Galatians 4.4-7 (Lk 2. 15-21)
Coming to end of year has made me think about time: a word which occurs in both of this morning’s readings. One thing which came to mind early on was a little poem by the Victorian cleric Henry Twells which called “Time’s Paces”: you may know it.
When as a child I laughed and wept, time crept.
When as a youth I waxed more bold, time strolled.
When I became a full-grown man, time ran.
When older still I daily grew, time flew.
Soon I shall find, in passing on, time gone.
O Christ, wilt thou have saved me, then? Amen.
A bit pessimistic: I thought Victorian clergy weren’t supposed to have doubts, but it does have something tell us about how we experience time. January seems to go on for ever, then once we’re out of January are in August before know where we are.
In the reading from Luke, we are told that the time came for Jesus to be circumcised and named. Fixed: on the 8th day after birth. Still the case, as far as I know. An example of something much wider-ranging: attempts by humanity to manage, to organise time. This goes back certainly to the Babylonians, who divided year as determined by the sun into 365 days (also divided hour and day into 60 each). Unfortunately it doesn’t work. Tomorrow we start a Leap Year: an extra day has to be added every four years. Even that is not enough: there are things called “leap seconds” to make time as we perceive it match reality. Most bizarre example known to me at least, was during the French Revolution, which also invented the metric system. Year was divided into 36 periods of 10 days each, leaving 5 days for general enjoyment. It didn’t take long for people to realise that they only got day off every 10 rather than every 7: it didn’t last long!
That’s perhaps a frivolous example, but it is an extreme attempt to manage time to suit ourselves. The passage from Galatians gives a very different perspective, especially v 4. In NIV When the time had fully come, or in other translations in the fullness of time God sent His Son. One interpretation of this comes from the Chinese Christian “Watchman Nee” (Nee To-sheng). In a collection of meditations published in 1965 (by which time not at liberty or even alive, possibly) says about Galatians 4.verse 4 that this was when the time had fully come. Israel, a small Middle-eastern state, had been absorbed into Rome, and God had allowed Rome to dominate the known world, not least through the network of roads and shipping. So people could travel easily: into Jerusalem initially where they could hear the gospel. Then the apostles could travel through the empire, even as far as Rome, enabling Christianity to spread through the western world within a few years. You may think this perhaps a bit fanciful, just one episode in time. But Nee’s meditation are always spiritual, and this one contains a great truth. Rowan Williams suggested in last of his lectures “Why Study the Past?” God is not just one actor of many in time: it is His time, His history. Time is God’s time. I am reminded of something which happened during training. On weekend away (in my 3rd year) one of the 1st year trainees burst into tears, when she realised what she had been missing up to then. Our tutor, a very wise man, simply said at the right time God sent his Son. God’s time is always the right time. He created time, as it says in Genesis, creating the sun to rule the day and the moon the night. And He’s been in control ever since.
I know it’s very easy to be pessimistic these days, and we have heard a lot of it lately as we consider the international situation. But the danger is that if we are too pessimistic, we forget God, or at least follow view that He made world then left it to get on with it. We need to remind ourselves that God is in control of time, and everything, if we are prepared to let Him, and above all recognise it.
I began with a piece of verse from the worthy Henry Twells. I want to end with the 1st verse and chorus from a hymn which is optimistic as we enter a new year. It sums up words from the Book of Job which have always meant a great deal to me, especially in times of uncertainty He knows the way that I take.
(Hymn is 269 in Mission Praise.)
I do not know what lies ahead, the way I cannot see;
yet one stands near to be my guide, He’ll show the way to me. I know who holds the future, and He’ll guide me with His hand;
with God things don’t just happen, everything by Him is planned.
So as I face tomorrow, with its problems large and small, I’ll trust the God of miracles, give to Him my all.