Listen to an ancient Akkadian dialogue - from the 1st millenium BCE - a conversation between a master and his servant.

Servant, obey me
Yes my Lord, yes
Bring me at once the chariot, hitch it up. I will ride to the palace.
Ride my Lord, ride. All your wishes will be realised. The King will be gracious to you.
No servant, I shall not ride to the palace.
Do not ride, my Lord, do not ride. The king will send you to a land which you do not know and let you be captured.

Servant, obey me
Yes my Lord, yes
Bring me at once water for my hands. I wish to dine.
Dine my Lord, dine. To dine regularly is a joy. To a dinner eaten in happiness and with washed hands the sun-god comes.
No servant, I shall not dine.
Do not dine, my Lord, do not dine. To be hungry and thirsty comes upon every man.

Servant, obey me
Yes my Lord, yes
I intend to start a rebellion.
Do it my Lord, do it. If you do not start a rebellion what becomes of your body? Who will give you something to fill your stomach?
No servant, I shall not do something violent.
Do not do it, my Lord, do not do it. The man doing something violent is killed or captured and cast into prison.

Servant, obey me
Yes my Lord, yes
A woman I will love.
Yes love, my Lord, love. The man who loves a woman forgets pain and trouble.
No servant, I shall not love a woman.
Do not love, my Lord, do not love. Woman is an iron dagger - a sharp one! - which cuts a man's neck.

Servant, obey me
Yes my Lord, yes
I will do something helpful for my country.
Do it my Lord, do it. The man who does something helpful for his country - his helpful
deeds are placed in the bowl of the gods.
No servant, I will not do something helpful for my country.
Do it not, my Lord, do it not. Climb the mounds of ancient ruins and walk about - look at the skulls of men. Who among them is an evildoer, and who is a public benefactor?
(The Ancient Near East Vol 1, ed. James B Pritchard. 1958:250)

This dialogue is intended to be a satire, but whether it is to make fun of the capriciousness of the master or the obsequiousness of the servant is unclear. To every order that the master makes the servant agrees, even though the master immediately orders the opposite.

As a piece of ancient wisdom literature it has quite an affinity with the writings in Ecclesiastes. The writer of Ecclesiastes comes to the conclusion that everything is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. The dialogue that we have heard is perhaps making the point that no action has any meaning or value over its opposite, indeed it ends up asking does life itself have any meaning or value? No matter what someone does all end up in the same place, with little distinction between them. The servant ends up saying "Climb the mounds of ancient ruins and walk about - look at the skulls of men. Who among them is an evildoer, and who is a public benefactor?" When it gets down to the bare bones of it, who can tell what value a life has had?

On this second last day of the year we are again marking the passing of time. Time marches on, and there is nothing we can do about it. Time is a great leveller. As the Akkadian writer and the wisdom teacher of Ecclesiastes have both reminded us, in the fullness of time all will end up in the same place. Everyone is subject to its control - no-one is able to manipulate time. The most influential world leaders and the ordinary people on the street have just as much time each day as each other. Rich and poor alike cannot stop time from ticking away. Time is not a giver. Once time is spent it cannot be reclaimed. We have no control over the passing of time, and little control over the effects of time. You might think you have everything going smoothly, when just at that moment something happens to change all your plans. In fact, one could view time as a tyrant. In a sense we are all its prisoners, and life could be seen as just "doing time."

And if time is a tyrant, is the author of time also a tyrant? The poem from Ecclesiastes tells us there is a time for everything, then sets out pairs of opposite events: a time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to pluck up, a time to kill and a time to heal. Is it saying, like the satirical Akkadian poem, that everything has as much value as the other? Could it be interpreted that God is playing with us - no matter what we try to achieve, the opposite will eventually happen - no planning is possible. Do we just act at the beck and call of our master time, no matter how unreasonable the demand?

But it would be sad for such beautiful poetry as this to have such a tragic meaning. As we read on in the few following verses, we can perhaps reinterpret the passage to say time can be a blessing.

In v11a we read "he has made everything suitable for its time" To put it a little glibly, I don't think the poet is saying "anything goes" but instead he is saying "Everything stays." If you read though the verses you'll see there are 7 pairs, and for the biblical authors 7 was a complete number. In other words, everything has a right time. This doesn't have to be a resignation to the tyranny of life, but instead a celebration of variety in life. For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. Not just random events, but all part of the providence of God.

When I've talked before about the providence of God I've said how it is easier to see this in our own lives in retrospect. One of the famous philosophers and theologians of last century, Soren Kierkegaard, said "life has to be lived forwards, the trouble is that we can only understand it backwards." We may be time bound, but our memories ensure that time does not have to be tyrannical. The past is what has made us in the present, and will guide us into the future. Lord of our days: yesterday, today, forever. Christianity's very identity as a historical religion, and our use of an ancient document such as this for present inspiration and guidance show that the past is vitally important as we continue marching on into the future. A few years ago a program on SBS called "Wisdom of the Elders" gained some prominence, reminding us particularly of the value of indigenous culture in the identity of a people. But it is not only indigenous elders that we look to, we also recognise the need to value experience and wisdom amongst our own families and community and not just expect it is only what is ahead that is of value.

Time does not have to be seen as a tyrant, or even just as blessing, but it can be an opportunity, or even a gift. There is a time for everything, but do we make the most of that time?

Listen to some popular wisdom from my wanderings on the Internet:

Imagine there is a bank which credits your account each morning with = $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day, allows you to keep no cash balance, and every evening cancels whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course! Well, everyone has such a bank. Its name is TIME.

Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.
Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries out no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against the "tomorrow". You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and = success! The clock is running. Make the most of today.

There is much truth in that, but we are people who live under grace and forgiveness. So be assured that even if you have wasted an opportunity, there will be another time. It is possible to make a new start.

One of Elie Wiesel's novels, Messengers of God, has this lovely reflection as part of its introduction:

"When God created humans, God gave them a secret - and that secret was not how to begin, but how to begin again. It is not given to humans to begin, that privilege is God's alone. But it is given to humans to begin again, and they do so, every time they choose to defy death and side with the living." (Messengers of God)

The passing of time itself continually offers us the possibility of new beginnings, new opportunities. The poem we read from Ecclesiastes is a part of the bible's wisdom literature. Perhaps the real wisdom comes in understanding which time it is and responding appropriately.

Everything has a time. But this should not make us fatalists, It should remind us that life is about seizing the moment, recognising its value and responding appropriately. My modern day wisdom literature, The Internet, again had some words to say about valuing time:

To realise the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who has failed an exam.
To realise the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who has given birth to a pre-mature baby.
To realise the value of ONE WEEK, ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realise the value of ONE DAY, ask a daily wage labourer who has kids to feed.
To realise the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
To realise the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who has missed the train.
To realise the value of ONE SECOND, ask a person who has avoided an accident.
To realise the value of ONE MILLI-SECOND, ask the person who has won a silver medal in Olympics.

And yet there is also wisdom though in recognising that we can't be in control of events. As the writer of Ecclesiastes goes on to say - "he has put a sense of past and future into their minds yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." We have already spoken about the gift of the knowledge of the past - the memories that inspire us, warm our hearts, sometimes carry us through. And a consciousness of the future keeps us in hope - and living with hope is the mark of the Christian church. And yet we do not know everything - there comes a time when we must let go and trust in God's providence.

We have just celebrated Advent and Christmas, the time of the church year when we remember Immanuel, God with us. In other words, we remember that God has entered time, God has become time-bound, had good times, and agonised through bad times. As we enter a new year, we do so with the memory that God came also to share our future. May this be a timely reminder of God's love and concern for the world.

PRAYER

Lord, we have time
All the time you have given us
All the years of our lives, all the hours of our days,
They are ours to fill, quietly, calmly, completely
To offer them to you thankfully,
And to do with them what you want us to do.
Guide us in this new year, we pray.
Amen.

Last updated: 6 January 2002