OUR TIMES ARE IN THY HAND

OUR TIMES ARE IN THY HAND

Design for Christian Living - Part I

Psalm 121; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Sermon by The Rev. Dr. John A. Dalles

March 8, 2020

I enjoy reading about how people divide their time.  “Mr. and Mrs. Such-and-such divide their time between Pittsburgh and Naples, Florida…”  or some similar places.  No, that is not what I mean.  I mean specifically how they choose to use every God-given day.  How they fill the hours.  What they have to do and what they want to do, as a day unfolds.  Or put it another way.  If you were to divide up your time into categories, I wonder how much time you spend on work, on recreation, on acts of kindness, of sleeping, of eating, and the like?

I did a bit of research and this comes from the Wall Street Journal with a bit of clarification from the Pew Research Foundation, so these are what we would call fairly reliable sources.  What do they tell us about how people divide their time?  In a typical week, the average American spends …

-        -  15 1/2 hours awake

-         - And 8 ½ hours sleeping

Of those 15 ½ hours when they are awake…  How would you suppose they spend their time?  Here is what the research indicates:

-       -  52 minutes [nearly an hour] commuting

-         - 9.3 hours working

-         - 7.2 hours at play; that is, discretionary time…  Leisure and sports, and recreation and exercise; including almost 4 hours per day… you guessed it…watching TV, and 1 hour and 8 minutes eating.

Which, if you are good at adding these things up in your head, already makes an average day filled with more than 24 hours. So far we are up to more like 26 hours in a day.  How that is even possible, I do not know.  And did you notice?  We did not figure in these things:

-         Time spent in some kind of activity on behalf of others – we might call it volunteer work, or acts of compassion.

-         Time spent in worship and prayer and private devotions.

I know that all of you are like the children of Lake Woebegone – that is, all of you are above average.  So your results will vary.  At some point this week, it might be an interesting and worthwhile venture, to figure out what those results might be.  How you are using your time.  Especially those 7.2 hours of discretionary time.  And then – in keeping with our New Testament scripture of the morning, ask yourself.  Faith.  Where does that fit in?  According to the Letter to the Romans, faith fits into that part of our day for which we do not receive wages, or a salary, or financial remuneration.  As the apostle Paul says:

4 Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due.

And faith is something different, altogether.  Faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something.  Faith is a strong belief in God, in the doctrines of religion, based on spiritual apprehension, rather than proof.  Faith is a conscious choice to depend upon God, day in and day out.  Faith means looking at life with the attitude: “Our times are in Thy hand”, as Dr. Kerr says it in our beloved Shadyside Presbyterian Church Anniversary Hymn.  When we take that thought and run with it, the average hours of the day take on a new meaning altogether. 

Faith fits, whether we are waking or sleeping.

The University of Virginia’s collection of Jefferson papers comprises some 3,650 items.  Most are original documents or contemporary transcripts made by secretaries and family members.  Of the total, 1610 are by Jefferson’s own hand.  Including the drawings for the Library Rotunda which is the centerpiece of the University Campus (which Jefferson also designed).  You can go to the University and see it.  In all of its un-matched neo Classical splendor.  But before it was a reality, before it was there in brick and stone, it was an idea.  A plan.  A drawing.  A design.  The builders had to live into that plan to make it a reality.  We have to live into God’s plan for our lives, in order for us to be the people God designed us to be. 

We have been made to live for Christ, in Christ, and representing Christ to others.  There is a plan for our lives, which we are living in to.  It is as if the blueprint exists, but now we are building according to that design.  We could call it our “Design for Christian living.”

During this season of Lent, we who follow Christ seek to re-design our lives along the pattern that Jesus has prepared.  In order to do that, we share in action of learning, of wellness, and of self-denial

We die to the old self.  We put on the new identity – designed in God’s image.  A tremendous amount of love, care, thought, and energy has been spent on that design, already.  God initiated it.  God supports it.   By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are becoming what God has planned us to be.  When I say this, I mean “we” as in each one of us; and I also mean “we” as in all of us, together. 

Faith fits, whether we are working or playing.  Out times are in Thy hand.  In the time that someone or something else has authority over us.  In other words, when we are working.  When we have to answer to someone else, in order to be paid for what we are doing.  Can faith find a place in the workplace?  Of course it can.

You may work somewhere where you are prohibited from speaking about your faith, directly.  I understand that.  I have talked with teachers in the public school who have that kind of a restriction on their speech.  But I know that those particular public school teachers demonstrate every day, faith filled living. If they can speak a word of encouragement along the lines of Jesus Christ, they do.  If they can show kindness as he showed it. They show it.  If they can by acts of nurturing and care, sooth what is troubling their students, they do so.  If they can provide food for thought, they do that.  I would guess that most of their students have figured it out, that something makes them tick that is different from people who do not have a living faith.  One of the popular hymns says they’ll know we are Christians by our love.  Yes, it is true.  Another popular saying is that you may be the only bible that someone ever reads.  Again, yes.  Correct.  Faith in action can speak volumes without saying a word.  Faith can find a place in the workplace.

My friend Al was a top executive for a Fortune 500 company.  He was also a deeply devoted Presbyterian.  He and I had the joy of teaching Sunday school together for some years.  At one point we were teaching on the 8^th century prophets, which can be a challenging – although compelling – task.  He mentioned to me that from his earliest work day onward, he did something that I admire and that you might wish to emulate.  He kept, in his upper desk drawer, a reminder of what he would and would not do, as he conducted his work life along the lines of Jesus Christ.  It was way before that popular saying, “What would Jesus do?”, but it was exactly that.  When confronted with a decision, when working with colleagues or supervising others, when making important decisions that would result in the company’s success.  He had that reminder list. 

I have often thought that he didn’t really need it, since he lived his faith in a way that makes me glad to have known him.  But there was his reminder of faith, his simple but profoundly practical list of what he would and should do, as a follower of Jesus Christ in a workplace that was as secular as any giant corporation can be.  Can faith find a place in the workplace?  Of course it can, and it should.  Faith fits, when we are working.

What about when we are playing?  Can faith find a place in our discretionary time?  You know beforehand how I am going to answer that. You expect a minster to say, “Yes, it can”. So having said that, I will then say: The question is whether it does.  How much does your Christian faith enter your conversation?  Inform what you read, and watch?  Prompt what you choose to do when you have a choice in the matter?  This is a question of the stewardship of your time. 

You can use your discretionary time however you may wish.  If you want to take up safe-cracking and go on a crime spree; that is up to you.  I know that is an extreme example, of bad stewardship, but there is something of a sliding scale between that, and sainthood, and one of the goals of the Christian life is to be moving away from a misspent life, toward what is lasing, and true, and good and meaningful, and Christ-like.  A fancy theological word for that is sanctification, which comes as you can tell, from the same word as saint.  We are all saints of God in that we have given our lives to Jesus Christ.  We have said with our lips in front of the congregation:

-         Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.

-         I trust him.

-         I intend to be his disciple, obey his word and show his love.

-         I promise to give of myself in every way, and to seek the fellowship of the church whoever I may be…

Every Presbyterian says that, when we join a Presbyterian Church.  In other words, we place our time in God’s hands.

One of the reasons we come to worship is to ask ourselves how are we doing with that?  Trust me, this is not a guilt trip.  This is a cheerful reminder from someone who cares about you, a suggestion to check and see if you are feeling right about the ways in which you spend your – what was it ? 7.2 hours per day when you can do exactly as you please, and precisely what you want.  Ask yourself: Am I spending it as God would please?  Faith fits, whether we are working or playing.  Out discretionary times are in Thy hand.

Faith fits – even when a day seems to have more than 26 hours, and here is not enough time to accomplish what we wanted to.  No matter how busy you may be – there is time for God.  No matter how full the day is – there is a time to pause and pray.  Or if you cannot pause, to pray as you go.  Today, you may be feeling over-stressed.  You do not have enough time.  Trust me, you have enough time.  Just enough to put it all in God’s hand.  Keep Jesus before you.  You nothing lack, for you are his, and he is yours, forever.  Amen.

This is an original sermon by The Rev. D. John A. Dalles, Interim Senior Minister and Head of Staff of Shadyside Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, PA .  It was delivered on the date indicated in the text. You are encouraged to read it and reflect upon it.  Please keep in mind that the sermon is Copyright © 2020 John A. Dalles.  Permission from the author is required to reproduce it in any fashion.