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Third Sunday after Epiphany                      Mark 1:14-20                          January 22, 2012
                
When I was in high school, I found an old Royal manual typewriter at a garage sale and I bought it in anticipation of the typing class I had signed up the for the upcoming semester.
I also bought it because I had become a fan of William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor and I had aspirations of growing up and becoming a great Southern novelist—never mind the inconvenient reality that I lived in the North! Regardless of that geographical inconvenience I also knew that I needed to learn three things if I were to accomplish my dream.
I was going to have to learn how to smoke, how to drink and how to type.
Since I was a pastor’s kid I knew I would only get help with one of those ambitions.
I was encouraged to learn to type.
 
So, when my first day of typing class arrived and I was seated in front of something only slightly fancier than the old Royal and I learned that phrase: “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.”
That sentence became my warm up sentence every time I sat down in front of a typewriter.
And now decades later I still type that out when testing a computer keyboard.
“Now is the time. . . “
 
I thought of that line as I read our scripture lessons for today as each one has a sense of urgency, immediacy, the press of time.
 
Jonah preached to the Ninevites and his message was “Now is the time to repent.”
Paul in Corinthians says, “Now is the time to get serious about God.”
Jesus says to Simon and Andrew, James and John, “Now is the time to follow me.”
 
Now, now, now.
 
Jonah – "In forty days it’ll be too late!"
Paul – “The appointed time has grown short.”
Mark – “And immediately they left their nets and followed.”
 
Now, I confess that this is a difficult message for me to preach.
Not because I don’t understand it or believe it, but rather because I am have on occasion been accrued of being a procrastinator.
And I must confess, I am a selective procrastinator.
I am perfectly capable of putting something unpleasant off for as long as possible in the hopes that if I ignore it, it will go away.
 
There have been Thursdays when I will be asked, “Will you take the garbage to the curb?”
Me, “Sure, no problem.”
Hours later. “I thought you said you were going to take the garbage to the curb.”
Me – “I am.”
Her – “Well?”
Me – “Oh, you meant now?”
 
That line, “Oh, you meant now,” is the procrastinators’ mantra, our motto, our personal and communal creed.
It allows us a somewhat graceful escape by implying that we simply didn’t understand the urgency of the request.
 
The meaning of today’s scripture lessons is this: God means now!
We in the church are very good at ecclesiastical procrastination.
 
God says, “Come and follow me.”
We say, “Sure, no problem.”
Presently God comes back and says, “I thought you were going to follow me.”
And what do we say?
“Oh, you meant now?”
 
God says, “I want you to spread the Good news of my love.”
And we say, “Sure, no problem.”
Later, God returns, tapping an impatient divine foot and saying, “well?’”
And we say, “Oh, you meant now?”
In all of the areas of our spiritual and churchly lives, God has called us to act;
To pray, to witness, to share our resources.
 
We are called to feed the poor, to clothe the naked, house the homeless, to heal the sick, to stand with the oppressed and suffering.
And we answer all those callings with a resounding “Yes.”
But God continually has to come back to us, reminding us, “Yes, I meant now!”
 
As faithful disciples Jesus calls us to welcome the stranger, to practice grace-filled living, to be good stewards, to seek out ways to share his love and to be agents of forgiveness and reconciliation.
And Jesus has to continually remind us: “Any time now!”
 
Now is the time for all people to come to the aid of God’s reign.
Now is the time to repent, to turn our lives around.
Now is the time for us to take up our cross and follow Jesus.
Now is the time to be the people God created us to be.
Now is the time to be God’s beloved children.
Now is the time to live in the spirit of God’s forgiveness and to forgive others.
Now is the time to embrace God’s gift of grace and extend it to others.
Now is the time to fully commit our selves to the Good News of Jesus Christ.
For, if not now – when?
Amen.


                                            Pastor Stephen Blenkush
                                            Zion Lutheran Church
                                           Milaca MN
                                           ZionMilaca.org
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