January 2009

Monthly Archive

January 26, 2009

The Life of Your Time (Mark 1:14-20)

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What if I asked you to describe for me the “Life of your Time” Could you do it? Or would you just look at me funny thinking that’s not quite right. We all understand the “Time of our Life”, but it is the rare few among us who have come to really value the “Life of our time.” The time of our life is measured against the months and years, the pleasure and fun. The time of our life becomes a yardstick by which all other experiences are evaluated. The time of our life is aggressively pursued, jealously guarded, longingly savoured, and drawn out for as long as possible.

But what about the life of your time? Why are you here and what are you doing? It is not a question of quantity but quality. The life of your time can be defined in a single moment, in a single decision. The life of your time is not always fun or pleasant, but it is always productive. The life of your time gives reason and meaning for all the experiences you have within it. The Life of our time is largely ignored, forgotten, belittled, or cut short. This is not so much a question of WHAT you do with your time but WHY you do it.

St. Mark, in his Gospel, is clearly a man who understands the Life of Time. For Mark there is no luxury of savouring the nativity. What is singularly important is meeting the Saviour and witnessing His Words and His actions. And so St. Mark gets straight to it. Time and time again you can see this in his use of the word “immediately”. Everything that isn’t absolutely essential to the fulfilling of the Gospel of Christ is left by the wayside. Mark’s Gospel is one of remarkable brevity. His time is Right Here and Now. And nowhere is this seen better than in the very words and actions of Christ Himself.

(14-15) “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.” Christ’s idea of time is more than a little different than most of us. For Jesus, Time is never simply something to be spent. It was not just a chronology to be filled up with any old kind of diversion or activity. In our Lord, Time itself is fulfilled. Time itself is given Life! Jesus is not simply saying that He is really busy with a lot of stuff, so the disciples had better hop to it! He is showing, in Words and Actions that THIS TIME, right here and right now, is a turning point.

God’s Time is not a long succession of possibilities, but a succinct, definitive reality. It is a divinely ordained framework for His Will and Direction. In other words, Christ doesn’t find meaning for life in never-ending streams of events. He creates meaning for Life in His being part of Time itself. And that meaning is in His will for our use of the gift of Time. (17) And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.” To repent, to believe, to follow, and to leave all that holds us back. This is God’s will. This is what gives Life to our Time here in the world.

I can’t help but wonder, however, what would have happened if Jesus were to come here and try the same thing with us. If we received the same invitation, what would our reaction be? “We would love to come with you Jesus, but our business consultant is predicting a steady increase in the price of fish on the open markets. Now is not a good time for us to leave the company in the hands of untrained employees.” “I’m too old to begin fishing!” “I’m too young.” “My family is coming over and I need to prepare. I can’t leave now!” “Can’t it wait until tomorrow? After all, the big game is today.”

It is exactly as St. Paul describes in our Epistle reading for today (1Co.7) “I mean, brethren, the appointed time has grown very short; from now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the form of this world is passing away.” Life is not about casting our nets first over there, next over here, always seeking to fill them up with stuff, with the Time of our lives. Christ instead says cast where He is – fill our Time with real Life.

And Jesus said, that is truly the Good News in all of this. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.” Our time is fulfilled in Him. The kingdom of our God is at hand, because He is at hand. And just in the nick of time! When the Time was right, God sent His son into the world to save the world from its sins. To lead us where we had refused to follow. To go to the cross and bear our sin into death, that in repentance and faith we might have new life. Because of that Gospel – because of Christ there is now real life for our time!

And just as He did with the disciples, Christ calls each of us. It may seem ordinary, not worthy of note. Like being baptized as an infant. But in that simple call to follow Him is the gift of Life for our Time. Where the King is, there His kingdom is at hand. Where the King is, there His riches and His mercy are freely handed out! Again, just as Jesus did for those simple, uneducated fishermen, Christ who has called us will also train us. He will support us. He will encourage us. He will make us to become real fishers of men. He will give Life to our Time here in the world.

Our King is present right here and right now, to give us faith because of the gospel present in Word and action. His Love is at work in our midst through the reading of His Holy Word. His calling is confirmed and secured in the waters of Baptism. His forgiveness overflows in His body and blood, given in the Holy Supper. These are what give us faith to believe. Faith to repent. Faith to follow where He leads and do as He asks. Faith to stop filling up our time with all that doesn’t matter, and see instead that our time is fulfilled in Christ alone. Christ has redeemed our time, Christ will use us to do His will

One final way to look at all of this would be to ask the age old hypothetical question: If your house was burning down and you had no time, What is the one thing you would save? A silly question, unless of course you’ve actually faced that situation. I had a friend that did. They told me how they chose wrong. They tried to save a lot of their stuff. Now they wish they had only tried to save their family pictures. Everything that seemed so important at the time is now long gone. What they miss is the reminders of the love the have shared as a family. If your house was burning down and you had no time what is the one thing you would save? How you answer tells a lot about the Life of your Time. How you answer is important to those around you. The world is burning “the form of this world is passing away.” The Time is ripe. The time for action is right now. What will you do with the time you have been given? Will you seek to have the time of your life? Or in the Gospel and presence of our Lord Christ, will you give real Life to your time? “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.”

AMEN.

 

January 20, 2009

Listen Up! (1 Samuel 3:1-10)

Posted by kenmaher under Epiphany | Tags: |
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Listen Up dear friends, and I will tell you a story of a time when everyone was sleeping in church. Now, granted, it was very early in the morning, before the sun had risen. So in one sense I guess you can’t blame them entirely. However, it wasn’t just their bodies sleeping and that’s where the greater problem lay. The story in our text shows us a time in the history of God’s chosen people where the outward forms proper worship and service seemed alive and well (more or less), but on the inside most people were going through the motions, asleep on their feet.

Listen Up dear friends, and I will tell you that the time of Eli the High Priest and his wicked sons, the end of the age of the Judges of Israel was a time of great spiritual depravity. Hophni and Phinehas, Eli’s sons, were using the sacrifices of the tabernacle for their own gain. They were disrespectful bullies who had turned the services of God’s house into a swinging bachelor’s pad. Eli, their father and High Priest of all Israel, had told them they were making him look bad, but had not done anything to stop them. Yet that is not the worst of it. As we hear in our text: “And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.” God was still there and His word was still there, but very few now listened.

Over the many years described in the book of Judges people had come to despise God’s House. People began to ignore the Word of God. Oh, sure they still went through the motions, making their sacrifices and bringing their families for special occasions, but few gave it any real credence. Most never really listened to what God was saying, and even less took it to heart and changed their lives accordingly.

How else do we explain the fact that a young man like Samuel (likely twelve or older by this time), raised from three years of age right there in the tabernacle of the Lord, who slept within a few dozen yards of where the Ark of the Lord God Himself Rested, had know idea that God might actually want to speak to him? Or could speak to him? Or did speak to him? (7) Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.” No one had ever taught him such a thing should be considered. This was God’s house, but in the minds of most God wasn’t really there. How else do we explain that Eli, the High Priest himself, didn’t catch on to the possibility until it had hit him over the head for a third time?

However, Listen Up dear friends, and I will tell you the rest of the story. A story of God’s patience and faithfulness and mercy. For despite priests that did not serve him or call upon His Name, despite worship that did not praise Him from the heart, but was hollow to the core, despite a people that had either wandered from him or simply did not listen to Him … Yes despite all this The Lord remained faithful to His promise to call them, and lead them and guide them. He did not give up, but called and called and called again. (10) And the LORD came and stood forth, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” He made His presence known. He came and stood forth in Samuel’s presence and changed the course of a very dismal history. To a sleeping people he would proclaim a wake-up call in this prophet He was now commissioning.

Listen Up dear friends, and I will proclaim your wake-up call. For this story of the young man Samuel is also Our own Story … for the Word of the LORD is rare in these days. People continue to go through the motions, make their personal sacrifices of a little time here or a little donation there. They bring the families out to church on those special occasions, they say the Lord’s Prayer and sing their favourite songs. But most never really give it any credence … it is just one more thing to do in a very busy list of things to do. No one is truly bothered if they hear God’s Word, but most just don’t bother to stop and LISTEN.

As any wife can tell you, there is a huge difference between Hearing and Listening. Trish no longer cares if I hear her or not. I almost always hear her. And if I don’t I ask. It is the listening part I still need a lot of work on. Hearing takes no serious action or commitment. Hearing costs nothing. If all you are willing to do is hear then the words can slide off your ears like water off a duck’s back. The proof (as they say) is in the pudding! The Lord’s house is not about empty ritual or just going through the motions. Being a Christian is not about just hearing while yet remaining disengaged and distracted.

Listen Up dear friends, for it is time to be honest. Who here has not found themselves sleeping in church from time to time? Oh sure, the eyes may be open, but those eyes are looking longingly out the window, or the heart is on a golf course somewhere, or the mind is busily at work back in the kitchen at home. You may not be snoring, but perhaps you are dreaming of last night’s TV show, or that movie you just saw, or you are just counting how many times your neighbour is going to sniffle during the sermon. How many of us have come into the Lord’s House on a Sunday morning and managed to sit through an entire service without once truly considering that the Lord God Almighty Himself is truly present, and really truly, actually wants to speak with you! Being a Christian is not about just hearing while yet remaining disengaged and distracted. It is about Listening to the one who is right here in
your midst.

Listen Up dear friends, for this is the most important part of the story. The part of the story that is worth listening to. “Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.” But we do know the Lord for His word has been revealed to each and every one of us. Revealed in the Word made flesh. Revealed in the babe of Bethlehem. Revealed in the Baptizing waters of the Jordan River “This is my Son … LISTEN to Him.” God’s Word may be rare in that many people shrug it off, but that word is alive and well and right here among you.

The Lord himself has come in human form and stood forth. He has made himself one of us and has called each of us by name. He sets himself firmly in our midst, in the preaching of the Holy Gospel, in the waters of Holy Baptism, and in the bread and wine of His Holy Supper. He stations himself in our presence so that we might hear again and again that we are forgiven by the sacrifice of Jesus. He places himself squarely before us here today that we might truly begin to listen to Him. To Listen to what it means that we are redeemed, we are purchased, we are cleansed, and we are called by Him to a life of service in his House, and as His prophets to this hurting world. That you would no longer despise or ignore His Word, but take it to heart and change your lives accordingly. Our Lord and Saviour promised in the covenant of the Old Testament, and delivered in the Covenant of the New, has come and stood forth, that He might call you to himself and that you would listen.

As the words of God to Samuel are words for us too, may the words and deeds of Samuel become ours in response: “And the LORD came and stood forth, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for thy servant is listening.”

AMEN.

 

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