Keeping Time
Rev. Brandon Blacksten
November 21, 2021

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. —Revelation 1:4-6

How do you feel about

these days?

For many of us, time is precious, fleeting, and

.

The way people today think about time isn’t the way people have

thought about it.

We have constructed an environment in which we live a uniform, univocal secular time which we try to measure and control in order to get things done. —Philosopher Charles Taylor

We talk about time as something to manage, spend, and even

.

When we’re honest, we know that time is something we have no

over.

We can discern our true priorities when we look at our

.

Out of Control

In the late first century, Christians in Asia Minor were experiencing

.

John wrote Revelation as a letter of

to suffering churches. (Revelation 1:9)

Despite their struggles in the

, John reminded them that God holds the past, present, and future. (Revelation 1:4)

He reminded the church that the Roman Empire was not the

authority in the world. (Revelation 1:5)

Jesus is not only Lord of Heaven and the church, but of all

, times, and places.

Today is Christ the King Sunday, when we remember that Jesus is Lord of all creation.

One of the earliest Christian creeds was “Jesus is

.”

If Jesus is Lord,

is not. (Revelation 1:5-6)

No ruler, nation, disaster, system, or circumstance can change the truth the Jesus

.

Already, and Not Yet

If Jesus is already King, why is the world so

up?

The reign of God begins with Jesus’ resurrection, but it will come in fullness when he

. (Revelation 1:7)

Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. —The United Methodist Book of Worship

The promise of Jesus’ return is that all things will be made

. (Revelation 21:3-4)

We live between D-day and V-day. The victory is secured, but the war continues a little longer. —Tish Harrison Warren

If we are

of the Kingdom of God, we will live differently than those who are not. (Philippians 3:20-21)

A Different Way of Keeping Time

Who is

of your time?

Christians exist in an alternative chronology. The church has its own time. —Tish Harrison Warren

The

patterns our calendar by the what God has done in Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

The calendar consists of two cycles of

, celebration, and living out our faith.

So the liturgical year is a constant means of grace through which we receive God’s gifts to us. —Worship Scholar James F. White

As we align our calendars to the calendar of the church, we align our lives with the life of

.

The church’s rhythm reminds us that we are part of a reality much

than what we can see.

Action Steps

Listen for God’s leading this week. Change your

when you feel prompted.

Make

a true time of preparation. Spend time preparing your heart for the coming of Jesus.

Make a plan to spend $1 more on Jesus for his

than you spend on your family.