New Year

A time to do what?

by Douglas Miller

Today we begin the year 2012 in the Christian Era, and our thoughts naturally turn to the good and bad points of the past year, and to what we might expect in the new year.

Not only what we might expect, but how we might respond. We wonder what the new year might bring forth.

One reading for today is from the Book of Ecclesiastes. It is the passage that speaks about different times;

A time to be born and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to pluck up;
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to keep and a time to throw away ... And so on.

Now before we speak about this passage; note that it is very unusual to have a reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes. Why is that? Because it is a very skeptical book. It seems to be saying most of the time that there is not much point in most of the tasks we work at. For instance, a person works hard to acquire wealth, but then he dies and the next generation wastes it, so what was the point? Another person works hard to learn and become wise, but a generation later nobody remembers who that person was, so what was the point?

Yes it is a very skeptical book. Why is it in the Bible at all? I believe it is there because it breaks down the idols which form the goal of many people's lives, but it seems to have little to put in their place. At the end the speaker comes to the rather tentative conclusion, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for that is the whole duty of everyone".

However, between the skepticism there is a good deal of wisdom in the comments in this book.

Now the passage we read in chapter 3, said, among other things:
"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to pluck up;
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to mourn and a time to dance;
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to keep and a time to throw away."
And so on.

Those are six items from the list. There are fourteen items altogether.

This passage is saying that human life is rather like work in the garden. There are times you should be sowing certain plants and there are times you should not be sowing them. There is a time to sow the plants, and there is a time to pull them up and let the soil rest. You should discern the flow of the seasons, of heat and cold, and fit in with that flow rather than trying to fight against it.

In the same way, he suggests, human life and human community has its seasons. There are times to be energetically establishing new things, and there are times to consolidate what we have established, and there are times to rest from what we have done and to recover. We need to discern what is the right action for this particular time.

Equally there are times when a particular project or idea will go nowhere, and there are other times when a particular project will pick up the mood and be a significant success.

Ministers often have the experience that they suggest something in their first or second year, and the matter falls flat because people think of all sorts of good reasons why that idea would not work in this place. Then about two years later, someone else suggests the same idea, having quite forgotten where they had heard it, and the matter is taken up and goes well. Wise ministers learn to keep their mouths shut in such times.

You will see the ebb and flow of possibilities as you observe the political scene in a democracy. There are times when whatever party you vote for will sweep into power with a large majority of seats, because the public wants to make a change. There are other times when a 10% swing will place that same party in opposition with a massive loss of seats, powerless to do anything very much except be a nuisance to the government.

What is the nature of the time that we are now in? It is very hard to say. John Howard used to say, "expect the unexpected".

If you look back on 2011, there is so much that was quite unexpected.

We had the Queensland Floods in January. We responded by supporting the Church's Appeal to assist people displaced by the floods. As we were taking up that appeal, we had the floods in Victoria, following all-time record rainfall in some parts of the North-West of Victoria, and so we had a second appeal for people affected by the Victorian floods. Some farms along the Murray River remained underwater for months.

Then we had the second earthquake in Christchurch, so much worse than the first.

Then we had that awful tsunami in Japan, and we saw the video of that huge tide of water sweeping away houses, boats and cars; and whole towns across a wide area on the East Coast of Japan. And worst of all it damaged the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, and we learned the hard way that a damaged nuclear plant can take nine months to close down, with leaks of radioactive material into the environment as it goes.

Then there was the Arab Spring, when people stood up and claimed the right to freedom of speech and free elections in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and now Syria, and people said they were not going to accept dictatorships any more. These were countries that had lived with military-backed dictatorships for 40 years and more, and suddenly the people were willing to take great risks to stand up against them. As far as I can tell, there were signs of restlessness in these countries last year, but no expert saw any substantial change coming. It took the world by surprise. This movement has a long way to go. The Arab Spring is a change in the world's politics as substantial as the French Revolution of 1789, or the fall of Communism in Europe in 1990 and 1991. And both of those were events that few people saw coming.

The year 2011 has brought other surprises. The shaky coalition of the Australian Federal government has meant that the party that said it would not introduce a carbon tax has now introduced one and been enthusiastic about it. I personally am glad it has done so, but many are very angry about it. Also the shaky coalition of government seems set to take steps to reduce problem gambling. Neither of these were on the horizon at the time of last year's election.

So what sort of year will 2012 be? I think it will be like 2011, full of unexpected surprises, some good, some bad.

In such a year, we need to remember what Ecclesiastes says about the right time for an action. The time can change very quickly and without warning, and we need to be flexible enough to grab the moment that is actually there, and discern the call of God at that time; and not to be stuck with our previous plans.

I remember acutely being taken over by the unexpected in the year 1990. It was Saturday night, about 8.30 pm, and I emerged from my study with the sermon half finished. And I saw the summary news on the telly, and there were people pulling down the Berlin wall. And I suddenly realised that the whole order of the world had suddenly changed. The dynamic of the Cold War, which had dominated the world all my lifetime had gone, and a new dynamic of nationalism and regionalism would take its place.

I quite forget what the sermon was about, but for that particular day it was a sheer irrelevance. I went back to the study, and tore it up, and started again. There was nothing else I could do.

So what does the Bible say to us in such a changeable time as this?

First, recognise with the Book of Ecclesiastes, that there is a right time and a wrong time for many good things you might want to do. It takes wisdom to discern the right time, and it can also take an ability to respond very quickly to an unexpected situation. We do not know what a year may bring forth. Second, to respond with flexibility. Sometimes the most important act we can take is one we would never have planned for. I remember 1989, when the ABC produced a documentary before Easter, about the views of Sydney Academic, Dr Barbara Thiering, about the connection of Jesus with the Dead Sea Scrolls community. That documentary claimed, among other things, that there was no resurrection and that Jesus lived among the Christian Community for many years after.

My first reaction was to think that some views are so ridiculous that you do not bother to respond, but I found that members of the Church in Wodonga were quite upset, and it needed a response that took the argument apart.

So we offered a Sunday Evening Seminar on Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was advertised to the various churches in Wodonga, and about 200 people came.

Now that is an example of responding to a situation when it arises. If I had offered that same seminar a month before, I don't think anything would have come. We need to respond with flexibility.

Third, this new year, with its unknown future is a time to trust in God above all else. God does not protect us from all dangers and problems, but God does give us strength for the day, strength to address what a day might bring forth.

This new year is a time to trust in God above all else.

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