HOPE TO SPEND TIME

1. When The Lord Permits, Spend With-Time
I’d like to reflect with you today on time—how we waste time, how we spend time, how we kill time, and, of course, how time flies when we’re having fun… And one of the first things that we notice about time is that it’s more easily quantified than it is qualified. Time is limited, and we know it. We know it in our bones and in our blood vessels. We know in our bunions and in our brain cells. But we also understand the conditional nature of time based upon the moments we spend with people.
A pastor spends the whole afternoon with a women suffering from dementia. His colleagues are hobnobbing at the club with bank presidents and CEO’s. He feels as if he’s wasting his time. The woman can’t respond coherently to anything he says. She smells like formaldehyde. But when evening falls, he knows time a little better.

There’s a woman who’s unable to have children. She tries all kinds of fertility treatments. It seems as if time is passing her by; the biological clock is ticking. But after many years she finds herself pushing a neighbor’s child on a tire-swing. Their families become close and begin to socialize; they adopt her as a proxy-grandmother and soon she knows time a little better.

Doctor Walker Percy comes down with a severe case of tuberculosis. At first he’s depressed; his lucrative practice suffers while he’s confined to the sanitarium. But, after many weeks and months, the illness gives him a new perspective. He picks up his pen and begins to write. And one of the most famous things he writes about are the men and women who don’t know what to do with themselves at 4 o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon. He writes about them generously and simpathetically, and after twenty-five novels he and his readers know time a little better.

You see, my contention today is that the decisions that we make about time are often arbitrary and whimsical. But to the extent that we measure the minutes, hours and days with people—and especially with people who remind us of the love and mercy of God—nothing is wasted. Nothing at all.
“I do not want to see you now just in passing, for I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits” (v. 7).

When the apostle Paul scribbles or dictates these words aloud in the first century, I wonder if he has the faintest inkling that we would be reading them centuries and miles away from Corinth. My guess is—probably not. And what does that tell us about what we might write or do or say with our time?
Eileen is the name of the woman Douglass Rushkoff interviews for the fourth chapter of his book, Life Inc. It’s a work of non-fiction that details how our lives have been taken over and branded by the mega-corporations of the world. Eileen, for example, tells a group of clients that if you want something you should really, really want it. Want it like a child. Want it at night when you’re asleep. Post notes with pictures about what you want on your mirror. Write a check to yourself for $10 million and stick it on your refrigerator. Eileen advocates for the principles laid down in The Secret, a number one book on the New York Times Best-Seller List, with over two million DVD’s being viewed even as we speak. And it turns out that if you want to know what Eileen knows, you’ll have to read the book, watch the DVD and pay for the seminar. Never mind that you will then have to spend more time at more seminars! Don’t you want to want to want to want to know the secret of the universe?

2. Effective Work and Many Adversaries Are Not Mutually Exclusive
You see, the larger discussion that we can have about 1 Corinthians 16 has to do with what God wants versus what we want. Does God allow us the freedom to make our own decisions about what we want to do with our time? And the answer, as far as I can tell from Paul’s vocabulary, is yes. Little terms like “If” and intriguing expressions like “a wide door” do, in fact, convey a sense of personal freedom. You and I, like Paul, are free to walk through that wide door if we choose. But let’s be clear. What Paul means by “a wide door” has nothing to do with The Secret that Eileen is trying to sell. In fact, if Eileen had been alive and spouting off in the first century, she may have been among the many adversaries that Paul mentions in verse nine while he’s lingering at that wide door. “A wide door” is simply an image that he uses to describe the opportunity that he has for a spirited and Spirit-filled discussion about Jesus. By the grace of God, that’s the only thing that Paul wants. And the question this morning is—what is it that you want?
A great deal has been written about Maria Von Trappe, who is portrayed by Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. In the Hollywood version of the story, Maria returns to the Abbey to ask her Mother Superior what she should do. She thinks that she loves Captain Von Trappe, but she doesn’t want to betray her vows as a nun. And there is the complicating factor of the captain’s engagement to the Baroness from Vienna. It’s all very confusing and it’s hard for Maria to decide what to do. Musically speaking, the Reverend Mother advises her to follow her heart and to search for her dreams. In real life, Maria actually engages in a process of spiritual discernment, and through much anguished prayer it becomes reasonably clear that God has permitted her to marry the captain and take care of his children. That’s the way God wants her to share the gospel

Now, what’s curious about Sister Maria and the apostle Paul, of course, is that they both are faced with adversity. And simultaneously both are given the opportunity or the wide door for effective work. Isn’t that curious? You would think it would be quite the opposite. You would think that having adversaries would be the sign of a closed door, not an open one. But maybe we’ve got it all wrong. Maybe when there’s lots of confusion and lots of division, that’s the time when the door for God is opened the widest.

3. Count the IF Moments A Blessing and Make Your Own Opportunities
Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book, called Outliers; the Story of Success, and in that book, the author chronicles how many of the most brightest stars have taken advantage of their opportunities. First up, for example, is Bill Joy. Bill was there, at the Michigan Computer Center, in 1971. He was there for over 10,000 hours when the university had invested in one of the largest computer systems in the known universe. So it should come as no surprise, that after graduating from Michigan and then from Berkley, Bill Joy wrote the digital code for the ATT, UNIX and Macintosh Computers. So, that’s Bill Joy, getting ahead in the game of life, but here’s the apostle Paul: “I will stay in Ephesus.”
Next up in the Gladwell book are the Beatles, arguably the best rock band ever. They were there in Hamburg, Germany, in 1960. They were there, with the original Pete Best on drums; and in Hamburg on that first trip they performed 106 nights for five or more hours a night. On their second trip, they racked up 92 performances. On their third trip, 48. And on their final two gigs in 1962, prior to coming to the United States, the Beatles were on-stage for approximately 90 hours altogether. So, according to Gladwell, it’s no surprise that they became great. With those kinds of opportunities to improve and perfect their songs, it’s no wonder whatsoever. So, that’s John, Paul, George and Ringo, becoming a legend on the Ed Sullivan Show. But do you know who didn’t become a legend even though he put in the same amount of time? Pete Best, the drummer that Ringo Starr replaced…

And, you see, when I peruse the data like this, it makes total sense. People become great at what they do, based upon the opportunities they are given and the time they invest. There’s no doubt about it. But then, you and I have to account for Pete Best. Then we have to account for the Marlin Brando character in On The Waterfront. “I could have been somebody.”

Could h’… Perhaps, should h’… If Only… These wiggly words cannot be accounted for in any theory about time management or any strategy to get ahead. And the reason I think they confound us is the same reason says things like, “I hope to spend time with you, if the Lord permits.”

No matter how hard we work the time to achieve our goals, God may have other plans, and those plans aren’t just for our solo-act. According to Paul in 1 Corinthians 16, they involve Timothy and Apollos. They involve… And, let me ask you (whether I’ve mentioned your name or not), wouldn’t we want to know if God had other plans for you, plans that intimately connected with these others? Wouldn’t we want to know if that’s what Latah Valley truly is? Amen.