CRUNCH TIME

INTRODUCTION

Today I’d like to talk about time - not just any time, but judgment time, crunch time. If I had to give a title to this homily, it would be called, “Crunch Time.”

CRUNCH TIME

Crunch time is judgment time.

It’s when a game is coming down to the wire.

It’s when there is one second left in a football game and the field goal kicker is lining up for a long field goal - in hopes of winning the game.

Or the basketball player has two foul shots to tie the game.

Sometimes this is the time the other team calls, “Time out” if they have one, to make the kicker or the shooter feel the pressure.

Crunch time.

In sports the game teaches us about time - and about life. We’ve practiced - but the game is what counts - and the game within the game -  whether it’s the first game of a new season - the playoffs - the regionals - or the championship game at the end of the season.

It’s crunch time.

END OF THE YEAR READINGS

Today’s readings contain these strange images of danger and doom. We have these end of the world type readings this time, every time, at the end of the year.

Next Sunday - November 24^th -  we’ll have the Feast of Christ the King, the last Sunday of the church year. Then on the following Sunday,  December 1^st, we’ll have  the beginning of a new Church year, the First Sunday of Advent.

Time - as well as the Church’s Liturgies gets interesting at this time of the year.

MALACHI

In today’s first reading from Malachi, the prophet, we have the image of the oven. The oven tests the cook. The proof is in the pudding.

But Malachi is using the image of an oven or a refinery that burns stubble and tests metal. There are things we need and want to get rid of and there are precious things we want to save.  We’ve all heard the phrase, to test one’s metal. The fire burns off the impurities. We find out what we really got when we put the metal to the fire, to the test.

GOSPEL

In today’s gospel Jesus and his disciples go down to the big city of Jerusalem. His disciples are fascinated by the temple, the jewelry in it, the gold, the bigness and vastness of it all. But Jesus says that it’s all going to be destroyed. It’s not going to make it in the test of time.

I’ve only been to a tiny bit of the Middle East: parts of Israel, Turkey and Greece.   I’ve seen a few ruined temples. If you go to Israel, to Jerusalem you can go to the wailing wall, the wall of the destroyed temple.  But the world has plenty of places that have not passed the test of time and time is a great tester.

You can translate today’s gospel into many examples. We’re driving down the road in a not so fancy car. It has lots of miles on it. A fancy, very expensive, brand new car goes flying by. Envy. Fascination. Wow. Then we see a tractor trailer truck of crushed old cars go by.

Fascination. What are we fascinated by?

Time tells us where the really valuable is - to us.

TIME IS FUNNY

Time is funny. Time is relative.

Take a minute.

A minute is 60 seconds every time. Look at your watch, clock or cell phone, and take a minute to check it out - if I right about that.

I remember a digital watch I once had: a Timex.  In time - after a lot of use - the little buttons on the side were not working too well. I took some WD 40 and sprayed it into the buttons on the side. Well, I ruined the watch. The face became a sea of black liquid. Ugh.

So I had to go looking for an old watch. It’s a wind up watch. It still works. It’s passing the test of time. I can see the second hand.

A minute takes a minute, 60 seconds every time.

But time is also relative. I love the old saying. I use it every time. “How long a minute takes depends on which side of the bathroom door you’re on.”

How long a minute takes depends on who’s speaking or who’s preaching.

How long a minute takes is whether you’re the one who spilled the coffee  on the restaurant table and you’re hoping a waitress shows up any minute now.

How long a minute takes depends on whether you’re watching the last minute of a football game or you’re playing Jeopardy.

Time is funny.

The nurse or doctor’s assistant puts you in one of those small rooms at the doctor’s office and says, “The doctor will be in to see you in a minute.”

Time is relative.

TIME TELLS THE TRUTH

Time tells the truth. It might take time, but the wheel of justice eventually balances.

Time tells whether what we bought was really worth it.

Time tells us the truth about whom we work with, whom we marry, whom we spend time with.

“Time will tell” as the old saying goes.

A NEW HIRE

How many times have we heard this? A person is hires a person who looks great on paper. He has a great resume. He had a great interview. The person was hired. A few weeks later the boss or the person who hired this new person says:  “Wow did we make a mistake.” The guy was horrible with women. He couldn’t stand having a woman as his boss. They had to buy him out to get rid of him.

MARRIAGE

It’s the same with marriage. He seems great on a date. He’s so good looking. Wow. She is gorgeous. But can she cook as they used to say?

“The glances over cocktails that seem so sweet, don’t seem so sweet over shredded wheat.”

What is he like after the honeymoon?

People forget they are marrying the father or mother of their kids. They are marrying a companion for life.

Time tells all.

POEM

I like a poem by John Crowe Ransom. It’s a tough poem. Woooo! Tough stuff. Judgment stuff. Truth stuff. Time will tell stuff.  Ugh stuff.

It’s about a man and a woman. It’s about a man seeing a group of beautiful school girls with beautiful hair. They are playing or running in their blue school uniforms in a playground. There are a few words in the poem that we don’t hear too often.

A sward is a grassy patch.

A fillet is a ribbon that holds one’s hair in place.

A seminary here is the girls’ school.

BLUE GIRLS

          Twirling your blue skirts, travelling the sward

          Under the towers of your seminary,

          Go listen to your teachers old and contrary

          Without believing a word.

          Tie the white fillets then about your lustrous hair

          And think no more of what will come to pass

          Than bluebirds that go walking on the grass

          And chattering on the air.

          Practise your beauty, blue girls, before it fail;

          And I will cry with my loud lips and publish

          Beauty which all our power shall never establish,

          It is so frail.

          For I could tell you a story which is true:

          I know a lady with a terrible tongue,

          Blear eyes fallen from blue,

          All her perfections tarnished -- and yet it is not long

          Since she was lovelier than any of you.

CONCLUSION: CHURCH TIME

Let me make a conclusion.

Sunday mass is church time. Different time. It’s one hour out of the 168 hours of the week. It’s judgment time. We come to church and we look at the rest of the week.

How are we doing on our job? Putting in time or really doing a great job.

How are we doing as a member of our family? Presence. Listening with each other. Meals. Etc.

How are we doing in our primary responsibilities?

If I am a teacher, how am I doing?

If I am a student, how am I doing?

At Sunday mass time we take the time to review the week -- to check things out.  Things might look good on paper. A person might have lots of promise. But in the crunch time of everyday life, we see reality. The proof is in the pudding.

Church time is often like that time in the doctor’s office. We’re in the room waiting for the doctor. We felt a lump or our left side is numb or we’re not feeling right. We sit there doing some serious thinking.

That’s judgment time. That’s crunch time.

We take tests and a few days feel like ages as we look at the phone waiting.

Time will tell what is going on.