Dear Beloved of Trinity Church,
This Saturday evening, while we rest, like magic, time will dramatically move forward one hour, and we will lose an hour of sleep. We play this little game twice a year, falling back and springing forward. As if somehow, we had control over time. Yet we all know better. We understand that no matter how we set the clock, time is what time is, and all that we have is the moment in which we live and breathe this very second. And none of us are guaranteed one more breath nor one more second.
The only thing we do have some control over is what we do with the time that we are entrusted with. Every morning, we wake up, if we are so blessed, and we are gifted with another day. How we spend the fleeting and precious seconds of each day is what defines and makes the totality of our lives. Our lives are fundamentally not formed around years and decades, but rather seconds and moments, each of incalculable worth.
This morning, I officiated at a graveside service, and the family requested the timeless words from the book of Ecclesiastes:
For everything, there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance,
a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it.
As we turn our clocks forward this weekend, let us remember the precious and sacred value of time - each second, each moment, each breath, each heartbeat - and that through the love of God these endure forever.
See you Sunday! And don’t forget to move your clock forward one hour!
Peace,
Paul