"To every thing there is a season,
and a time for every purpose under heaven"
Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV)
Gathering the Seeds of Change
When I graduated from high school, my parents gave me a wristwatch and for the better part of the last 36 years, whenever I needed to know where I stood in terms of what part of the day I was expending, I would lift my arm and cock my wrist so that I could quickly and easily read the time with no more than a glance. Some habits are hard to break.
So it was with great chagrin that I learned at 4:30 in the morning of July 22 whilst riding a bus to Philadelphia to catch a flight to New Orleans with 16 teenagers and two other adults... that I had left my watch behind. This was going to be a test. I had already prayed to God to give me patience so that I could interact with the Abiding Presence participants of the Jesus, Justice and Jazz National Youth Gathering without blowing a cork somewhere along the way (and I believe that God lifted me up in that respect... however you can always ask our youth for their own opinion). But now I prayed for more patience because, in the absence of my watch, I had to utilize the modern method of telling time by reading the face of my cell phone. However because I am advancing in years and my eyesight stinks, I had to not only pull my cell phone out of my pants but I also had to pull my reading glasses out of my shirt pocket and place them on my face, thereby quadrupling the effort that it would normally take for me to simply bend my wrist. After having done this ritual approximately 87 times in the five-day span that we abided in New Orleans, I began to look upon my missing wristwatch as being one of my most prized possessions.
Simplicity is essential. Time is important. And Purpose is important. Time and Purpose. One thing they drilled into our heads at the Youth Gathering was, with God's help, you can change the world, bit by bit, piece by piece, minute by minute. You need only to look around you for the multitude of opportunities, great and small, that arise every day to take the time to express God's love and make a difference. There were a variety of speakers at the Gathering that had already done just that, including:
God's WorK...Our Hands was the slogan for the JJJ Gathering. 37,000 youth can accomplish a lot of change in a very short timeframe...and although the tasks were prescribed and scheduled for us before we even got there by the organizers of the Gathering, it did not make the work any less satisfying. More importantly and much closer to home, the seed of the Holy Spirit has been planted in 16 APLC teenagers. Hopefully they will seek out what God wants them to do, the simple and the great...and then take the time to do it, bit by bit, minute by minute. Time and purpose. With or without wristwatches, God has given both to all.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We, the congregation at Abiding Presence and indeed all members of ELCA, pray that the seeds of change that were spread upon the youth at the Gathering will grow and multiply, demonstrating your love to a world far beyond the city limits of New Orleans. Amen.
Contributed by Donald
Sunday August 23, 2009
Liturgical Year B Week 39
Sunday Gospel Readings:
Lectionary 21 (Proper 16)
Twelveth Sunday after Pentecost