No not the late Stephen Hawking’s book, which I have, but have not read all of… I couldn’t really understand it – somehow I was hoping for more equations to anchor the words.
…but next Sunday’s Lectionary. The word ‘time’ appears in all four readings in the English translation. Scholars of Hebrew and Greek will no doubt point out that the English ‘time’ is the translation of several different ideas. And indeed the word does different things in these readings. But it is also a common thread of sorts.
In Jonah 3:1, we read… “The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time…” Read the story and you find that God’s message changes. It’s one thing one time, and something else another time. Later on, Jonah has just steeled himself to proclaim Nineveh’s destruction, when God sees hope in Nineveh’s behaviour and decides to spare the city. And Jonah’s not keen on being messed about like this. So? Well, consider it possible that God’s message adapts to the circumstances. The fundamentals are always there – love, justice, mercy – but what God wants to say to the first Christian communities in their world may sound different when targeted at people like us in our world. There are times to say one thing and times to say something else.
Psalm 62:8 “Trust in him at all times, O people…”, the Psalmist goes on to compare faith in God to putting your trust in transient things like wealth. God may speak differently to different circumstances (above), but is always to be trusted.
1 Corinthians 7:29… “I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short…” The appointed time, the pivotal moment is coming. There are turning points in history. Some of the very first Christians had already witnessed this in the life of Jesus, and there was unfinished business. It may look different to us 2000 years later, but there is still unfinished business from the life of Jesus, to be done in the life of Jesus within and among us.
And according to Mark 1:15, Jesus says… “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” The time is fulfilled – this is the moment -and the moment has come with the arrival of Jesus back in Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. And he is calling people to join him (he still is BTW). This is (0,0,0,0).
Walking. I walked in the showers this morning, because the bad news is that the next two mornings look like being properly wet and I probably shan’t go out. Please continue to pray for Calderdale and for settlements in other parts of the warning area and downriver too.