Do You Have Time for Me?

This past Friday I had the privilege of being the clergy person who led Stations of the Cross at noon. Honestly, I am so aware that time is precious and many cannot attend at that hour, thus my expectations were pretty low in regards to attendance. As it turned out, six of us walked the Stations together. It was moving and humbling to recount, as a sm
all body of pilgrims, the events of Our Lord’s Passion.

At the Station where Christ is nailed to the cross, one fine and gentle man was reading a portion of the script. He began to softly weep and his voice stopped for a few moments. For all of us there, it was a poignant moment, as we all experienced the dark, dark side of a humanity that could brutally murder such a Savior. We all wept a bit.

Many years ago, in between college stints, I returned to my old church at First Baptist of North Augusta. I heard Dr. Charles Page (deceased) give a wonderful sermon on priorities and time. He made the point that all of us do what we believe is the highest priority for us. To that end, we give ourselves, our attention, and our money.

In our current era, time has become more valuable that gold. Mark Twain once said, “We have created a thousand useless luxuries and termed them necessities. We sleep a sleep that does not refresh.” I believe he was right in more ways than he imagined. One of the last requests Jesus would make of his disciples would be to just stay awake with him while he prayed. Even though they loved him, they failed. You see, he asked them for “time.”

There are, I believe, events that occur in the stream of time that are onetime events, and those who miss them will not see their like again. Time with Jesus is like that. In the Lenten season all Christians are invited to spend some intentional time with Jesus. The question I would pose to all of us is this: In this Lent, are you engaging in any practice that draws you closer to the Cross, makes you aware of your own mortality, and awakens in you the profound need for a Savior?

All of us are invited to an inventory of the soul, and to take a closer look at where, with whom, and how we spend our time. Soccer, softball, golf, tennis, etc. are all great and teach us a number of things. However, research shows that few of our children who might be deeply engaged in those things will continue them into adulthood. Jesus invites families and individuals to put their limited investment of time into something eternal and grand. Will we stay awake with him?

See you in church on Sunday,