Using Time Well

The good thing is that you and I wake up this morning with still another chance to do something good and right and true, even if we missed a chance yesterday, or bungled it badly the day before that.

A fresh chance today...what wonderful news!

It was with Richard as it is with the rest of us; each day presenting us with fresh chances.

From my brief conversations with Donna, Rick, and others I learned a few things about Richard's use of time, although it was cut short by cancer.

If I just begin a list of the ways in which God granted blessings to him and through him, those present who have known him over the years will be thinking of so very many more of those blessings... and I trust that in the hours and days leading up to this moment, you have already been working on that list.

--He was diligent in his employment, both in the local bakery and in the more distant plant.

--And still he managed to get to sporting events for his children and grandchildren regularly.

--He served in the nation's armed forces.

--He was pleased to share his interest in car-racing, photography, and the beach.

--Until recently when his body was simply overwhelmed by the disease, for the past 2 years he attempted the various treatments to beat back the malady.

--And you will add so many more things to that list.

The difference now is that Richard can no longer get things out of life, but only has things to give to those he leaves behind here.

What does he give?

-possessions, attitudes, family, friendships, joy and laughter, and time that he can no longer use.

The question for each person here is what shall we make of these gifts and this time?

How shall we use what now been pushed over to our side of the table by Richard's death?

May we take the good things that Richard has passed to us and use them in our time to even better advantage!

That would be a faithful realism.

We heard that quiet realism in today's gospel also.

We are counseled to watch and wait, to be reconciled to God and our companions, because the coming of Christ may be without further announcement.

That may not sound like Good News to some; in fact, it may annoy us or make us quite anxious... but there is Good News at the core of the statement.

–He is coming.

--He has not abandoned us, nor forgotten us; but at the time he chooses, he will make good on his promises.

We are invited to hear that not as a a threat but as the best news there ever could be!

We are amazingly inventive in straying from God again and again through our lifetime.

But God has bound himself by promise to pursue each one of us diligently,

and to hold onto those who have been made his in Holy Baptism,

even when our words and actions may not match his full intention for us.

That is Good News indeed!

No matter how angry with God we have been,

no matter how much we have doubted,

no matter how far we have wandered,

there is still room for us with the Lord Jesus,

where we can learn to make the most of the time, as Paul advises in Ephesians.

Learning and doing all that is “good and right and true”, including praise of the Lord God and care for neighbor.

Now that Richard has died, we are reminded that at length each of us will run out of time.

What shall we do with this day, this gift from God?

First, we may weep, for Richard and for what we cannot change.

Next, we will take stock of where we are, where we have been, honestly and forthrightly acknowledging those places where we have failed God and our neighbors.

Third, we are then ready to hear the Good News of a fresh chance today.

And finally, as we explore God's good gifts to us that come in so many sizes

and through so many persons and means,

we will discover that we're also learning how best to share what has been entrusted to us.

Today we give thanks to God for his gifts to and through Richard,

and we pray that God will use what is passed on to the next generation as models for part of his intention for us.

And most of all, we give thanks to God for the gift of time for us to watch and learn

to listen and pray

and to do and to sing as the angels, never ceasing.

O Lord, teach us to use this time well, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.