There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every delight under heaven—
A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear 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 stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?
I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.
He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, with out which man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.
I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime;
moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—it is the gift of God.
Grace and Peace to you from God the Father through Jesus Christ the Lord of all the seasons. Amen
“Are we there yet, Are we there yet, Are we there yet?”, “When will we get there, When will we get there, When will we get there?” “How much longer, How much longer, How much longer?”.
Have you ever been on a road trip with children and not heard these questions asked over and over and over again?
For the child on a road trip it is hard to remember where you are coming from or even where your going to. The only thing on your mind is how much longer this awful journey is going to take. The travel seems to far out weigh the destination because of how long the trip is seeming to take.
The life that we have been given is like a road trip. The journey between our birth and our death can seem to take a life time as well. Get it??? It takes a life time to get between birth and death... Ok so it sounded funnier in my head... Oh well.
But what I am trying to say, is that life can seem to take a long time. There are many seasons that we go through during this road trip called life. There are times for rejoicing, and times of planting, reaping, sewing, mending and healing. But there are also times of mourning, weeding, ripping, throwing out and sickness. And the time that is spent in and between these seasons can seem dauntingly long or unbelievably short. But the good news we hear in todays scripture readings is that every season we go through; every obstacle in the road and every exciting destination we see, are already known by God. Because God is the God of our journey, our seasons.
Today of course is New Years Day. A day of celebrating the end of 2011, and the beginning of 2012. I don’t know what last year was like for you. You may have had seasons of joy, and of hardships. Seasons of sicknesses and of health. Maybe even seasons of mourning and of laughter. But no matter how long or short the year may have seemed, we can know this one thing: God knew about these times of gladness and hardship, even before you were born.
I wonder though how often we have thanked God for each of the seasons He has allowed us to experience? Sure it is easy to acknowledge God’s goodness in the good times, when we are healthy and not struggling too much financially, mentally or spiritually... But what about in those times that seem to suck???
Have there been times in the past year that you have been unwell, or under huge stress? Maybe you lost a family member or a close friend? Maybe everything you intended to do throughout the year fell through; the promises or resolutions you made last New Years Eve failed??? Have you ever even pondered to thank God for these times.
I wonder if you have even possibly wondered where God was at these obstacles in the road??? Or if we have prayed and begged God to answer our “How much longer?”
What about this coming year? What seasons are we going to go through in this leg of our road trip called life? Will there be times when everything seems to be roses and warm fuzzy feelings? What about times of pain, and sickness and weeping?
This year are you going to be content to trust God to be your Lord and guide through out the year? Or are you going to cry out to him “ Are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yet?” Are you going to thank God for all the good roads and the hard roads.
And seeings how I’m on a bit of a roll, how about we look past 2012, and into the future past 2015, 2020 right up until the end of the world. Are we going to continue our Christian mantra of “How much longer, Are we there yet and When will we get there?” Or are we going to give thanks to God for His amazing gift of the seasons. Will we ever be content to thank God for both the highways and the four wheel drive tracks?
You see the problem isn’t so much the road trip or the seasons of life. The problem is we see all things as either good or bad. We see birth as good and death as bad; planting as good and weeding as bad; we see weeping as bad and laughing as good and we see mourning as bad and dancing as good. But this not the truth about life. For every season there is a reason. The reason we see weeping as bad is because we prefer the feeling of joy. But there is a very real reason for weeping. God knows that there are times in our lives that we need to cry. The loss of a loved one is a traumatic occasion, and God appoints a time for us to mourn the loss of those near to us. After a time we may be able to look back on the life of that person with rejoicing and even laughter, and you know what, thats ok as well, God has appointed a time for rejoicing and laughter as well. How long will the mourning be for. Well thats not really up to us to decide is it? The Lord of the seasons is in control of the duration of time. But can you imagine a life where it was not ok to mourn or to die or to throw out the undesirable stuff in our lives. Wouldn’t that be boring?
This is the reason I can say with such certainty that even through the hard times we should be giving thanks. We can give thanks that God has made a time for us to go through the hard times.
It is not God who makes bad things happen. He doesn’t want us to suffer. He wants us to be happy and to enjoy all the good things He has created for us. But because we live in a world which has fallen to sin, bad things happen, which is exactly the reason He appoints times or seasons for us to recover. Times to be healed, times to be happy, times to mourn, times to tear down and times for building up. The key to every thing we go through, everything mentioned in this poem from Ecclesiastes is that all seasons the good and the hard are a gift from God. There surely is nothing better than for us to rejoice and give thanks to our God on this, our road trip called life.
This week as many of you know Adele and I had a bit of a scare with Ezekiel not being very well. A season we needed to go through in our lives. At the end of his stay in hospital, I found my self at the LLL looking through some tracts to thank some of the people who I called and I know helped us, through prayer, conversation and babysitting. While I was there I found another tract which I am happy to hand out at the end of the service. The reason I am mentioning this is because it perfectly sums up the help we have for the road trip of life. So please hear its message:
Wherever I am -
He’s with me,
Whenever I need Him -
He’s there,
Whatever the day
May bring me -
I’m in His loving care.
For peace, joy and comfort
On Him I can depend -
Jesus, my Constant Companion,
My never failing Friend.
Brothers and Sisters there is a time for everything, theres:
A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear 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 stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
But throughout all these times, both the good and the hard times. Not just today. Not just throughout this new year. But for the rest of your journey. Jesus Christ your Constant Companion is with you always, throughout all these times. To guide, comfort and lead you on, every moment of your life.
So go forward into 2012 with confidence, knowing that Jesus your saviour, your Lord and your guide is with you. And that the “bad” times during this coming year can be turned into positive experiences which draw us ever closer to our Lord the constant companion on your road trip called life.
And the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
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