11^th May 2015

IT'S TIME! is the sermon Max Champion preached in his final service at St John's on 3 May 2015 and the conclusion of over 8 years of the Sermon Ministry in this medium - some 300 sermons sent out to interested members with thanks to Ron Clough. 

Rev Dr Max Champion's final sermon at St John's UCA, Mt Waverley, Victoria Australia

Lessons - Ecclesiastes 2:16-23;5:18-20; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26,58; John 19:16-20,28-30

(Note: Text in '[. . .]' was not part of the preached sermon and is included for further reflection.)

Introduction to the theme of the sermon (before the Lessons):

The long-running TV soap opera Days of our Lives opens with sand trickling through an hourglass against a grey sky. The voice-over says: 'Like sands through the hourglass so are the days of our lives.' Scripture is far more realistic and hopeful about the dignity and purpose of our time and all time than characters who live for the moment in a spirit of resignation and regret. 

'Vanity of vanity, all is vanity.' (Ecclesiastes 1:2) 'Your labour is not in vain.' (1 Corinthians 15:58)

A priest was approached by a young lad who asked, 'Sir, what time is it?' He told him the hour then thought about the many ways in which the question could be answered. It can refer to the time of day, the seasons of the year, the stage of life between birth and death, a critical period in one's own life or the community's when vital decisions must be made, the current state of civilisation, or the 'end' of all things. [See the journal notes of Roman Catholic priest and writer Romano Guardini (1885-1968) cited by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) in 'The End of Time' in The End of Time? (2004) p4.]  

'It's time' for me to end full-time ministry in this Uniting Church congregation and for us to make decisions for the future. At such a time, thoughts turn to what has slipped by and what is left. There have been and will be times of love and hatred, acceptance and rejection, joy and despair, laughter and sorrow, wisdom and stupidity, speaking-up and keeping silent (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). What are we to make of the purpose of time itself? 

We often 'waste time'. It 'drags'. We know that we cannot 'have our time over again'. When 'time flies', 'is running out' or ' waits for no-one' we know that we do not have unlimited time to finish tasks, enjoy life or be reconciled to those from whom we are estranged. The certainty of knowing that one day we must die may stir us to make the most of life or cause deep depression. What opportunities! Where has it all gone? 

We may be so focused on 'living in the moment' or coping with everyday demands that deeper questions are pushed under. But they have a nasty habit of surfacing when times are tough or life seems pointless. At such times we may wonder whether time is 'timeless'? Does it have a beginning and an end'?

Does our time have eternal meaning? Are the 'days of our lives' full of purpose or are they meaningless blips in the remorseless flow of time? 

How best to understand time has exercised thinkers in every culture. Among Greeks, Buddhists, Hindus and indigenous people, 'time' is essentially seen to be cyclical, as the endless repetition of historical moments that, in themselves, are ultimately meaningless. 'Eternal' happiness and wisdom is to be found in being indifferent to time-conditioned realities. We must train our minds to rise above temporal change, earthly decay and death in order to know timeless, eternal truths. [Important differences between Greek philosophy, primal religions and Buddhism-Hinduism do not alter the essential point.] 

In contrast, the Christian concept of time, from which our Western concept of time is largely derived, takes seriously events 'in time'. Time has been created by God so that our life on earth may flourish. The people of Israel have been brought into being to illuminate the Creator's good purposes for all nations. Christ became incarnate 'in time' to heal our broken lives. And the time that awaits humanity and creation will be time eternally filled with good things. 

Time - past, present, future - has been created and redeemed for a magnificent purpose! Finite, historical events and daily life are infinitely significant. In the Christian scheme of things, 'Time was ... a linear movement related to eternity at every point: it was the creation of the eternal God, it was guided and redeemed by his will, and it would culminate in his glory.' (L Gilkey, Maker of Heaven and Earth, p305.) Clock time is filled with eternal purpose. [Greek: chronos and kairos.] 

Therefore, as the Preacher says, 'There is a time for everything under heaven' (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). Life often seems futile in the face of death (Ecclesiastes 2:16). But it is good to enjoy the things life 'in the few days of the life God gives us' (Ecclesiastes 5:18). The brevity of our time on earth is meant to 'teach us to number our days' according to the 'steadfast love of God' who is 'from everlasting to everlasting' (Psalm 90). ['Time, like an ever-rolling stream bears all its sons / of us away. We fly forgotten, as a dream dies at the opening day.' Isaac Watts' hymn in Australian  Hymn Book 46; Together in Song 47; v5, based on Psalm 90:1-6, combines past, future and present.] 

If events in time are eternally significant, what are we to make of evil, decay and suffering? Does not their presence make a mockery of faith in the good and loving purposes of the Creator? Is it not more sensible to believe that 'all is vanity' - that violence, misery and death recur in an endless cycle of meaninglessness? 

 

The ultimate purpose of time in which such terrible things happen could only be believed if there were a figure who, in time, had embodied the healing mercy of eternal God for broken, flawed people like us and had triumphed over the most dreadful suffering, evil and affliction. Such a One is discerned in the New Testament which declares that, in the coming of Jesus Christ at a particular time, 'the time is fulfilled' (Mark 1:15) and the 'words of eternal life' have been spoken (John 6:68). In his time, eternity has been decisively revealed as grace-filled power. 

In his life, death and resurrection, God's eternal purpose has been supremely embodied. Outcasts are welcomed. The sick healed. The hungry fed. The wayward come to their senses. Sinners are forgiven. The arrogant humbled. The undecided disturbed. Yet, seemingly, it was all futile! Despite the signs of God's mercy, he is betrayed and abandoned by disciples, mocked by priests, politicians and the masses, and crucified as if he were the enemy of God's good purpose for humanity. 

Paradoxically, though, he thereby displayed the eternal love of God on the barbaric Cross. When, at this time, he cried, 'It is finished!' (John 19:30) we are invited to see the significance of this event for 'all times'! 'What is finished is not just the physical life, not even the human ministry, but the whole work of the Incarnate Word.' (J Marsh, The Gospel of St. John,

p617.) [See R Neuhaus, 'It is finished means it is settled, decided, certain, complete, incontestable' in Death on a Friday Afternoon (2000), p191 (Chapter

6 Sacrifice pp 187-227); JS Bach, St John Passion, 'Jesus, the hero from Judah triumphs with power and brings the battle to a close. It is accomplished!'] 

Like the persecuted of old who had 'thirsted' for God, their 'mouths dried up in the dust of death'. (Psalms 22:5; 69:21b; John 19:28.) Jesus knew what it was to be Godforsaken. He also knew that suffering for faith is not the end of hope. God's eternal love for all, symbolised by the inscription in Hebrew, Latin and Greek (John 19:20), has triumphed over evil and death on the cross!

This is confirmed in Jesus' resurrection. As Paul says, this unparalleled event 'in time' is the sign that evil, misery and death do not have the final word for 'all time' (1 Corinthians 15:19ff). The good and gracious purposes for which the cosmos and human life have been created will not ultimately be thwarted. Therefore, there is hope for flawed people like us and for all who suffer evil. The glorious future of 'eternal life' filled with good things is already present in the 'timely' coming of Jesus! 

Can we believe such things in our time? For many, the story of purposeful time, with a beginning and end shaped by God's costly, triumphant grace, has been lost in 'the mists of time'. Moreover, we are suspicious of any group, Christian, religious or secular, that claims to hold the key to 'eternal life'. We have known the terrible effects of utopian ideals - like Communism, Fascism, Capitalism, Atheism, Progressivism, Fundamentalism, Environmentalism and Libertarianism - that insist  'it's time for change', without grounding hope for all people in the eternal and redemptive power of suffering love.  

How do we read 'the signs of the times' today? What 'time is it' in Western society, the Church, our own lives? Is it time, as even many Christians think, to ditch the Christ-centred approach to faith, history and ethics and replace it with absolute faith in diversity of every kind? Is it 'time', as powerful interest groups argue, to banish Christianity from the Public Square? 

This may seem to be a 'timely' solution to the bewildering variety of beliefs, practices and life-styles among us. But it is 'untimely' because it ignores the crucial question for human destiny about the purpose of time itself! Do we have the courage to face the fact, which Nietzsche faced 125 years ago, that when we stop believing in God's good purpose for humanity and creation, despair is inevitable? If there is no beginning, no end, no limits, no goals we are doomed to suffer the endless cycle of time as aimless pilgrims who live heroically 'in the moment' and find happiness by forgetting our inescapable fate! Sadly, such thinking is now deeply embedded in our Western psyche and much social behaviour. [See F Nietzsche's Parable of the Madman (The Gay Science #125); JB Metz, God: Against the Myth of the Eternity of Time in The End of Time? pp26-46.] 

At this time, therefore, we need to remind ourselves and others of the Grand Purpose for which we exist 'in time'. We are privileged to worship the Lord of time, who has entered our time in the incarnate-crucified-and-risen Jesus.

It is because of this incomparable event 'in time' that we may give thanks for the past and look forward to the perfection of humanity in the 'fullness of time'. 

This does not mean turning our backs on the world and passively awaiting the end! No. We are summoned to use our brief time on earth to 'make time' to enjoy life and to do what is true and good, no matter the cost! We are called to defend the innate dignity of the unborn, the disabled, the frail elderly, refugees; to resist oppression, cruelty, racism, to uphold the sanctity of sex and marriage, to provide for the poor and heal broken relations, to unsettle the arrogant, the apathetic and the timid; to show mercy to those who have done wrong, to support the persecuted, to help victims of nature's disasters and comfort the sad, bring hope to the despondent; and to take time to amend what is amiss in our own lives! 

At times, life will still seem futile. Our enjoyment will fade. Evil, misery and death will weigh us down. Like countless others who have experienced persecution, tragedy, illness and disappointment, we will cry out 'How long, O Lord'. (Psalm 13:1) At such times, we do well to hold to the promise embodied in Christ because, at that particular time, the eternal God has triumphed over evil and death in his life, death and resurrection. Hence we are assured, as Paul says, that, when our faith is steadfast, our hope immovable and we are committed to building one another up and speaking the truth in love, 'then your labour is not in vain' (v58). 

Life is not meaningless! Our time is blessed by eternity. Time, then, surely, to glorify the 'Lord of time' and to shape our time in accordance with God's good purpose for humanity and the whole creation! 

Ascription: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen! 

Rev. Dr Max Champion