Time and Other Changes

I hope you didn’t forget. You were supposed to move your clocks forward one hour this past Saturday night/Sunday morning.  You “lost” an hour of sleep.  Perhaps you can “find” it again next Fall when we move the clocks again.

            Time change weekend is always interesting.  Historically, (and I have confirmed this with folks who keep actual statistics) both the “spring forward” and “fall back” days are significantly lower attendance days at churches of every kind.  I understand the problem in the spring.  Having lost an hour from their day, many people simply sleep in on that day.

            But what about in the Fall? After all, we are giving you an extra hour in the day.  What happens there?  The truth is that anything that interferes with our routines can mess us up for the entire day/week/month/year…and for some folks, life.  “I don’t like change,” is the mantra by which some folks live.

            That was certainly true of the enemies of Jesus.  And boy, did Jesus upset the apple cart in His day.  The Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes of the day were quite satisfied with the status quo. They did not want anyone to challenge the way they did their business.  And Jesus simply did not cooperate with them.

            “You have heard it said,” He would declare, “but I say unto you…” And after that it didn’t matter what He had to say.  Change was coming, and the leaders didn’t like it. They didn’t even want to hear about it.

            Listen carefully to me. Not all change is good.  But not all change is bad.  There are some things that need to change.  And some of the things that need to change are precious to me.  The older I get, the more adverse I become to certain kinds of change. And yet, I must be open to new things, and to new ways of doing things. After all, God becoming flesh and living in our midst was certainly a new thing. And I am so glad that He did that.