[Start by asking – ‘Er, what time is it?’ See what people do. An older generation may look at their wrists, where they are wearing a watch, or, now perhaps, a digital device. Others may reach for their phone. In many churches, there is a clock, often placed where the preacher, but not the congregation, can see it!]

It’s always been this way. Some of the most ancient monuments in landscapes all over the world are designed to measure and mark time.

The early Christians seem to have ‘marked time’ from very early in their life together. We read that they gathered on the ‘first day of the week’, not the customary Sabbath Day of rest, but the ‘Lord’s Day’, on which Jesus rose from the dead – fresh in the amazed recollection of some of them! After a while, it seems that Friday came to be marked as well, not by feasting, but by fasting, in memory of the suffering and death of Jesus. And so they started to establish a rhythm of fast and feast, like a dance, giving shape and meaning to the ordinary working week.

Over the generations, the weekly pattern was supplemented by annual celebrations, firstly to mark the season of the year when the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus – our Easter – took place; and later to recollect the story of Jesus’ birth, the incarnation of God’s Word in the world. And so the small steps of time through the week are taken up in the longer rhythms of the Christian year. And it still goes on, a rich and complex dance which weaves time and eternity in motion together through our lives. We move inexorably through days and weeks and years, but our lives are touched and inspired by God’s eternal presence breaking in and transforming our day to day existence.

This is what happened when John the Baptist burst unexpectedly on the scene. He referred to a promise made long ago through the prophets, describing himself as the herald, calling us to ‘prepare the way’ for the coming kingdom: there are echoes from the distant past, and a call to prepare for a future kingdom. But John’s message is for the present time. It is contained in one phrase (actually, one very powerful word in the original text). ‘This foretold, and long-awaited, kingdom has drawn near.’ It’s here, now, not a relic of ancient writings, or a future dream.

The best way to understand this is perhaps to think yourself into the scene. Look at the crowds, gathering around John. Look into the faces of the people. They know they are in the presence of God. God’s kingdom has come very close, here, in this moment. Suddenly, the hypocrisy of the Pharisees is exposed. The Roman soldiers are aware of their exploitation. All these shabby, self-serving actions and thoughts, that cause division and harm within the human race, are suddenly open to God’s eternal judgment.

The people look at each other, and ask, ‘What shall we do?’ The answer (in Luke’s account) is utterly practical: stop exploiting people, act more justly, live as God wants you to. When eternal judgment breaks in on our lives, we are suddenly caught up in the dance of time and eternity. The challenge is to change the way we live in the here and now, day by day.

The same urgent message was always there in the prophetic writings. It is wonderfully laid out in the passage we heard from Isaiah 11. God’s eternal promises work out in practical wisdom and justice. Judgment reaches into every decision and action of our lives, with consequences that affect not only human interaction, but the whole of creation.

From verse 6, Isaiah’s vision takes off, and soars beyond our narrow human limits, to encompass the whole of creation and go back to the dawn of time, when the world was fresh-created and the life of one creature did not depend on the violent death of another: no hurt, nor harm, on all God’s holy mountain. Any violence we enact on any part of God’s world comes within God’s reach and judgment.

[Invite people to look at their watches and phones again, and also to look at the people around them.]

Here, in this moment, in this place, let us open our hearts to God’s challenge and allow God, incarnate in Jesus, to transform our lives.