Aba shija, aba kazi…Banywani bangye…murire ota.
Ndi Patrick.
Good morning
In John, chapter 7, we’ve been reading about The Festival of the Booths, or Feast of Tabernacles. It is a week-long fall festival commemorating the 40-year journey of the Israelites in the wilderness.
Up to this point in his ministry, Jesus had displayed his power, had performed miracles and healings and yet had frequently said, “tell no one.”
His followers urged him to attend and be bold in public. But Jesus refused, saying, “it’s not my time.”
He said he was not ready to go public, or go big.
In America there is a saying, “go big or go home!”
After his brothers went to the festival in Jerusalem, he changed his mind and later went.
The Cicada is an inch-long insect that lies dormant underground for 13 years.
They don’t bite or sting and are not dangerous. They exist in only one place..the Eastern US.
The females lay eggs in twigs, which hatch in six weeks and fall to the ground, where they burrow into the soil.
At the end of 13 years, for 13-year varieties, or 17 years for 17-year cicadas, they come up out of the earth over the course of a few weeks, as many as a million per acre.
The males make a chirping sound that fills the air…you can rarely here anything else.
This dormant insect waits and waits….until it is its time.
Many of us were baptized or called to Christ at a young age.
Yet we still act reluctantly..as if it is not our time.
What are we waiting for?
I was baptized as an infant, later confirmed by a bishop when I was in secondary school. I was called to follow Christ and serve others.
But t wasn’t my time. For 10, 15 and more than 20 years it wasn’t my time. Like the Cicada, I lay dormant.
But when my son was born in the hospital, almost 22 years ago, I was in the delivery room, and saw that miracle of life. I think at that time I was born again, too.
It marked the beginning of MY time. I rejoined the church and began to give OF myself instead of take FOR myself.
I’ve been in Bwindi a little more than a week and I see the work and effort that many of you do to serve your brothers and sisters who urgently need health care.
Perhaps it’s an obvious question:
Is this your time to serve in the manner that The Lord intended?
When Jesus spoke, it caused a division among the people.
The Pharisees had heard about Jesus provocative statements at the festival of the booths and sent their police in a scheme to find out more.
Can you imagine the Pharisees and what they were doing? They were threatened by this pastor and wanted to put a stop to it.
Isn’t that what powerful people do? Isn’t that what some of us do when confronted with things we don’t like?
We try to discredit our rivals. I believe we can all relate to the Pharisees and what they were thinking. Would we do the same if someone threatened our empire?
In the end–and I don’t want to ruin the rest of the story for you–but the Pharisees get their way.
Jesus is destroyed.
But neither death nor the Pharisees were any match for God and his plan for Jesus. It was his time
Follow up to last Friday’s devotion by Canon Charles. Do you remember he asked us about the gifts that we give to our friends?
I have a very good friend. His name is Marc. We sing in our church choir together. I am a tenor, he is a bass. We ride bicycles together through the Sierra Nevada mountains in Northern California, marveling at the beauty of creation.
He works in a restaurant. But he wants to serve injured warriors returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
He has tried for four years to leave the restaurant and build a career helping others.
But it wasn’t his time.
Some of his friends, including me, have prayed for him to find this work.
But it wasn’t his time.
This weekend, I got a message from Marc that he accepted a job where he will organize activities to help wounded soldiers rebuild their lives. He will be in Texas when I get back.
God decided it was Marc’s time.
Makama asiimwe