A thought on time - Exodus 12:1

Passover.  It is one of the appointed times.  One of the festivals that God appointed for the people of Israel to keep every year. It reminds me of a conversation that we had early this year while reading the weekly Torah portions.

It was Exodus 10-13. The story of the final plague and the exodus from Egypt. And at the beginning of chapter 12, God gives the people of Israel their first command. He realigns their calendars. 

Not the first time God talked about time, in the garden of Eden, the first thing God created was day and night, and on the fourth day, planets and moons to tell time, and in the seventh day he made time holy,  the only thing in creation to be made holy.

At the first passover they are commanded to re-align their calendar with God's. Restructure their week, their year, their festivals and celebrations and time is no longer to calibrated by the Egyptian gods, the Nile and it's cycles, but instead it is to be calibrated to the moon, the sun, the movement of the planet and seasons, the objects that God created with the purpose to tell time. 

Today, the concepts of time are varied. Fleeting, precious, valuable, something to just get through or simply something you never have enough of. 

There is a whole genres of literature and entertainment based on things like space- time dimensions, time-travel and the like. 

But what we rarely call time - holy. 

Why? 

Is it because it might demand more of us? In an age of quick, instant, fast paced and individual interests to set aside time is a costly demand.  We manage our time very carefully. We know how long it takes to get from here to there, how long can we sleep in, how many time can really press snooze and still get where I need to be on time. We know how to effectively accomplish things we need to. We count the hours we work, and calendars and day-planners are often not far away. 

I've encountered the idea going without time. At camp it happened a couple time while out-tripping that we wouldn't look at watches or the time and just take the day as it goes. It is freeing in a way, but if God created time and order, what if it isn't about getting away from keeping time - but rather about what we are keeping time for. 

"You're wasting my time...."  I have heard this phrase a lot. It is an attitude that I have found within myself. It goes hand in hand with "my time is valuable". The commonality - 'my time'.  

Who possesses time? 

Do I ultimately own the time that is given to me?  It is as if a kid is holding onto their allowance, buying candy and refusing to share it. As if they automatically forget where the money first came from. 

If time was the first thing that was called holy, is it not the most valuable gift that we can give back to God?  It is like the same lessons we use about money or possessions - that what we have is not really ours, but blessings from God for which we are called to be good stewards of.  

The difference - even if you don't have money - everyone has time. 

When God created the world - before the fight with evil even began - he ordained one of every 7 days to be holy. And in a world that struggles with evil constantly I struggle to give time, even part of the 7th back to God. 

And not giving as in hands off - do as you will with it time - but as time to stop, and rest. To remember that I did not create this time. It is not calibrated by my events or tasks. It doesn't bring attention things I think important, but rather, points to something, someone bigger.
It is a valuable blessing of which I am commanded and privileged to partaking, the time given to me, and the time given to those around me.  

Even in the time I 'give' to God, I find I can still be caught up in the busyness.  I let what I do define who I am, rather than seek to find who I am in Him. 

It is easy to point to the passage about worshiping God in every aspect of our lives. 

Yes, I believe we ought to do that. 

The word used for worship in Exodus is the same word for serve, or work, it is active or doing something. And just as the Hebrews left Egypt to go worship in the desert and once they were gone, there was no going back, the nature of our call to worship is life long. Paul changes the language and call us to be living sacrifices.
Yes, worship God in whatever you do - but do not do in order to take away from time with God. 

I can give money or things - I just let it go. But to really give time , it opens up a space in which something may happen. I may see something or hear something that I don't want to see.

 And so in a way I can see how that might be intimidating, but when we worship - it is not only what we give to God. 

When we open up that space, the time, the time that God has already declared holy, God is already there and although we might see something we don't want to, more than that, God meets us there because He has an undieing love and incredible faithfulness to those who He has chosen.