Jonah 3: 1-5, 10

I Corinthians 7: 25-35

Mark 1: 14-20

January 22, 2006

Most of us are very schedule conscious.  The alarm goes off and we know it's time to go to work. We keep date books and own Palm Pilots ..... some of us even keeping track of each hour in the day. Time is precious, we say.

Life was not always like that.  Before the last century when factories forced people to live under the tyranny of the factory whistle and later on the time clock, people lived in a more natural rhythm. They had a looser conception of time. Time was ruled by nature and the seasons.... not the clock.  What happened in that time was more important than how quickly it passed.  People did not feel rushed to have a job done by a certain minute or second --- because actually these measurements are quite recent.  Quality rather than quantity was important. People knew when they had a task to complete. And so they acted. For the time was right.

It is this kind of time that we face in our three lessons today. In each situation, people discover that the time is right. The time is right:

{      for the people of Nineveh, who are called to repentance by Jonah,

{      for the four men in Galilee who are called to discipleship by Jesus,

{     for the Christians at Corinth, who are reminded that Christ rules.

For each of them the "time is right." Not in the sense of meeting a schedule. Not putting in so many hours. But rather in responding to God at the decisive moment.

The same may be true for us today.  One of you may be in the same situation as the people of Nineveh, or the disciples in Galilee, or the new Christians in Corinth. For you the time may indeed be right.

1. First to open yourself to God.

2. Second to serve God in a special way.

3. Third, to live as one of God's people.

1.   First, let's look at how one particular group of people came to open themselves to God.  They were the evil people of Nineveh, a wicked city.  Jonah was forced by God to go to them. Very reluctantly he told them where they had gone wrong.  But very willingly --- and surprisingly ---

they responded to his message and changed their ways.  They turned around.

The time was right for them. And they knew it. 

Is the time right for you? Where do you hear God's call? What do you see that needs to be changed in your life? What do you see that needs to be changed in our society? How can you open yourself to hear God's call?

The lists we could make!  All we need do is look about us and we can see things that surely do not meet God's will for our lives.

• Individuals that look more to personal convenience than the wider good.

• Nations caught up in their own blind goals.

• Youth caught up in winning new friends at the cost of an old relationship.

• Married folks yearning for more excitement and abandoning a commitment made before God and society. 

• Older folks bitter about past hurts and obsessed with present pains.

Perhaps the time is right. Perhaps the time is right for a change. Perhaps you are a person who has been caught up in alcohol abuse.....or spouse neglect......or friend denial......or whatever.  The invitation comes. Open yourself to God's invitation to change that. Open yourself to helping a society change its habits of war and discrimination. The time is right.

2.  Or the time may be right for you in another sense.  You may be like those fishermen———Simon and Andrew and James and John. You may be ready to drop your net and follow Jesus.

Is God calling you in this way? You know there are all sorts of opportunities for discipleship....and they come at all stages in life.

Even for the fulltime, professional ministry.   Many people have heard the call to the Christian ministry later in life. Perhaps they were teachers or salespeople or foundry workers or housewives. But they have felt the time is right.....and they are studying for the ministry.

But you needn't think in those terms.  You can think of yourself as a potential disciple here in Neillsville as you pursue your job.  Some of you felt the time was right and you accepted the invitation of our nominating committee to serve on one of our church committees or the Church Council.  A couple of you decided the time was right for some intensive study and you participated in Lay Academy.  Others of you decided you could give up 8 weekday evenings and you participated in “Unwrapping Our Gifts.”  And there are so many more challenges.  Today we’ll be considering a proposal for improvements to our building and then how we are willing to help.  Sooner than we think we’ll have a chance to celebrate fifty years of witness at the United Church of Christ in Neillsville.  Come to our annual meeting this afternoon.  Perhaps we will discover that the time is right to answer Jesus' call to discipleship in some new, exciting way.

3.  The time may be right in a third sense today.  Think of the Christians in Corinth as you look for guidance. They fully expected that they were not long for this world. Christ was coming back at any moment. Well, Christ still has not come.....at least in the sense they expected.  But the advice Paul gave to them about what to do while they were waiting for Christ to come may also help us.

Broadly speaking, Paul's advice throughout this chapter is for the Corinthian Christians, whatever their marital status, to retain the status quo.  Don't make any big changes, Paul says, because "the time we live in will not last long." (Verse 29 NEB)  However, don't get all wrapped up in your everyday affairs, because God has a much larger purpose for you. Yes, you do have to continue to marry, weep, and rejoice, buy and sell, and deal with the world........but not as if any of these things were the most important thing in the world.

That was Paul's advice to people in Corinth who expected Christ to come at any moment.

But it might also be his advice to people of Neillsville who do not sit on the edge of their seats waiting for Christ to come again.  The time is right for us to live each moment as one of God's people. We continue to work at Nelson or take our mid-semester tests or go to our next basketball practice. But we do all of these things knowing that God is Lord of our lives and that God has a purpose for our lives in the everyday working out of those lives. When we work or study or engage in recreation.....we do all of them as God's people. The time is right for us to remember that. 

• We remember that we are God's disciples when we gather at break time or fill out another order in the workplace.

• We remember that we are God's disciples when we worry about an algebra test or meet friends in the hall after school.

• We remember that we are God's disciples when we choose what we will do for fun and how we will do it.

The time is right for us to live as God's people.

Each of you today may find that the time is right for you in a particular way.

The time may be right for you......as it was for the people of Nineveh.

And you may decide to change something about your life to meet God's challenge.

The time may be right for you.....as it was for the four followers of Jesus.

And you may decide to engage in a new task for God's glory and the service of other

The time may be right for you.....as it was for the Christians of Corinth. And you may discover that whatever you do is in the hands of God.

Amen.