"Time Does Not Stand Still"
Our time is a gift with a purpose
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Text: Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
In the past few days, I have encountered three very separate attitudes toward time. The first was when I went to have my snow tires put on. As I paid my bill, I wished the clerk a very happy New Year. His comment was, “Well, it couldn't be worse than the one that we just had, could it?” Then, I went to buy gas a couple of days later and the gentleman in front of me did what I had done - he said, “Happy New Year!” to the clerk behind the desk. The clerk replied, “From what I hear, it's going to be an awful year ahead. I think we are in for a really hard time.” The man smiled at me as he turned and walked away. I thought I would give it another shot at the grocery store. I said to the normally friendly clerk, “I wish you a happy New Year!” She looked me in the eye and said, “Dear, I wish you a happy one too, and may it be peaceful and calorie-free.” All this, when I had just bought $150-worth of calories - I mean, I ask you!
I couldn't help but contrast the ennui of the first response, “Well, it couldn't be worse than the last,” with the pessimistic view, “I hear it is going to be dreadful.” And, in fairness to the last clerk, she was trying to be positive, peaceful and happy - and giving me sound advice! Three different attitudes towards time, indeed! Time is one of these very perplexing things, is it not? We all have different attitudes toward it. There is an existentialist reality to time that either grasps us by the throat or grasps us by the hand.
It is not just trying to understand time and appreciate how different people understand it differently that is fascinating. Scientists grapple with understanding the vicissitudes of time. For example, I found out only recently that we experienced what is known as the “leap second,” where the clock was adjusted one second ahead because of the tidal drag of the oceans and the way the moon and sun pull them back, slowing down the movement of the earth. If we don't move the clock in sync with the way the earth moves, in a few hundred years we would lose an hour, which in many spheres, particularly in high technology, could be catastrophic. We have to move the clock ahead and miss a second, all because the earth is moving in a certain way. That probably explains why I was so tired on New Year's Day! Or maybe it was something else - who knows?
It is amazing to try to come to grips with the movement of the earth and the movement of time relative to the earth. Some scientists once said that time is an absolute thing by which everything else is measured. This was Newton's belief. Subsequently, we have come to realize that there is not, as Einstein says, “a tick-tock within the universe,” and that time is a relative thing. As Harvard professor D.C. Williams suggests, we are like a fence on a field. You can move along the fence at different places, but you still exist within the same field. Such is time. If time is relative, then it is hard for us to comprehend it scientifically in terms of the past, present or future. Even the concept of “now” is an implausible thing, scientifically. So where do we turn to understand time a bit more carefully?
Certainly the fields of psychology, and most definitely philosophy, have tried to come to grips with time. It is understandable, I think, that people perceive time differently. Some see time in very negative terms - time is an enemy; time is, as I said earlier, something that grabs your throat. Tennessee Williams wrote, “It haunts me, the passage of time. I think time is a merciless thing. I think life is a process of burning oneself out and time is the fire that burns you. But I think the spirit of man is a good adversary.”
He expresses a totally negative view of time. Isn't it amazing? I couldn't help but think about differing perceptions of time as I watched the last few minutes of the World Junior Hockey game with particular anxiety. Because Canada was losing, I wanted those minutes to go on, and on and on. But the Russians must have been praying for it to be over as quickly as possible. I am sure they thought that with 5.3 seconds to go, they had the game in the bag. But time was the enemy of the Russians and it was on the side of the Canadians.
It is amazing, is it not, how you sometimes want a moment in time to pass quickly and at other times you want it to be prolonged? Our perceptions of time differ according to how we see life. Some people see time in very positive terms - a moment of accomplishment, a moment of opportunity. To look back on the year past and see everything that you have accomplished is, I think, a good usage of time. To look back and to see where God's hand was, to see the progress that has been made and how difficulties have been overcome can be a very positive thing.
Sitting at my desk this week, I looked at two different calendars I have been given. The first is one that Marial gave me on Christmas Day. For each of the 365 days in the coming year there is a description of what occurred historically on that date. You can look back and see all the changes that have taken place over time. I look forward to opening one every day. But that is a retrospective. The other 2009 calendar I received is blank - it has nothing on it except a picture for each month and a number for each day. I thought, “This is a calendar that I must now fill, one that I will write on. It is a calendar of opportunity!” One is a calendar of past achievements; the other has openings for the future.
Today you and I sit with a calendar before us for the New Year. I want us to ask ourselves, “How do we want fill this New Year? How do we deal with this time?” I think to do that we need to turn to the scriptures. We need to turn, not to philosophy, psychology or even the natural sciences, but to theology - the Word of God. Nothing could be more poignant in the Word of God regarding time than the passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes. This particular passage has been in vogue for the last 30 or 40 years, ever since Pete Seeger turned it into the song, “Turn, Turn, Turn,” sung by the Birds and by Mary Hopkin. I find it fascinating that this is a passage read at weddings, baptisms and funerals. What is it about Ecclesiastes 3 that is so spellbinding? Is it the poetry? Is it the cadence? Is it the juxtaposition of polarities? “There is a time to live, and a time to die;” “There is a time to sow and a time to reap.” But then, there are all these other things that aren't in any chronological order - “A time to hate and a time to love; a time for war, a time for peace; a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together.” What is all this about?
What is the writer of Ecclesiastes saying? He is saying something profound, because in it all there is this belief that God is involved in time - the days that we have been given and the experiences we have are a gift from a divine being; they are a source of help and a source of strength. The passage contains an incredible line: “He has made everything beautiful in His time.” The life we have, our very being and existence is something God wants us to have.
He has a conception of time that is based on being a giver. It is not something random, but rather something he has given to us. You can look at all the scientific material, you can analyse the flow of time and even the psychological perception of time, but to understand time as having a purpose takes you into a whole new realm. It means that the time we have been given is there for a reason. It is more than a series of fragmented moments - there is a purpose behind it.
All of this suggests that we should live in a certain way if we are going to manifest this purpose. The passage from Ecclesiastes suggests that we should be happy. Isn't this refreshing? A minister starting out the New Year actually saying we should be happy in the New Year! But I am not referring to happiness as many people define it. Most people in our society, unfortunately, define happiness in terms of what they can purchase or consume.
I love going shopping the day after Boxing Day. I never go on Boxing Day because people are in a bad mood and rude. I go when I hope I will be able to be a better shopper and can stand the crowds. I went the day after Boxing Day year and nearly everything was cleaned out, but it was interesting talking to the clerks afterward. They were so relieved that everything had slowed down. I ran into one man that I know and see in various places and he told me he had got 40 per cent off a set of sheets - he was ecstatic about this! He thought this was going to be a great year because there would be lots of bargains to be had. He was happy for a moment.
I am not talking about the happiness of attaining things. If we define happiness by what we can buy, then the people of Burundi or Malawi or Afghanistan or Haiti or the Congo must be in total misery all the time. Think about it - is happiness the joy only found by having things? No! In fact, that is probably the great lie. I often wonder whether people who make all those purchases on Boxing Day are any happier the day after. Whether in June, when the sun rises and the beautiful buds come out and they go for a walk in the garden, the things they bought on Boxing Day will still be giving them pleasure. I doubt it. That is not happiness.
Happiness, according to the writer of Ecclesiastes, is much deeper. It is an understanding and appreciation that the life we have, whatever might come our way, is a magnificent thing. It is something to be treasured and enjoyed. All too often, we let our lives slip by waiting for the elusive moments of joy, waiting for that day when we can have the things we desire. In the meantime, our lives slip by just like “a vapour,” says Isaiah; just like a leaf that is blown away and it is gone.
I love the line that follows a little further on in Ecclesiastes: “It is better to be a living dog than a dead lion.” Life is precious and we need to find happiness and joy in it. Do not let it pass you by! Don't let that empty diary or calendar in front of you fill up with misery, but accept it as a beautiful gift from God, for tomorrow it may be gone.
He further suggests that we not only have happiness, but also do good while we live. One of my favourite movies from many years ago was Dead Poets' Society. I have always loved that movie because there is an existentialist truth in it that is sometimes lost. It is a Latin phrase that is oft repeated, but oft misunderstood: carpe diem. In the film, the character played by Robin Williams tells his students to look at the cases that contain all the trophies from past generations. Then he tells them (I paraphrase), “Seize the day! Don't let this day pass you by! Don't let the opportunities and freedom that the future brings be missed. There will always be those who write dull text books and give a passionless view of the future, but no. Seize the day! Live with poetry.” So it is with doing good.
I thought it was interesting that on January 1 on that calendar I was given with all the historic days, was a statement about the Emancipation Declaration given by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. I thought, “Isn't this amazing! The first day of the year gives a reminder of freedom.” Unfortunately, Abraham Lincoln died before the amendment was passed that gave people freedom but he made the declaration. He seized the day; he set people free.
Singer John Cougar Mellenkamp wrote, “Life goes on, long after the thrill of livin' is gone.” You see my friends, the good that we do is something that is eternal, the care that we give to one another, the succour, the support, the nurturing of other human beings. The work for freedom and justice, the desire to see people set free, living in the grace of God, the kind hand, the loving gesture, the “Happy New Year” that is said sincerely. This is what Qoheleth, the writer of Ecclesiastes, wanted. Do good while you live, for it is the good that you do while you live that lasts.
This brings me to the final thing that I think matters most of all: You need to live and find a purpose in eternity. He writes, “Eternity has been placed in our hearts.” He is not talking here about the immortality of the soul; he is simply saying that human beings have awareness, not only of the present, but also of the future. As a Jew you have a sense of the life to come; as a Christian, you have an understanding of the life of the resurrection. But we live now, here, in this time and in this place, knowing and believing in that eternity and letting it influence the way we live now.
In his incredible poem, The Rock, T. S. Eliot talks about all our strivings in this world often leading to nothing - and it is so true, often they do lead to nothing. He wrote:
The endless cycle of idea and action,
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion,
but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words,
and ignorance of the Word.
All our knowledge brings us
nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearest to death no nearer to God.
Where is the life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries
Bring us farther from God
and nearer to the dust.
Eliot was saying that, for all our strivings, all our working, unless there is an ultimate purpose and end, unless there is a reason behind it, so much of what we do is vanity. So much of the time that is spent is worthless, but if we see our lives in the context of the eternal, if we see our lives within the context of God's ongoing work and ministry, if we see ourselves in the light of the Babe of Bethlehem, then we see a purpose. It is not a purpose that drives us to the dust; it is a purpose that drives us to the Eternal Word. It is not a purpose that just ends and time for us ceases; it is a purpose that lingers in the counsel of the Almighty. The writer of Ecclesiastes knew this truth: “God makes all things beautiful in His time.” May that “time” be in your life. Amen.