Saint James UCC of Hamburg, NY

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, II Corinthians 6:1-13

Preached by Rev. Dr. Robert Matlack

One experience that many people share is the feeling that there isn't enough time to do everything that you'd like to do. We're literally forced to set some priorities. We can't do everything, so we have to decide which things are the most important to us, which are the most faithful choices that we can make.

The next question of course is, what shall we choose? What is it that we have enough time for? I believe that each of us has been given the gift of life by God. In that gift lies the potential and the opportunity for us to do something important in and with our lives. Now that may or may not be something that the rest of the world will recognize as important, for what I am talking about are those things that God calls important. I believe that each one of us has the potential and the opportunity to do something that God believes to be important. We don't always do it. Sometimes we even fail to recognize what it is that God has given us the opportunity to do. But I do believe that each life, even if that life is very short, is very special and has that special opportunity. We each have enough time to do those things that God really wants us to do, if that's how we choose to use the time that we have.

That beautiful and familiar passage from the book of Ecclesiastes talks about time in a little different way. There we are reminded of the rhythms and cycles of life, the times and the seasons. A time to cry and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. These rhythms and cycles are a part of life itself. God never intended us to live forever on a plateau, where our experiences and emotions are the same, day after day. Rather, life is filled with change, with new opportunities and new experiences, as we move through different times and different seasons. That experience is not limited to any particular time or generation, but seems to be a part of the gift of life.

Yet the writer of this passage is frustrated, because his very nature cries out for complete knowledge of the works of God, and he knows that he has not and will not attain that knowledge. He is looking for more, seeking meaning and purpose for his life, trying to discover what it is that God has given him enough time to do and to be.

Twenty five years ago the psychology department of Princeton University conducted an experiment. Immediately after an ethics seminar, a class of 40 ministry students left to attend a peace rally. Unknown to them the department had hired an actress to stand along the route the students would take and pretend that she was choking, unable to catch her breath. The actress leaned helplessly against the wall of a building, in plain view. The future ministers hurried by her, some of them did glance uneasily at the woman, but none of them stopped to help her. At one point she even fell to one knee for greater effect. But still no one stopped.

Later, when the students learned of the experiment, many of them gave the peace rally as an excuse for not stopping. Each one felt that surely someone else was better equipped to spare the time to help the woman. After all, the peace rally was important.

While the circumstances might be dramatically different, this experience could have happened to any of us. It's so easy to get preoccupied with things that are or seem to be important that we ignore other things that are important and need to be done right now. Working for peace is certainly important, but our world will never find peace unless we can stop right now to help a brother or sister who can't breathe. It's that kind of prioritizing that each of us needs to do in our lives. Yet that is very difficult to do in a way that helps us to recognize those moments where we have to drop our agenda for something else that needs to be done right now, because if it isn't done now it won't be done at all.

Do yo have enough time to save a life in the midst of all of the other important activities that you have planned today? Now, not all of our opportunities will be as dramatic or as clear as this one was. Many times the opportunities are quiet and easily unnoticed - a tear in someone's eye, a droop in their shoulders, or some other sign that says I'm struggling with something that's very difficult and I really need a friend. Those seemingly small events that don't seem very weighty in comparison to the problems of the world, can also be moments which give life and hope to someone who needs them the most.

Enough time for what? One aged grandmother, who never attended school, gave her granddaughter a slip of paper with the grandmother's version of the advice she would need to lead a good life. What she wrote is a valuable reminder for all of us: "Wash what is dirty. Water what is dry. Heal what is wounded. Warm what is cold. Guide what goes off the road. And love people who are the least lovable, because they need it the most."

This grandmother wrapped her priorities around the needs of the world, much as Jesus did when he said, "Feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, etc."

When the apostle Paul wrote to the members of the church in Corinth, he had many concerns about the priorities they had set. They were using their time in ways that he felt were wrong, and they had set many priorities that Paul challenged. One of the ways he tried to help them to think about the issues he was raising was by quoting the prophet Isaiah who challenged the people not to waste God's grace. The passage Paul quoted was a strong reminder of God's faithfulness to us and care for us, as it says: "When the time came for me to show you favor, I heard you; when the day arrived for me to save you, I helped you." God faithfully cares for us and after reminding the Corinthians of that faithfulness, Paul challenges them. "This is the hour to receive God's favor; today is the day to be saved!"

In other words, we have time enough to love and serve God today. We have time enough to care for someone in need today. We have time enough to do what is most important - to love God and to love our neighbors today. It cannot be put off until tomorrow, for we don't know that we will have that time. What we do have is today - a day filled with challenges and opportunities and if we use today as God intends us to, then there is time enough - not for everything that we might want to do or even that we think really needs to be done, but there is time enough to do what we can, time enough to do what God wants us to do, and that is really what is most important anyway. This is the hour! Today is the day! There is enough time, if we are ready to use that time to meet the challenges and the opportunities that God has placed before us.

Amen.