Jesus is Lord of time

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I know we’re praying for the thousands of people who continue to suffer as a result of Hurricane Harvey, and now there is great concern about Hurricane Irma’s impact in the Caribbean and on Florida. For an update on how our members in Texas fared, and how you can join in assisting them, click here. In times of tragedy, I’m comforted knowing that Jesus is Lord of all, and that includes his lordship over storms. As I’ll now explain, it also includes his lordship over time itself.

Back in 1970, the music group Chicago had a hit titled Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? Perhaps you remember its chorus:

Does anybody really know what time it is?
Does anybody really care?
If so, I can’t imagine why,
we’ve all got time enough to cry.

Time fascinates us—some are captivated by the past, others by the future, and time travel is the theme of many popular books and movies. Enter a room filled with people and you might hear one group lamenting their lack of time and another lamenting their struggle to fill it. Personally, I often wish I had more time. Better still, would be to share in Jesus’ ability to exist both within and outside of time. His resurrection, post-resurrection appearances, ascension and promise of a new creation, all point to the reality that the incarnate Son of God truly is “the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Rev. 22:13).

Sovereign over the past, the present and the future, Jesus is Lord of time.

Jesus’ ascension to heaven depicted by John Copely
(public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Explaining exactly how Jesus exists both within and outside of time (a concept with cosmological and philosophical implications) is certainly beyond the scope of this letter (and beyond the powers of any time-bound creature!). However, I do want to address what Scripture tells us concerning Jesus’ relationship to time. Let’s begin with this important passage:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. (John 1:1-2)

The Word (Logos) of God, “for whom and through whom everything exists” (Heb. 2:10) was present when time (and all created “things”) came into being. The Word is thus Lord over time. As Karl Barth notes, defining what this created thing we call “time” is, including how it could have a point of beginning within God’s eternity, is no small undertaking:

The nature of time and eternity is not something we can fathom for ourselves. We grasp it only when, against the background of God’s intervention in human time, we understand what time really is.

We cannot explain how Jesus, the incarnate Word, exists both within and outside time. Whereas the BBC’s Dr. Who needed his spaceship TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) to travel through time and space, Jesus is “the Alpha and the Omega”—the “Almighty” one, “who is, and who was, and who is to come” (Rev. 1:8). Jesus exists simultaneously within time (temporality) and outside time (eternity). His “eternal presence” encompasses that which was, now is, and is yet to come. In love and for love, the triune God gave his creation a “triadic temporality” in which there is a past, a present and a future.

Karl Barth helps us think of time as existing in two ways: chronological (temporal) time and uncreated (eternal) time. Scripture tells us that God transcends temporal time—Psalm 90:2 declares that God is “from everlasting to everlasting” (with no beginning or end), an idea we cannot fathom from our perspective within the confines of temporal time. Psalm 90:4 then contrasts God’s eternity with human temporality: “A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by.” The apostle Peter put it this way: “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Pet. 3:8). In making this statement, Peter is not providing a secret code for calculating the date of Jesus’ return (the Bible warns us against trying to do that). Instead, Peter, like the Psalmist, is using a metaphor to explain that God, who is beyond time, sees and inhabits the past, present and future simultaneously.

This metaphor helps us understand something of God’s relationship to time. Knowing “the beginning from the end” (Isa. 46:10), God takes in the full panorama of human existence while also focusing his attention on particular moments within temporal time. Note, however, that this does not mean that the cosmos operates in accordance with some sort of “fatalistic determinism.” Instead, God interacts with created time from outside time, all the while giving time and space as a gift, within which his creatures may interact with him.

“The Nativity” by Caravaggio
(public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The virgin birth and bodily resurrection of Jesus give powerful witness to how God interfaces with the time of the created world. When God created the universe in and through the eternal Son of God (the Word), he created it in such a way that he could interact with it. Then, via the Incarnation, the Word stepped into created time while remaining what he was, the eternal Son of God. He did so to bring to completion his plan for fellowship and communion with his human creatures and all creation.

With these thoughts in mind, Barth instructs us to view eternity as fulfilled time rather than as timelessness. Our Triune God has his own kind of time. The Father, Son and Spirit have always had divine time for one another, for relating or interacting with one another in loving, knowing and glorifying ways. God’s kind of time we call eternity. It has no beginning or end, and needs no perfecting. God exists in the fullness of time, all the time, in his own kind of divine time. More than this, we cannot say. But our time, the time created through the Word of God (the Logos), apparently has some created similarity to God’s time, though our time must be perfected—liberated from its passing away into nothing as we now experience it.

Because Jesus is Lord of time, he is present in terms of who and what he was in the past, who and what he is in the present, and who and what he will be in the future (made clear when he returns and all time is redeemed). As Lord of time, only Jesus can redeem the past. He has not allowed anything to happen in his good creation that he cannot, in the end, redeem. The crucifixion of the Lord of created and uncreated time was turned into eternal life and immortality for us in him by the astounding grace of his resurrection (1 Cor. 15:53-54).

In this reality, we take comfort. As we live in the here and now—the already, but not yet—with its challenges and even threats, we look forward to eternity when fallen, unfulfilled time will be no more, and our Triune God will have all the time for us, and we’ll have all the time for him and for one another. It will be a glorious time—one with no pain, no regrets, no evil, for the past will have been completely redeemed. Let us have hope, relying on Jesus, the Lord of time, and on his words of promise:

Behold, I am making all things new. (Rev. 21:5, ESV)

Happy knowing that God, who transcends time, dwells in time with us,
Joseph Tkach

Life Clubs

Life Club International, a public speaking club sponsored by GCI-Britain, truly is international, as shown in these pictures of Life Club meetings provided by international coordinator Geoff Sole.

Zimbabwe. Here is the first Life Club meeting in this African nation. The seed is planted!

England. Here ist he group that meets in Birmingham.

Papua New Guinea. Here is the first Life Club meeting in this southwestern Pacific Ocean nation.

Retreat in Phoenix

Thirteen GCI members gathered recently in Phoenix, AZ, for “Journey to Wholeness in Christ,” a retreat hosted by the Odyssey in Christ (OIC) ministry. Several participants were from the Philippines. Others came from the state of Washington and Phoenix.

Facilitated by Larry Hinkle (GCI pastor and OIC director) and co-facilitated by Lorilee Immel (Ashland Theological Seminary doctoral candidate), the retreat helped participants rest in the Lord’s presence on a personal journey to wholeness. Through sessions on prayer, the three R’s (rest, receive and respond), limbic exercise and silent awareness, participants learned to more fully experience the God’s presence, resulting in moments of healing, renewal and transformation. As a retreat highlight, skits were presented in which participants portrayed the playfulness of little children.

September Equipper

Below are links to the articles and sermons in the September issue of “GCI Equipper.” This issue celebrates GCI’s transformation, which is leading us to more active participation in what Jesus is doing to reach out to those “outside the walls” of our churches.

From Greg: Celebrating Our Transformation
Greg Williams rejoices in GCI’s continuing transformation as seen at the recent We Are GCI conference, and as illustrated in the story of Zacchaeus.

Hospitality “Outside the Walls”
Josh McDonald shares a message in which he encouraged his congregation to extend hospitality to others “outside the walls” of the church.

Kid’s Korner: Thoughts from Walt Disney
Jeff Broadnax shares insights about ministry to children and teens gained from a recent visit to Disney World.

RCL sermons for October
Here are five sermons synced with the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), covering the 17th through 21st Sundays after Pentecost (in “ordinary time” between Pentecost and Advent):
– Sermon for October 1
– Sermon for October 8
– Sermon for October 15
– Sermon for October 22
– Sermon for October 29

In case you missed them last month, here are sermons for September:
– Sermon for September 3
– Sermon for September 10
– Sermon for September 17
– Sermon for September 24

Death of elder’s wife

We were saddened to learn of the death on August 12 of Betty Shamus, wife of GCI-San Jose, CA, elder Larry Shamus. Here is information about Betty from an obituary distributed at her memorial service.

Beatrice Rachel Cimorelli was born on June 4, 1933 in Philadelphia, the third child of Hercules and Nora Cimorelli. She was born with dark ringlet curls all over her head, so the nurses nicknamed her “Betty Boop.” From then on, she thought her name was “Betty.” When she went to kindergarten and the teacher called her “Beatrice,” she had never heard it before and assumed that you were given a new name when you started school.

When Betty was 12, her family moved to Pennsburg, PA. After quitting school following the 8th grade, she worked in a sewing factory, an upholstery shop, and later at a hoagie shop. At age 20, Betty married the love of her life—Larry Shamus. Larry was in the Navy, so they lived in several states early in their marriage. Betty and Larry welcomed another new baby each time they moved, so after Larry, Carol, Mike, Marilyn and Jeff were born, they decided to stop moving and put down permanent roots in San Jose, California.

A model wife and mother, Betty filled her home with laughter and love, selflessly devoting her time to caring for her growing family. Neighbors, church friends and extended family were drawn to her boundless enthusiasm, creativity, and fun. Betty’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren delighted her beyond measure. Her legacy of love will live on in the smiles, laughter, and memories of those precious children and all who were lucky enough to share her incredible life.

Betty was a devoted Christian, serving God, her family, and her church. She lived by the words of her favorite scripture, Proverbs 3:4-5: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.”

Cards may be sent to:

Larry Shamus
1332 Crestwood Dr.
San Jose, CA 95118

Hurricane Harvey

Thanks for your continuing prayer on behalf of the multiple thousands of people suffering as the result of Hurricane Harvey. We are grateful that none of our members in the affected areas in Texas and Louisiana lost their lives and that very few experienced significant property damage. Here is the latest information we’ve received:

HOUSTON, TX: Only one of our members in Houston had water make it into their home. They are being well provided for and should return to their home this week. Mark Mounts (our pastor in Houston) recently held a video call with his leadership team to discuss how the congregation can help that family and also the people living in the neighborhood that surrounds the building where our Houston church meets. They have been working very closely this past year with an elementary school whose property adjoins the church building. They will be looking for ways they can help the school with clean-up, once the roads reopen.

BEAUMONT, TX: All our members in Beaumont are OK. James Scales (co-pastor of our congregation there) had to evacuate his home due to the potential of flooding resulting from levies being opened to drain surrounding lakes. He is now with his family in Louisiana and all are doing well. Our church building in Beaumont had a small leak in the roof from the rain, but the repair should be simple. James, who is battling lung cancer, is disappointed that the start date of his chemotherapy in Houston has been postponed due to the hurricane. Please pray for him about that. He is struggling to breathe.

GCI Disaster Relief Fund

Both congregations have been made aware that financial assistance is available to them via the GCI Disaster Relief Fund, which was established to provide members in disaster areas with emergency needs such as food, water, medicine, clothing, temporary housing, home and/or church hall repairs, temporary local pastoral salary expenses and other emergency needs.

Monies received into the Fund that are not immediately needed will remain in the Fund to be allocated in future disasters. In previous years, money from the Fund was used to help members recover from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, storms and flooding in Bangladesh, an earthquake and tsunami in the Solomon Islands, typhoons in the Philippines and an earthquake in Haiti.

If your congregation would like to donate to the Fund, your treasurer can set up a one-time or monthly donation through the GCI-Online system (http://online.gci.org) by logging in and clicking on Donate under the Manage tab.

If your congregation prefers to send a check, make it out to Grace Communion International, indicating on the memo line that the donation is for the GCI Disaster Relief Fund. The donation should be sent to:

GCI Disaster Relief Fund
Grace Communion International
P.O Box 5005
Glendora, California 91740

Sonny Parsons

Prayer is requested for retired GCI pastor, Sonny Parsons of Big Sandy, Texas.

Sonny was hospitalized last Sunday in Tyler, TX, suffering with pneumonia. He remains in the hospital, and is not doing much better.

Cards may be sent to:

Sonny & Jane Parsons
110 W Groves St
Big Sandy, TX 75755

New pastor installed

We reported recently on the retirement of Larry Wooldridge, who for many years served as lead pastor of the Stratford and Cromwell, CT, congregations. When a pastor retires, one of the issues facing a congregation is who will take their place. We are pleased to announce that Michael Guibord was recently installed as the new lead pastor in both congregations. Here are pictures from both ceremonies, conducted by Regional Pastor Randy Bloom, who with a transition team shepherded the search process.

L to R, first picture (Stratford): Randy Bloom with the Guibord family—Brenda, Michael, Kevin, Kendra, Kelsey, Kyle and Katlynn. L to R, second picture (Cromwell): Assistant Pastor Mike and Ellen Anderson, Michael and Brenda, Randy and Doug Smith (transition team member).