Where Do You See Yourself in the Timeline?

Imagine a Timeline, a very long Timeline. Now place a mark on this timeline. This mark is your place on this timeline. It does not matter that you do not know what the timeline is for. What matters is that you see that you have a place on it, everyone does. And yes, you must participate in this exercise. You cannot wait to see what my work looks like before you decide if you are going to join in. No matter how much time is left, there are no places for observers.

So where did you place your mark? If you haven’t done so yet, stop and do it before moving on. No cheating. It is probably a safe bet that most of you placed your mark somewhere near the middle of the timeline. It is just what most people will do. Since you do not know what the timeline represents yet, it is safer to give ourselves plenty of distance from either the beginning or ending extremes. No sense getting tangled up in all that closeout work at the end. The middle seems to be so much more stable and that suits us well.

OK, yes, yes. Go ahead and name your timeline. But again, what matters is that you know you have a place on it.

And yes, as you suspected, the timeline is for the days of humanity on earth. I bet you are glad you placed your mark somewhere near the middle. I didn’t. I placed mine somewhere near the very end. Well, not near it but in the end. The end makes me nervous, but no sense in lying to myself this close to the end. I believe that this is where we are, and I recognize that the actions of those at the end need to be far different than those at either the beginning or the middle. And this too is troubling. Think about it this way. The credits and music at the end of the movie always vary from the beginning. While they are similar, these devices at the beginning of the movie invite you in and at the end they prepare you for the wrapup. In my case, I am watching and listening to the movie’s last expression. If you are as well, then you made your mark at the end like I did.

For those who chose to mark the middle of the timeline even though you suspected what this was about, why? Why did you mark the middle? Are you looking for some safety or stability or are you afraid of the extremes? I’ll admit, the end is troubling sometimes. As we watch US politics and world events it sure seems better to be closer to the middle right now, but we aren’t. You know that. We somehow realize that we are watching the closing credits and listening to the closing music and still we insist that we are near the middle. What will happen when the theater lights come back on? Did you ever notice the one couple who has not even reached for their stuff when the lights come back on? They are sitting there as if they had no idea that the movie would eventually end. Or maybe they thought they could see it again. Really! Go through this again. No thank you.

Can you see now that where you position yourself on the timeline affects how you see the political and world situations we are experiencing? IF we are closer to the middle, then what is happening is a needed course correction to carry us for many years before the end. But if we are at the end, what is happening now is preparing us for the wrap up, the closing credits.

The opening music in a play or a movie is designed to draw us in we observed. It has the same elements as the rest of the music, but it is distinct in that welcoming feel it sets. So too the ending music is designed to prepare us for the climax. It is intended not to welcome us but to emotionally prepare us for the end. What music are you hearing?

Do you need to adjust your mark on the timeline? I’ll give you a minute.

This morning’s news is going to put the prophecy world in hyperdrive. “The US will rebuild Gaza”.

There has not been a day in two weeks that has not brought unbelievable news. The music has changed. Can we hear it and are we prepared to adjust to it? Our effectiveness as a church and as individuals depends on us hearing the music correctly. Is your mark placed correctly? There is no way to understand what God is doing in these strange days if we do not know what days these really are.

By Pastor Daniel Mckillop

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