This post is a sermon I preached at Community United Methodist Church of Wayland, Massachusetts in the summer of 2001.

By viewing things historically, we are forced to think in terms of years and decades and centuries rather than individual days. Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century, the Protestant Reformation occurred in the 16th century, the entire 17th century is often called the “Age of Discovery”. But we all know the printing press did not take 100 years to complete, and that the ramifications of the Martin Luther’s reforms are still be experienced, even today.

In looking at the last three or four years, the amount of attention given to the millennial shift is really quite extraordinary. It is as if we are crying out for our lives to matter. We, who are living today, sometimes without even realizing, are the most historically informed people that have ever walked this planet. First with radio, television, and now with computers we have access to any event around the world, as it happens. And for those occurrences that predate these technologies, we can now search with ease to find nearly any article or book ever written about any topic we choose. Yet for all these historical events that we can call up with pinpoint accuracy via books and the Internet, we still think in terms of decades and centuries, not days, once we are away from the computer.

Personal Occurrences

Which dates do you remember? Surely the first to come to your mind are of a personal nature—your wedding anniversary, the day your child was born, the day a relative died. These things strike us in a very personal way; it’s as if our brain burns an image of these events in our mind, complete with the video camera date stamp in the corner. It gets a bit trickier when we move away from personal experience. I believe that in daily living, the average person will remember with accuracy only those events that have a definite personal meaning to him. Now, some of you will tell me “Sure I remember historical dates.” You might tell me the exact date on which the second world war ended. But I ask you, is that because your brother came home soon after. Or you might boast that everyone knows of the date that President Kennedy was shot. Actually they don’t. Ask a child who was born in 1990 what happened on November 22, 1963, and they’ll tell you that’s ancient history. Perhaps you remember because it was your first experience with death. It struck you in this personal way. Yet some events, which may have even greater historical significance, fall by the wayside because they don’t affect us in an immediate way. For example, we all know that something big happened in our country on July 4th, 1776, but how many of us are exactly sure of the circumstances? I’ll bet Thomas Jefferson would know!

Unplanned Occurrences

It seems as though once we are removed from those personal events—weddings, births, deaths—it is the unplanned occurrences that leave the most lasting impressions on us. I want you to take a moment to let the 20th century run through your mind. What images from newsreels, CNN, and Time Magazine come to mind first? Without being able to ask each one of you personally, I would wager that you are replaying footage of the Hindenberg, John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and seeing pictures of war and atrocity. Why is that? The simple answer is that you didn’t expect these things. You were living your life in the only way you knew how, and all of a sudden one day a space shuttle exploded just after liftoff, and a little part of your innocence fell into the Atlantic Ocean with it.

Planned Occurrences

Following personal and unplanned historical events, we find those events that were only made historical with hindsight. On December 8, 1941, President Roosevelt already knew that the previous date would live in infamy, and indeed it has. But what of those events and innovations that took a while to catch on? Take the world-wide-web. In about a decade it has become one of the greatest achievements in human history, but do you remember a day when Tom Brokaw told us “The web was invented today, your life will never be the same.” Or how about the Academy Awards, which headline the entertainment sections for two full months each spring, and culminate in a four hour extravaganza, which then results in a few more weeks of discussion and fashion reviews. But what about the first Academy Awards? Why don’t we see any footage of that show? Because there was none taken. The awards were given out at a banquet with an audience of only about 250 people. It wasn’t until the second year that the awards started to draw the attention they gather today.

This is a perfect example of both an event made important after the fact, and a planned occurrence, which, by definition, are given their pomp and glory before they happen, and often quickly die down. Thus we have a media frenzy leading up to the presidential inauguration, and then it’s business as usual for the new leader. Or the media and vendors which set up in Hopkinton for the entire week before the Boston Marathon, but have nearly completed cleanup by the time the race ends in Boston, just three hours later. Political comedian Bill Maher comments on the Persian Gulf Conflict as the only war to be planned so far in advance as to be scheduled in TV Guide. Do you remember the weeks of notice that we had beforehand? And once this “war” began it ended nearly as quickly, and the Persian Gulf was left in nearly the same turmoil as it was found. My sympathies to those of you, for whom this conflict was a personal occurrence.

And then there is without a doubt, the greatest flop of a planned occurrence in any of our lifetimes: Y2K. For several years we were all told of the possibility that our world could end on January 1, 2000. There were similar fears for the population approaching the start of the second millennium, but with less technology. We were led to believe that the start of Millennium #3 would be one of the three biggest days in the history of the world, and don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the fireworks over the Eiffel Tower, and seeing Peter Jennings for 24 hours in a row, but, thankfully, it wasn’t what I was told would happen. A news review of the year 2000 showed a family holed up in a bunker on New Year’s Eve, with cans of food all around them. The caption read: “They ended up having to play Monopoly the old fashioned way, by electric light.”

In this age of instant approval ratings and huge celebrity salaries, I challenge you to watch your television in a new way. Look at our sports figures and Hollywood celebrities who honestly seem to believe that theirs is the most necessary of all earthly professions. Turn on the news and see how many of the people being interviewed believe that they will be Time Magazine’s Man of the Year, or of the 21st century. But, how many of them will still be notable in another 100 years?

The Legacy

We can gain a bit of perspective by looking at the Most Influential People of the Second Millennium, according to the A&E cable network. 360 academics were polled concerning whom they believed to be those men and women who have “done the most to shape our world today.” Beginning at number 10 we find: Galileo, Copernicus, Einstein, Marx, Columbus, Shakespeare, Darwin, Luther, Newton, and Gutenberg. Nine of these people died before any of us here were alive, and most before film or photography. Only Albert Einstein is a product of our century. As for the other nine, do you think William Shakespeare wrote over thirty plays so that he could be #5 on a fairly arbitrary list of over-achievers? Do you think Florence Nightingale is sad about her position at #92?

These 100 people were chosen, in part, for their commitment to their “today”, whether that be in the 12th century or the 20th. The truth is, there have been several times, in the 20th century alone, when the 21st century seemed an unlikely possibility. War, disease, famine, and cyber-paranoia, have all contributed at one time or another.

When Jesus taught us of a Second Coming, He stated that:

 the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (from Matthew 24)

These are pretty unnerving words to those of us on the cusp, but think about this coming in terms of those occurrence patterns I have outlined today. Think of how your life would be different if you were told on the nightly news that four horses were seen approaching our land. Would your life change radically if Jesus held a press conference giving specific dates and places he would be visiting? Chances are, even the most faithful of us would begin to live in a somewhat different manner. But remember the planned occurrences I mentioned before? Remember the excitement, followed by a letdown?

Now, face the reality of Christ’s coming as an unplanned occurrence. Now, face the reality of our individual deaths as unplanned occurrences. Now… face the reality! Maybe He will come in all His glory in another hundred years, but maybe it will be next year, tomorrow, even. Will you have time to change? Imagine if your last words were “I can’t believe you didn’t do the dishes again!” or “I hate you!” I wonder if a guilty conscience carries over into the next life?

The Folly of Seizing Tomorrow

Too many people live in order to better the distant future. It is said, after all, that a society is that in which an old man may plant a tree whose shade he will never sit under. For nearly 500 years, politicians, business leaders, and anyone trying to get ahead, have hidden behind Niccolò Machiavelli, who, in writing Il Principe in 1532, suggested to us that “The end justifies the means”. What does this mean to us today? To follow these words exactly, anything done to reach a goal is permissible. Think of the destination, we’ve all got to plan things out, of course; but realize the importance of the journey as well. I challenge you to live in order to better the present. I recently watched Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society for the first time. I really didn’t know much about it except that there was a teacher who liked to say one particular Latin phrase frequently. As so often happens when quotations are taken out of context, no one ever seems to repeat the part that sent chills up my spine when I first heard it in its entirety. He says “Carpe diem, seize the day, Make your lives extraordinary!”

Of what value is a high-paying, future-oriented career if you never see your family? Do you think you are seizing tomorrow? What if it doesn’t end up paying off tomorrow? What if there is no tomorrow? We’ve all heard sermons like this one, that end with pleas to live in such a way as to impress Jesus when He comes. I tell you, “not even the Son knows the hour.” Regardless of when, we’ve all got to live here together for a while. Why not try to impress me? Why not impress yourself, your family, and your friends now, before He comes?