Dear Rose Park,
Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws
And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
Pluck the keen teeth from the tiger’s jaws,
And burn the long-lived phoenix in her brood.
These are the opening lines from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 19 and they paint a picture of the devouring power of time. Time blunts the lion’s paws and the tiger’s jaws and even the phoenix - the mythical bird believed to rise from its ashes in order to live forever - will be devoured by time. Time does have power, but if we give time too much power then we forget we have agency within time.
Here’s what I mean. As a pastor, I hear these words often: I just don’t have time. Often this is a response as to why we don’t read the bible, attend worship, serve our neighbor, volunteer in the community, make the phone call, host the dinner, or even attend the event. We have given time so much power that we have fooled ourselves into believing we have no choice or agency within time. But here’s the reality: we do have time, we have simply prioritized our time foolishly.
In an over-exaggerated response to an appropriate call for self-care we choose rest to the point of apathy and lethargy over hospitality and charity for others. On the other side of the spectrum, we choose to spin our wheels to do good-works for others in order to stay busy rather than letting our yes be yes and our no be no in order to prioritize rest and sabbath. We have the time, but let us reconsider how we have prioritized our time. I was reminded of this exact concept yesterday.
Every Tuesday at 9:00am there is a group of guys who gather with our facility director, Joe DeVette, to do odds and ends around the church (but primarily to have coffee and donuts in the fellowship hall). Yesterday, I joined them on a little field-trip. Instead of touching up paint in the fellowship or cleaning out a closet in the basement, they made time to go visit Rog Wolters and have coffee and donuts with him. They prioritized their time in order to support and care for their dear friend.
People of Rose Park, time has some power. It has the power to slow us down and even cause a few wrinkles, but we have agency and the power to choose within time. Perhaps we simply need to pause and ask God to illuminate those people, places, and things we need to prioritize most…because when we do, we’ll be drawn closer to each other as we’re drawn closer to Him.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark
Photo by Sonja Langford on Unsplash