Thought for Today
Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.
Luke 3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene,
Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
October 3, 2024 was Rosh Hashanah (literally “head of the year”), the beginning of the new year on the Hebrew calendar. December 1, 2024 will be the beginning of Advent, the first day of the Christian liturgical year. Of course, January 1, 2025 will be the beginning of the Gregorian calendar year. Many of us are also familiar with various fiscal calendars. All calendars are ways to keep track of, to measure the passage of time.
Calendars are only one example of the multiplicity of measurement systems we use. When we consider any system of measurement, the first thing to realize is that all systems of measurement are arbitrary and artificial. As a student, I learned to use what is known as the English system of measurement. Today, even in the U.S.A., many learn the metric system. The metric system is touted as superior on the claim that it is based on decimal measurements; it is base 10. But, its basic unit of length, the meter is arbitrarily defined as “Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299792458 of a second, where the second is defined by a hyperfine transition frequency of caesium.” (en.wikipedia.org)
The alleged superiority of the metric system, a decimal base, ignores that in every system of measurement, time is measured on a base 12. On every calendar in common use there are 12 months. The number of days in a month may vary; but, each day is 24 hours long. Each hour is 60 minutes long. Each minute is 60 seconds long. All base 12 measurements.
Just to keep things even, everyone who works with computers has at least some familiarity with mathematics using a base 2 system. All systems of measurement are arbitrary and artificial. Why do we bother to even try? Is it important to measure, to keep track, to organize and quantify time and space? It may seem like a silly question; but, I believe measuring and keeping track are integral to life itself.
Our Gregorian calendar was developed using the then-current accepted date of the birth of Jesus as a pivot point. When I was young, we used B.C. when counting referring to dates prior to that pivot point, and A.D. when counting forward from that point. Other calendars use other pivot points. Even on the Gregorian calendar, we now use B.C.E. and C.E. respectively.
I thought about calendars and measurements as I read the liturgical passage for worship tomorrow. Like everyone else who is reading this, I am inundated with all of the political hoopla of this election year. The constant barrage of advertisements and slogans intrudes even on my devotional time and my sermon preparation time.
This week, I was struck by a recently recurring theme, captured in 2 verses: from last week, “Mark 10:36 And he said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’" ; and from this week, “10:51 Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’"
No matter which calendar we use, no matter how we measure anything, Jesus is still asking that same question, “What do you want me to do for you?” Christians understand what Jesus has already done for us. We will commemorate his sacrifice on April 26, 2025. Our Jewish friends will commemorate what God did for us and for their ancestors on Passover beginning April 12, 2025.
Maybe all of God’s children should declare the year to come, irrespective of the specific day we declare its onset, as the year we contemplate and answer Jesus’ question, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Stay safe, talk to Jesus about your answer, trust God,
Pastor Ray