emerson put it: "A day is a miniature eternity."

Or as devotional author LeRoy Brownlow writes: "...in the 24 hours of each day, one can plot a course that will shape his or her whole life and destiny. In those 1,440 minutes there are blessings to be received; bread to sustain life; opportunities to be grasped; challenges to be accepted; peace to quiet nerves; time to make amends; visions to look ahead; grace to rejoice in fellowship and grace to experience God's presence."

Indeed, "this is the day the Lord hath made." And it is more valuable than anything we possess. For no amount of money can buy another day.

As the French proverb says: "All the treasures of earth cannot bring back one lost moment."

Four points about time. Briefly, so we can get to our picnic on time.

1) RECOGNIZE GOD IN TIME, which is to say, recognize time is a sacred gift.

The monks who first invented the clock did so in order to keep the hours for God's worship. Mind you, not so they could look at their clocks during worship and signal the preacher that it was time to go, but that they might interrupt their workday and worship the Lord, which they did at timely intervals throughout the day.

I tell you, I would be a holy man if I stopped and prayed every time I looked at my watch. The monks kept track of time in order to worship throughout the day every day. How about you?

I remember a story about Kenny Stabler, the former quarterback for the Oakland Raiders and Houston Oilers. Yes, it's time to start doing football illustrations. Stabler, as an epitome of the modern man, was noted for his fast-paced life, both on and off the field.

Back in his playing days one of his off-season loves was racing his speedboat in the Gulf of Mexico. The boat had one speed - full throttle ahead. On the dashboard was a warning to his passengers, as well as his motto for life. Eight words: "Get in, sit down, shut up, hang on."

Compare these eight words to the eight words of the ancient psalmist: "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalms 46:10)

Or to Jesus' eight words: "Come unto me...I will give thee rest." (Matthew 11:28).

A different attitude towards time, and life. Though I understand Kenny Stabler has slowed down in his retired years. Wisdom wears this way. If you are getting older, and slower, you tell ?em it's wisdom.

As William Longstaff advises:

"Take time to be holy, speak often with the Lord.

Take time to be holy, the world rushes on."

One of the distinguishing characteristics of our Judeo- Christian faith is belief in a God who enters history, who becomes known to us in space and time. Recognize God in time, for time is the gift God gives us to be with the Lord and to be of the Lord.

2) RECOGNIZE THE LIMITATIONS OF TIME.

Time is finite. It is measurable. It is limited. So, my friends, is life. We don't control the beginning. And we can't control the end. But we do have, by the grace of God, some measure of control between the beginning and the end, which shows you how gutsy God is.

Our life is the hyphen between two numbers. That is how it appears on the tombstone. 1922 (dash) 2008. Our life is the dash in between two numbers.

We have a finite, though unknown, number of days in which to celebrate and serve the Lord. Each day has 86,400 seconds, and they are ticking away. Every one of us is now ten minutes closer to death than when this sermon began. No wonder you wish it was shorter.

We can't be all things to all people. We can't be all things to any one person. We have to recognize our limits, including our limitations of time, and do our best with what we've got.

As former farmer Dwight Eisenhower said of his lifetime, he would be pleased to leave one plot of land better off for his having lived. This is to recognize our limits while still serving the Lord. Jesus knew time limitations. His public ministry lasted three years. That's pretty limited. Still, he got some things done.

Limitations wax and wane over a life-time. There are seasons in life, and some seasons are more limiting than others. We need to recognize this or appear pretty foolish.

As Ted Schwinden, while governor, said when speaking to a Conference on Aging in Great Falls, "We should accommodate aging as we accommodate winter - we don't wear shorts in the winter."

Which, I think, means, we should recognize our limitations, even as we grow into our limitations, remembering Harry Truman's quote, "The highest office one can hold is to be a senior citizen."

Time, like life, has limitations.

Nevertheless...

3) MAKE THE MOST OF TIME.

"This is the day the Lord hath made." 86,400 seconds - a grand and gracious number. How do we spend them?

Which is the marvelous thing about time. We've got to spend it. We cannot save time or steal time or sell time. We cannot buy time or bank time or breed time. Why, we can't even win time in a lottery. Or win the lottery and have that make any difference to our time.

There is only one thing we can do with time: spend it. Which is great news to a tightwad like me. Of course, the question, if not the challenge, is: how? How do we spend our time? Isn't it amazing we are free to decide?

This question was put to Will Rogers, what would he do if he knew he had only 48 hours to live? "48 hours?" Rogers said. "Why, I would spend them as I always have: one at a time."

The point is, spend them wisely and well, "one at a time." As Paul wrote the Ephesians: "Look carefully how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of your time...do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." (Eph.5:15)

We can waste time, we can serve time, we can do time, we can kill time. Better yet: make the most of time. Or, as we say, make today count!

Author Bruce Larson tells the true story of a little boy who kept asking his father to help him build a clubhouse in the backyard. The father said he would, but he didn't have the time, what with work, home chores, social commitments, golf, etc.

The little boy was hit by a car and taken to the hospital. As the father stood by his bedside, his son's last words were, "Well, Dad, I guess we'll never get to build our clubhouse."

The point is not the clubhouse. The point is: what matters?

Don't ever say, "I don't have the time." That's a lie! We each have all the time there is. Which is another marvelous truth about time. Everybody gets 60 seconds to a minute, 60 minutes to an hour, 24 hours to a day.

Nobody gets cheated when it comes to time. Rich or poor, famous or unknown, we each get all the time there is every given day.

Our choice: how to spend our time? What freedom and what faith God has in us? #3, Make the most of time. It is a holy and precious gift.

4) RELAX, TAKE HEART AND BE HOPEFUL.

Hear again the ancient psalmist (103): "As for us, our life is like grass. We grow and flourish like the flower of the field. Then the wind blows over it, and it is gone - No one sees it again. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting."

The love of God is the beacon which shines through the winter seasons of our lives and floods the future with rays of hope and the promise of eternal life.

Friends, there is more to life than this space/time dimension. Time passes, but God in Christ remains the same, yesterday, today, tomorrow. Which is why we crazy Christians can celebrate life even in the midst of life's sorrows, which are many.

Former Supreme Court Justice, William O. Douglas, told the story of how when he was eight years old his family moved from a small town in the state of Washington to Portland, in order that his father might undergo a serious surgery.

Before the surgery his father told the family, "If I live, it will be great. If I die, it will be glory." William Douglas' father died during surgery. Said the Supreme Court Justice, "The words of my father have comforted me greatly over the years. ?If I live it will be great. If I die, it will be glory.'"

"This is the day the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it."

A few years ago I attended a seminar here put on by Chapel of the Chimes. They brought in a guy to speak on dealing with death and caring for the bereaved. Todd Van Beck. He was pretty good.

It was just following the Oklahoma City bombing, which you recall. He had flown down there in the wake of that massive tragedy to provide additional support to the overwhelmed funeral homes in the community.

Todd told of us the story of Ben Johnson. You may remember some of the story yourself. Ben Johnson was about the last victim to be uncovered. Ben was in the basement of the building when it blew. He was in his car in the parking garage.

One million tons of concrete fell around Ben Johnson's car. But the car was untouched. And so, therefore, was Ben. However, he was trapped. They began looking for survivors from the top down. Ben was last. They discovered him on day 16. He died day14, from dehydration.

Ben had a cell phone in his car. Amazingly it worked. So he called his wife. They spoke for 6 1/2 hours, before the batteries went dead.

Todd attended the funeral of Ben Johnson. Following the service he spoke to Mrs. Johnson. He asked her, "What did you and your husband talk about in those last hours."

She told him they spoke about all those things they should have been sharing the last twenty and one-half years. Mrs. Johnson said it was a shame it took a tragedy like this for them to finally say the things that mattered while his battery was running dead.

My friends, all our batteries are running dead. This is our life-time. While we've still got the juice, let's rally! To the glory of God.

AMEN.