Time Fulfilled

1 Corinthians 7:29-31;  Mark 1:14-20

Paul writes some provocative statements to the Corinthians.  He is not advocating immoral behavior, he is emphasizing that this world has changed with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  Time has been fulfilled, as Jesus states in this passage by Mark, and emphasized by the immediacy of the first disciples to follow Jesus.  Time has changed.

Originally time was determined by the sun.  This is clearly stated in Genesis with the creation of the first day.  The Jewish people of Jesus’ day, and today, determine the day based on the end of the day.  That is when the sun goes down the day ends, thus the next day does start, hence Sabbath starts at sundown on Friday.  For the original followers of The Way (Jesus) who were Jewish, they would go to the Temple, or a synagogue, or perhaps down by the river in a Gentile city, to worship the one true God, listening to the Torah and the prophets.  They would keep the Sabbath as well if they were able, but on Sunday morning they would be truly back to work (it would had been their Monday). These first Jewish followers of Jesus, would get up early on Sunday, before work and without an alarm clock, to celebrate the resurrection with communion, hymns, baptisms, and worship.  They would do this as the sun rose.  It was like an extra day to their week, empowering them for their work and their lives.  There was an idea that the perfect creation will finally go to the eighth day with the resurrection at the end of all time.  However, the early Christians were understanding that time had changed and the fulfilling morning of worship and sharing His meal was the eighth day. 

I love sunrises, and having been a baker and pastry chef I have seen many.  My favorite still was when I was a teen.  I knew there was a snow storm coming the next Sunday morning.  With 3-4 inches already on the ground it would be wonderful to get up early to watch the sun rise with the snow falling.  So up early I got, and trekked up to the top of a cliff at the edge of the woods.  I took a thermos of hot cocoa and was buddled up.  I found a log to took in behind to protect me from the wind and settled in.  Then it occurred to me I would really not see the sun through the snow.  It was still the most amazing sunrise, so quiet, both the woods and the town below, save the wind.  A few times I could make out a perfect white ball through the clouds. It felt like hours I was there, and it was a while since I remember dusting an inch of snow of myself when I departed.  I treasure that sunrise that I never saw.

Everyday the sun rises, even if we do not see it.  And it is equally true that everyday God’s Son Rises, even if we do not see it.  When Jesus tells us time has been fulfilled he wants us to act as if we are starting the eighth day.  Paul makes it quite clear that the new age started and our actions should match that of the kingdom of God. 

However, we do not live in a kingdom, nor is their one person or power that really has the power on us anymore.  Today we live where our cultures have power over us.  Cultures we choose, and cultures that sneak into our subconscious.  The culture of America, the culture of TV, the consumer culture, the culture of Rock music, the culture of drugs, the culture of politics, the culture of one’s family etc.  Some are very powerful.  Some more powerful than we want to admit.  So I believe time has been fulfilled by the culture of God being near.  We need to live as if we live in the culture of God, and not simply wait to live in heaven, for time has been fulfilled. 

May Newsletter

May 2011

If you have not heard AJ, Mindi, and I will be closing on a house on North 10^th Avenue during this month of May. We are excited to own a home in our community. It has been over a year since I had a yard to play in as well as mow, and I look forward to both (of course the former most of all). We already feel at home here, and this is the obvious next step.

The two things I like about packing (if there I have to admit two things) are cleaning out things I do not need, and going through the meaningful memories. The cleaning out the old stuff and the things one does not need any more feels great. However, I find even more joy by finding treasures during a move that remind me of different periods of my life and seeing how they connect to the current move.

Of course moving from one home to another forces this process, but it is a good idea to do this process for our home now, and even more importantly with our own selves. What we discover is that we have varying gifts because of our experience and God-given talents. Thus we think of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 12: 12-17:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear were to say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body.

Paul goes on and tells us that “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.” Through prayer and careful self-reflection we can find where our skills, talents, and gifts fit for the Body of Christ, not simply at First Christian Church, but in our entire lives as the ministry of Jesus Christ. It is not limited to our congregation, but is how we live our lives everywhere: church, work, the library, the fields, malls, on the road, and of course at home.

So as you participate in your own spring-cleaning and clearing, remember the gifts you have been given and the experiences that have shaped your gifts for the work of Christ in the world. As we continue the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection, let us use our gifts in new ways for the building of Christ’s Kingdom.

Blessings,

Pastor JC