Tonight’s family service looked at the idea of times and seasons. Bob Dylan’s song ‘The Times, They Are A’Changin”, looks at changing circumstances, fortunes, political process, ways of doing things and a change of order; one thing is clear as we progress through life and that is that change is here to stay! Eccl 3:1-10 talks of times and seasons for every activity under the sun, and Rom 13:11 urges us to understand the present time.
In Greek, there are two words for time: chronos (from which we get our idea of chronology, or linear time, counted in seconds, minutes, hours and days etc.) and kairos, which has the idea of seasons and periods of time. We have to understand the seasons generally, not only in terms of weather, but how attitudes change and cultures alter so that we can be aware of what people corporately are thinking. We also need to understand times in relation to our personal lives. We all change and age; we all face different circumstances in life. Some seasons are good; some are difficult to bear. We can often find change daunting, not fitting into how we used to be, but also being afraid of what lies ahead.
Only God is changeless, however. We can be secure that our times are in His hands (Ps 31:15) and because of this, we can rest in Him when all around us is changing, because we know He will never change. His faithfulness, love and support are constant through the trial and the change, and we can be confident that whatever happens, He will walk us through the next season and help us in every way.