(Fill a jar with rocks.)  Is this jar full?  (Yes or no)  Really, well, let’s see.  (Pour in some gravel.)  Now is this jar full?  (Yes or no)  Okay, well, how about this.  (Pour in some sand.)  Now is this jar full?  (Yes or no)  Well, I’ve got one more.  (Pour in the water until it is brimming.)  It looks full to me now.  In fact, it looks a lot like a lot of our lives – filled up with so many things, so many activities, so many desires, so many plans – that we are almost overflowing.   

 Now the lesson may be that there is always room for more – always room to do more, to be more, to have more.  But at this point, I see a jar that is full – I see a jar where there is just no more room.  And so I think one lesson of this jar is pretty clear – make sure you get the big rocks in first, or you will run out of space.
 How do we fill our time?  What do we do with our time?  For many of us, time is our most precious resource – for some of us, time is so precious that it becomes an idol.

 Let’s think about that for a moment – what is an idol?  What does it mean when we are warned to resist idolatry?

 In our reading from Exodus, we see idolatry in one of its most famous forms – the golden calf.  It may seem silly to us – to worship a thing made with human hands.  It frees us from taking the issue of idolatry seriously, because we would never be so primitive as to worship an object made of gold.  But when we look deeper at this story, we see that this act of idolatry was not just about a golden calf – it reflected a deeper, more vital desire.  In fact, it represented the very thing the Israelites wanted more than anything else: Control.  It was not about gold – it was about valuing something more than God: valuing control and security over faithfulness.  Idolatry is not simply worshiping an item made by human hands – it is valuing something more than we value God, whether that be a golden calf or an ipod, or safety, control, or time.

 So what is going on in this Exodus text?  Why do the Israelites turn away from the God who has liberated them and provided them with manna and water?  Well, I think they were pretty scared.  They at the foot of a mountain, in the middle of nowhere, and they have no idea what happened to their leader.  In fact, no too long before, clouds and smoke and darkness covered the mountain – some pretty powerful stuff that they have yet to understand.  And now, it seems, their leader has disappeared – he has been gone for 40 days and 40 nights and they feel alone.

 So they distance themselves from Moses and God – they want a new leader, a new God – a more tangible proof that they are safe, they are protected, they are in control.  And so they say , “As for this Moses, we don’t know what has become of him,” and they ask Aaron, acting as their new leader, to create a more certain sign of divine presence.  They want to worship a god that they can touch, see, and in many ways, control.  It is not the golden calf itself that they value – it is an image of the divine that is controllable, visible, and certain.  They want to leave behind the uncertainty, the fear, and the lack of control that they experience with this God of Moses.

 Idols have less to do with the things that we worship, and more to do with the values that they represent.  The Golden Calf was about control, certainty, and security.  So what are our Golden Calves?  I would contend that for me, at least, my Golden Calf looks a lot like this jar.  Sometimes I find myself valuing my time more than I value God. Time as an idol – is this true for any of you?

You know, I have a friend who really likes to talk on the phone.  He lives in Boston and when I call him, I can be sure I will be on the phone for at least an hour.  So do you know what I do?  I just don’t call him.  Or I take my time in returning his calls.  And even though I love him dearly, in many instances, I value my time more than I value my relationship with him.  Is this idolatry?  Valuing my time over the joy of connecting with friends and loved ones?  This also happens to time spent with God.  I often neglect personal time in prayer and devotions and meditation and spiritual health, because I find myself valuing my time more than I value God.  And to me, this is idolatry.  It is not usually a conscious decision, it is simply that I respond to what seems urgent, instead of devoting my time to what is important – serving God and loving God’s children.

I do believe that for many of us time is the idol that impedes our relationship with God, and our compassion for God’s children.  In fact, Sojourners Magazine recently reviewed a 30 year old study related to this very issue. In the 1970s researchers at Princeton designed a study to figure out the conditions under which good people would act for good, or at least be helpful.

Two psychologists asked a group of theology students to walk to another building on campus to give a short speech, either about their motives for studying theology or about the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan. Meanwhile, the psychologists had arranged for an actor to be stationed on the path between the two buildings, slumped over, coughing and obviously in bad shape. The two experimenters had also led half the students to believe they were late for their speaking appointment, and half that they had ample time. 

So, who was most likely to help: those with the story of the Good Samaritan uppermost in their mind or those thinking about the motives for studying theology?  There was a significant difference between groups, but it was not along the lines of speech content.  In fact, the content of the speech made no difference. About the same number of Good Samaritan speakers and theology motivation students stopped. What did mid make a difference was how rushed the students thought themselves to be. Only 10 percent of those led to believe they were running late stopped to help. Of those told that they had plenty of time, 60 percent stopped to help.  In this case, and in many cases, the busy Samaritan is not the good Samaritan.

And so, as we think of our idols, and consider the possibility that time may be an idol for many of us, I invite you all to take a look at this diagram devised by Steven Covey in his book, First Things First.  Covey explains that each day we all face a large number of claims upon our time. Covey divides these into two categories: their urgency (some things demand that they be done now, others can be put off) and their importance (some things are very important and some are unimportant). Covey then uses these two categories to create four quadrants. Each represents the nature of claims upon our time.  If you look behind me, you can see the quadrants.

First there are those things that are urgent and important, which belong in the top left quadrant – things like a burst water pipe in your bathroom that needs to be fixed before it floods the house; crises; deadline driven projects. Then there are those things which are important but not urgent; these belong in the top right quadrant, thing like nurturing relationships; prayer; planning and preparation; volunteering; working for justice and peace. Then we have those things which are urgent but not important, things like interruptions, trivial meetings, and pressing decisions about unimportant matters, like what kind of tile to put in the bathroom; and finally, those things that are both unimportant and not urgent, like watching TV, trivia, and video games.

Covey suggests that all too often we allow our priorities and time to be determined by the urgent rather than the important. As a result we spend our time in quadrants 1 and 3, and our time and energy are consumed by things that are urgent, even though many of these things may be relatively unimportant. Sadly, this means we put off doing those things that are important but don't seem to be urgent. Where we need to focus our time is in quadrant 2, where the real quality occurs.

In our world, we see what happens when we ignore quadrant 2.  The climate crisis was ignored the whole time that it was living in quadrant 2.  Yes, it was important, but not urgent, so our leaders did not address it.  But now, as it has moved into quadrant 1, and we are all suffering, and will continue to suffer, because it was ignored.

Our energy crisis has also demonstrated the folly of this type of living.  We have known for a long time that finding renewable energy sources was important, but at the same time, it was not vital.  And so, now that gas prices are soaring, it has become urgent.  We ignore the important until crisis mode.

Business and political leaders allowed this to happen with our current economic crisis, as well.  These individuals ignored quadrant two, they ignored the importance of vigilance and responsibility in dealing with economic matters that affect the whole country.  While responding to urgent and unimportant matters, they ignored the less urgent ones until the economic reality became a crisis.  And now all of us suffer as this $700 billion bailout affects our future and programs that affect the most vulnerable of the world’s population.  When our leaders ignore quadrant two, it hurts us all.  And when we ignore quadrant two, it affects our lives and the lives of others.     

 Quadrant two: Important, but not urgent.  This is where we find God.  God, who can always be pushed back to later on, God who does not burst into our lives, demanding time and attention, God who quietly waits for us to come – in prayer and devotion, in work for justice and peace, in listening to and loving others.  God, who is easy to ignore. 

 Now, many of us have budgets.  We budget out our money, we give a certain percentage to church or charities, and we manage our finances by keeping track of what we spend and how we spend it.  But not many of us have concrete budgets for our time.  And while we may think about tithing our money, very few of us consider tithing our time or making out a specific budget regarding where and how we will spend our time.  Instead, we let urgent demands take over what is important.

 Now, if we were to tithe our time, we could consider that each of us has 24 hours in a day.  If we subtract eight hours for sleep, 10% of our waking hours would consist of about 1 ½ hours a day for spending time with God and serving God’s children.  If we want to be a little easier on ourselves, we could say that we might work 8 hours a day, as well, and so 10% of our non-working, non-sleeping time would be about 48 minutes a day for God.  What level of tithe are you willing to commit, and what would that mean?  Well, I tell you what it would mean – it wouldn’t mean a thing, unless we put those important rocks in first.

 And this is where we come not only to tithing, but to budgeting our time.  So, I would encourage you to copy this quadrant in your bulletin and when you get home, use the quadrant to list how you spend your non-working, non-sleeping time.  And if you are spending more than 9 hours a day working, you need to include those extra hours in your time budget, as well.  Finally, I want you to fill in quadrant 2 with those things that are important, and not urgent, and consider how much time you actually spend in this quadrant.

 Now, I realize that I just spent a significant amount of time talking about time percentages, budgets, and quadrants, none of which sound all that exciting, or necessarily all that related to idolatry.  Was it, in fact, a waste of time? 

 Well, I would contend that once you put time back where it belongs, under your control, then you remove time from its position as idol.  When we say that we do not have enough time for God or for God’s work, we are allowing time to be our idol, we are allowing time to be the god that controls our lives.  But when we take control over our time, when we budget it and manage it and tithe our time to God, then we put time back where it belongs – under our control, so that we can more fully live under God’s control.

 Here are some big rocks: working for peace, volunteering in a non-profit, getting involved in political decisions that affect human lives, spending time in prayer, playing with children, listening to elders, encountering other cultures, working against racism, taking risks to meet human need.  When we take control over our time, we can fit these big rocks in.  So, let’s give our lives back to God and put the important rocks in first – by tithing our hours, budgeting our time, and prioritizing the important work of serving God.  

Amen.