But when it comes time to chime the hour it is always an hour behind. Except for the summer months when we are on Daylight Savings Time. Then it chimes two hours behind. To me it is an ironic reminder that churches are notorious for being behind the times, wanting to live in some good old day of the past and resisting anything that is new or different. As a result, many people believe that religion is irrelevant in modern times.
Some churches justify their stance by saying it is their duty to be preservers of tradition.
But I wonder if it isn't an indication of a lack of faith instead, because clinging to former things signifies that a person believes that the best is over. It reveals a cynicism about the future, which contradicts of the essential messages of today's reading, which is that God is always working in new ways, calling forth new possibilities out of new circumstances. Fortunately, I don't see this as the kind of church that wants to live in the past, and what I hope for us here at Tab is that we will mark this millennium year by giving thanks for all our good old days, and then leaving them behind and recommiting ourselves to be a church of the cutting edge, responding to the new thing God is doing in our world. And let us be always receptive to our moment in history, watching for the new ways God is at work in our world. God's method of leading humanity out of our twenty first century bondage to oppression probably won't come in the form of a parting sea.