2010 LENTEN SERMON SERIES, posted on N-0500
December 6 2009 -"A Visit with Elizabeth" -Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
October 11, 2009 - "It's Hard to be Humble" - Rev. Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
October 4, 2009 - "Hunger Pangs" - Rev. Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
"Read the Instructions!" - September 27 2009 - The Rev Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
September 20 2009 - "Pass The Salt" - The Rev Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
September 13 2009 - "Calendar Confusion" -The Rev. Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
September 13 2009 - "Calendar Confusion" -The Rev. Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
September 6 2009 - "Dangerous Jobs" - The Rev. Victoria Ney, posted on N-0400
May 31 2009 -"Spirit Guide for Dummies" - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
May 10 2009 - The Touch of the Master - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
May 3 2009 - "More Than Enough" - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
April 5 2009 - "Being A Christopher" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
March 29, 2009 “Lo-Cal Prayer” - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
March 22, 2009 - “A Costly Bargain” - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
February 1, 2009 - "Fourth and One" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
Januaray 25 2009 - Hooked! - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
December 14 2008 - How Can It Be? - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
December 7 2008 -Holidays or Hollow Days?- Rev. Ney, posted on N-0500
November 9, 2008 "You Want Me to Do What?"-Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
"Water Marks" October 12, 2008 - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
July 20,2008 "The Runaway" - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"Dare to Be a Daniel" July 27, 2008- The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
July 13, 2008 - "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" - Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
April 13 2008 "There's a Tiger in My Boat!" -The Rev. VickyNey, posted on N-0400
March 9, 2008 - "Running in Reverse" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
March 2, 2008 - "Meet Mrs. Zebedee" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
February 10 2008 - "Who, Me?" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
"That Sinking Feeling" - January 27 2008 - Rev. Ney, posted on N-0500
January 13, 2008 - "Who Are You Wearing?" - Rev. Ney, posted on N-0500
"Wise People" - January 6, 2008 - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
Christmas 2007 Homily - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0500
How Can I Be Sure? - Rev. Ney - December 02 2007, posted on N-0500
"Skipping Christmas" - Rev. Ney - November 25 2007, posted on N-0500
"Thanks and Living" November 18, 2008 - Rev. Ney, posted on N-0500
"Your Money or Your Life!, posted on N-0500
"Taking Goliath Down" October 7, 2007 - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"When the Ark Got Parked - Oct. 21, 2007 The Rev. Vicky Ney , posted on N-0400
"Looking for Godzilla" -Rev. Vicky Ney Sept. 30 2007, posted on N-0400
"Parked In Dopey" Sept 23 2007 The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
The Rock, The Roll, The Resurrection. Text: John 20:1-18, posted on N-0400
"Does God Go On Vacation?" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"Perfect Freedom" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"Talk Like a Pirate" -The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"A Visit With Martha" - The Rev. Vicky Ney, posted on N-0400
"It All Depends on What You're Listening For", posted on N-0400
Sheep and the Shepherd , posted on N-0400
Following Jesus in a “Hokie” World, posted on N-0400
“A Bout with Doubt” , posted on N-0400
Carpe Diem , posted on N-0400
The Physics of Falling Toast, posted on N-0400

September 13 2009 - "Calendar Confusion" -The Rev. Victoria Ney

September 13, 2009 “Calendar Confusion” Rev. Victoria Ney Text: Exodus 12:1-14 When I showed Richard my sermon title, he told me not to tell the congregation ANOTHER of my problems. But, you should see my calendar. I have not joined the 21st Century yet. I have a large Presbyterian paper calendar—that shows the whole month at a glance, which I feel I desperately need. I can’t do one day at a time! I try to use pencil for appointments and such, but I can’t always find one. So, there are things written in ink, then crossed out, written over. It’s not pretty. I’m especially thinking about calendars and dates right now, because it seems like we are starting a whole new year here at church. I realize New Year’s Day is officially January 1st, but here on Rally Day, we’re beginning a whole new Program Year. I know lots of churches are doing that same thing today. We all seem to crank up the Sunday School, plan new adult Bible studies, and put new programs in place. After the summer break, school has now started, football games are back, and we’re all getting into to a more regular routine. The fact is, people all over, not just in church, think about starting new activities in the fall. I think you could make a pretty good case that it’s September, not January that begins the calendar year for many of us. There are, of course, people who would disagree. I guess that the beginning of the New Year is relative to your own personal or professional life. We clergy know that the “official” church year begins with the first Sunday of Advent—but that seems more like the beginning of the Christmas season than a whole new year. Some accountants and business people stress a new year beginning in October, since some fiscal years end September 30th. Pick a random date on the calendar and there’s a good chance that it’s a new year date for someone. The truth is, though, that even the calendar itself has been up for grabs at certain times in history. Can you imagine what it would be like to change the official calendar year? I was reminded just recently that the Western world has gone through several confusing calendar corrections in the last 2000 years or so. In 45 B.C., Julius Caesar established what became known as the Julian calendar, named after himself. His calendar started the year on March 25. That was the calendar everyone used until the Middle Ages, when astronomers and mathematicians noticed that the Julian calendar didn’t jive with the actual solar calendar. And the Julian calendar also messed up church holidays—sometimes putting them in the wrong season of the year. So in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII proclaimed a new “Gregorian” calendar. They just eliminated 10 days from October that year. October 4, 1582 was immediately followed by October 15, 1582. Ten days were gone, like they never happened! (Sometimes I feel like that happens to me—but in 1582, it REALLY happened!) Right about that time, the Reformation was starting up in various places, and Protestants didn’t want to do what the Roman Catholic Church did, so they held on to the old calendar for 170 more years. Can you imagine, people in the same country were not all on the same date at the same time! Finally, England and the American colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752. So, September 1752 lost 11 days to correct the calendar to the one we use today. Here in Springfield, seven years after this church was founded, colonists who went to bed on the evening of September 2 woke up the morning of September 14 (that’s tomorrow!). Just think what it would have been like to lose the last week and a half of your life. We have enough trouble dealing with leap years, day-light-saving time and figuring out when Easter is, let alone losing 11 days off the calendar. We like to think that chronological time is fixed, has always been fixed, but that’s not the case. Humans have changed it, now and then, for their own convenience. Can you imagine, people eliminated days without bringing the world to a screeching halt?! Of course, they didn’t have computers to worry about last time. But we have to face the fact that the next day will come regardless of what we name it. The ancient Greeks called that kind of time chronos time—just one thing after another. It marks our place in history—we have dates for things—but it can’t give us meaning. In fact, focusing too much on chronos time can actually be hazardous to our spiritual health. We sometimes refer to it as monotony. Same old, same old. One day after the next. Time marches on, day after day, regardless of the date. It can break the spirit. It can take away joy. It seems to me that humans will do just about anything to break the monotony, sometimes making changes just for the sake of change. If that old saying is true, that idle hands are the devil’s workshop, then boredom provides a warehouse of raw materials for construction in that workshop. When time holds no meaning for us, we can lose day after day wasted in trivial, and sometimes, destructive pursuits, and not even realize that those hours, days and weeks are gone. We were not created to simply mark time. Sure, I know that God created chronos time by marking out the seven-day week at creation, but God’s calendar for humanity wasn’t primarily marked by minutes, hours, and days. Instead, God gives human time meaning by inserting God’s own divine Presence into time itself. Biblically speaking, there’s another Greek word for this—it’s kairos time—the appointed time for God’s purpose and activity—the time God visits this earth and intervenes in the events—the time God comes to us and intervenes in our events. The scripture passage I read a few moments ago is that kind of moment breaking in on ordinary time. In Exodus 12, God instructs the Israelites, through Moses and Aaron, to prepare themselves for liberation. And they had to do that with some very specific procedures. The event that marked the freedom of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt through God’s direct intervention would be a new beginning, a new relationship between God and God’s people—marked on the calendar as the “beginning of months” and “the first month—or most important month—of the year.” (12:2). While the Egyptians continued to mark their calendars by the appearance of the sun and moon, the Israelites were to mark their calendars forever with a story—a story that would interpret their past, preserve their present, and shape their future. That story would forever remind them that they were a covenant people chosen and preserved by God. This Passover event was not a one day thing, one time deal. It was “a day of remembrance” to be celebrated as a “festival to the Lord” as a perpetual ordinance throughout all generations (12:14). It was, and is to this day, the Passover that marked God’s people and gave them meaning and purpose in this world. The writers of the New Testament certainly understood this. But they saw the coming of Jesus as the quintessential kairos moment—the ultimate liberation of ALL of God’s children from slavery to sin and death. It’s that kairos time that we enter every time we come to the Lord’s Table. It’s kairos time that we enter every time we’re present at the baptism of a new believer. We are part of kairos time, God’s time breaking into ordinary time, every time we do or say something in the name of Jesus. We are part of God time—God’s kingdom—breaking into this world. The early Christians changed the day of worship from Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, to Sunday—the day Jesus rose from the dead, to celebrate the reality of Easter again and again—a constant reminder that the resurrection wasn’t a mere historical event, but a living and present reality. Our Sunday celebration remembers that a new age has begun. Time has meaning because God has entered into it. God has called us to use our chronos to look for, celebrate, and proclaim God’s kairos. We humans have to fight the tendency to view life as “same old, same old.” God knew that. After all, God created us. Those Israelites practically forgot the whole Passover event just about the day after they crossed the Red Sea. They started complaining about the monotony of the desert and the same diet of manna every day. In fact, they ditched God, and melted gold to manufacture a golden calf to worship instead of God. Before we start snickering about their lack of faith and lack of memory, let’s look at ourselves. When we forget to see the daily presence of God in our lives, we, also, have a tendency to use our time to construct gods—like money, excessive work, alcohol, drugs, entertainment, and all kinds of things — for ourselves. Have you ever watched a water bug? I don’t like bugs, but water bugs are kind of amazing. They have long legs that splay out, supporting the weight of their long body. The bugs never get wet—they just skate back and forth, frenetically searching for whatever it is they can eat. Water bugs don’t live in the water. They live on it. Their world is the shimmering, glassy surface. Beneath them are the depths, but they don’t even seem to be aware of it. I hate to say this, but in the helter-skelter of our lives, we are like water bugs. We race to and fro, busy with one errand or another—oblivious to the deeper dimension below us. We spend so much of life gliding along the surface; we seldom ever plumb the depths. And then we miss so much. We’re running here and there, without taking the time to recognize and celebrate God’s purpose and activity in our lives and in the world around us. As I close this sermon, just let me make a couple of suggestions to move from chronos thinking to kairos living: First idea: Celebrate the beginning of each new day with a prayer, asking God to show you where he will be at work and where you can pitch in and help. A friend of mine takes his calendar, looks at the day’s appointments and prays about each one. He often says, “There’s nothing that’s going to happen today that God and I can’t handle together.” I like that. Another suggestion: During the course of a day, take a moment or two to think about your blessings from God. It will help you remember that God has broken into your life already, in wonderful ways. Gratitude and joy go hand in hand. One more: We’re all worshiping today in this historic 264 year old church. Reflect on ways you might have a role in continuing this beacon of God’s love and light for the next 264 years. Lastly: At the end of a day, maybe at bedtime, review the day that just went by. What did you accomplish? Where did you see God at work? How did God’s purposes get worked in and through you in the past day—and how can you do that better tomorrow? Every day—Chronos time—comes and goes. But we can turn the switch in our heads so that we can use new eyes to see each day as an opportunity for God’s kairos activity.

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