Dear Friends,
The Feast of the Epiphany takes place on Jan. 6. It is the season in the church calendar between when the Magi arrive at the place of Jesus' birth all the way to the season of Lent. I find that the church calendar is a helpful way to orient our time and our lives apart from late-stage capitalism, politics, or all the other many things that seek our attention--no, all of the things that demand our attention. Time is the one resource that is not renewable. No one has the ability to produce more time.
In his treatise on technology and show business, entitled Amusing Ourselves to Death, the contemporary Jewish philosopher Neil Postman says this:
“The clock made us into time-keepers, and then time-savers, and now time-servers. In the process, we have learned irreverence toward the sun and the seasons, for in a world made up of seconds and minutes, the authority of nature is superseded. Indeed, as Mumford points out, with the invention of the clock, Eternity ceased to serve as the measure and focus of human events. And thus, though few would have imagined the connection, the inexorable ticking of the clock may have had more to do with the weakening of God’s supremacy than all the treatises produced by the philosophers of the Enlightenment; that is to say, the clock introduced a new form of conversation between man and God, in which God appears to have been the loser. Perhaps Moses should have included another Commandment: Thou shalt not make mechanical representations of time.”
It's an interesting way to think about time in relation to God. Perhaps we (humans) were never meant to be in control of time as we have always been. Keeping strict track of the seconds and minutes as they fleetingly move forward whether we like it or not. I'm very aware of how different populations keep track of time differently. When I lived in Hawaii as a high schooler, I became socialized to arrive “late” to youth group events and gatherings with my friends. “Hawaiian time” is a real thing, and there is nothing worse than being a Haole who shows up on the dot.
I tend to resist the impulse to do something simply because that is the way it's been done. Which perhaps makes me a bad Episcopalian, as we do like our traditions; it's a source of knowledge and comfort to many. I'm not saying we should throw the baby out with the bath water; I'm not here to say we should reject tradition. But what I appreciate most about our tradition is that there are reasons behind what we do. I like knowing the reasons behind the tradition.
Epiphany is a church season that orients us toward God by its very nature. It orients us toward the revelation of Christ in and for a broken world. If your 2025 feels a bit like mine, uncertain, then perhaps you, too, can find solace in orienting your days around God's time and God's purposes, not those of humankind.
As Neil Postman articulates, if I'm going to be a “time server,” I want to serve the time transcending this momentary life. I want to set my eyes upon holy, beautiful, community-building, and enriching things. Two weeks ago, I preached on Christian hope, and I've been reflecting on it quite a bit lately. What is it? What does it look and feel like? How do we preserve it in tumultuous times?
In a time when LA is literally on fire, public attacks that invoke fear are frequent, and we are inundated with fearful rhetoric, now is when the world needs Christian hope! Christian hope isn't just an idea or a state of mind. Christian hope is found in the community; it is seen when we gather as the body of Christ, and it is seen when we write a kind letter to a friend. I see it in your actions and the way you care for one another. Christ tells us in the parable of the Sheep and Goats (Matthew 25) that whoever feeds the hungry, gives drink to the thirsty, invites the stranger in, clothes the naked, and looks after the sick, all of these things you have done for Christ.
So, may you find comfort in the fact that God is the keeper of your time. This is the same God who knit you together in your mother's womb, called you from the moment of your conception and loves you dearly and beyond measure. This is the God who presides over the time of the universe.
Blessings,
Rev. Julia+
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