Taking Time

Time, according to the dictionary, is a way that human beings measure the change that happens all around us, and the connection of events to others - seasons, age, events, stories, and generations. Time is a vital biblical idea, and for 2000 + years the faithful have regarded "time" as an essential an ingredient in our worship - as important as the songs we sing or the stories we tell.

If we use "time" to season our worship meal, we will begin to recognize that certain seasons in the Church's story are celebrated just once a year, and we will creatively prepare for them each time they come around. Just as time comes and goes in our family’s daily lives, so too we should use time to make memories, highlight important ideas and create a sense of expectation in the hearts of those in our community.

Let's take Advent (from adventus, meaning "the coming") for example. According to the historic Church calendar, this season is the beginning of the Church year. Advent anticipates what theologians call "the Christ event" (the incarnation). The Advent season is like a song that is a picture, a worship reflection, about the human longing for deliverance that led up to the first Christmas morning.

In our family and church, we make a big deal out of Advent. Music, candles, stories and events all play a part in causing us to yearly remember important truths we may have forgotten along the journey of life.

In this "time" Christmas, recognize that your entire year, your every moment, is about to be guided by this amazing reality: God, in time, has acted. Your year can now begin fresh and God can redeem anything that happens, because Christ has come. The incarnation is transforming your world and mine. As Paul says in Colossians 1, "...In everything, he has supremacy."

Welcome to the beginning of our year, to the reality that God acts in our everyday moments, and welcome again to the Christ event that changes... everything.