It’s About Time!

Our Most Precious Gift

In December, 1942, Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew it was only a matter of time until he would be arrested for his opposition to Hitler’s antiSemitic, autocratic rule. The arrest came on April 5, 1943. He was hanged on April 9, 1945, just three weeks before Hitler committed suicide and a month before the end of the war.

In his 1942 Christmas letter to his family and friends, Bonhoeffer wrote:

“Time is the most precious gift at our disposal, being of all gifts the most irretrievable … Time is lost when we have not lived, experienced things, learned, worked, enjoyed, and suffered as human beings. Lost time is unfilled, empty time.” (Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 37)

Bonhoeffer’s words leaped off the page because, for one thing, they happen to be true! Time is a not something we earn or create, but an irretrievable gift on loan to us by an extravagantly generous God. The most important decisions we make every day are about what we do with the time we are given. Do we use our time, in Bonhoeffer’s words, to live, experience things, learn, work, enjoy and suffer?

Jimmy Carter was riffing on words attributed to John Wesley when he declared:

“I have one life and one chance to make it count for something . . . I’m free to choose what that something is, and the something I’ve chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”

His Time Had Come

Bonhoeffer’s words also hooked my attention when I read the gospel lesson for the 5th Sunday in Lent.(John 12:20-33) Jesus knew it was only a matter of time until he would begin his inexorable journey to the cross. He used the word time four times in this passage. Here’s my personal paraphrase of John 12:25.

“If you try to save your life, you’ll lose it. If you hold your life tightly, demanding that everything serve your self-interest, you’ll squeeze the life right out of it. But if you give your life; if you release your life into something larger than your own self-interest; if you invest your time in things that have eternal value, you’ll find life that is really worth living, life that lasts forever.”

Now Is the Time!

Long before voice-activated computers and gender-inclusive pronouns, high school typing classes practiced a standard drill: “Now is the time for every good man to come to the aid of his country.”

Now is the time for every good person who believes that facts matter, every good man who respects the value of women, and every good American who is committed to our democratic and legal tradition, to come to the aid of our country by standing up for truth in the face of dishonesty, human decency when confronted with crass immorality, and for democracy when it is threatened by autocracy.

Presidential historian Michael Beschloss is not alone in warning us of the former President’s autocratic vision. When Viktor Orban, the Hungarian dictator, visited Mar-a-Lago, Beschloss said, “Listen up, if you love democracy.” Trump called Orban “a model leader.”

Now is also the time for every good follower of Jesus to come to the aid of the Christian witness in our country. Seminary professor, spiritual leader and personal friend, Steve Harper, told the truth when he wrote, “It is almost impossible to overstate how different the true Christ is from MAGA Jesus.“

Now, as we approach Palm Sunday and Holy Week, is the time to take Jesus seriously. Now is the time to invest time in reflecting on the gospel accounts of the last days of Jesus’ life.

Now is the time to live, experience things, learn, work, enjoy and suffer with Jesus, that we might experience anew the power of his resurrection on Easter.

It’s about time!

Grace and peace,

Jim