Time Change is This Sunday

This weekend is time change Sunday! Remember to move your clocks up one hour for worship in-person or on Livestream! In speaking of the time change, have you ever forgotten to change your clocks? I did one year.

Let me set the stage. The year I forgot happened while I was pastoring the Lee Circuit (three churches) on the weekends near Auburn, Alabama. During the weekend, I pastored three churches that were on Central Standard Time. While each weekday, I attended Emory University in Atlanta, working on my master’s degree in Eastern Standard Time. As I lived in two different time zones, I did not always change my clocks. I simply remembered, am I on Eastern or Central Time? There were few benefits. My Mondays were only 23 hours, and my Fridays were 25 hours. What a sweet deal!

Anyway, one year on time change Sunday, I remembered to go to church to preach one hour earlier for the time change! Everything worked smoothly, even living in two time zones on a time change Sunday. I relaxed. All had gone so smooth!

What I did not expect was I would get confused on a busy afternoon. After ending my Sunday afternoon activities, I arrived home, glanced at my clock, and was startled! It was much later than I thought! I did not want to be late to preach at church that night! I jumped in the shower and got dressed in record time, and was quickly out the door! As I drove to the Hopewell United Methodist Church, I worried I was cutting the time way too close. I would have to forego my much-needed quiet time of preparation before the service. Yet, as the building came into sight, all appeared well! As I arrived at church, I was astoundingly the first and only one there!

When I walked inside, I had so precious little time to prepare for the service. After my hurried preparations, five minutes had gone by, and no one was still there! Then ten minutes! I became anxious. Where was everybody?

Nervously, I looked at the clock on the wall and noticed the service time was only minutes away! This was so strange! A faithful congregation and not one person was there! A few more minutes passed, and just as I was beginning to think about all kinds of worries…IT HIT ME LIKE A TON OF BRICKS! I LOOKED CLOSER AT THE HOUR HAND AND THEN THOUGHT…TIME CHANGE! In my head, I had confused both the time change and living in two time zones. What had I done? I HAD ARRIVED ONE HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES EARLY! After another half hour passed, all of our faithful worshippers began arriving, and all was well!

This Sunday, we will likely have worshippers arrive at 8:45 AM, thinking they are early for the 8 AM service! They will be confused to hear me wrapping up my sermon! No worries! It happens! What is your favorite time change story? I would love to listen to it this Sunday!

Well, remember to set your clocks forward one hour this Sunday! I look forward to sharing God with you, Who is the same yesterday, today, and forever! (Hebrews 13:8). We will be focusing again on a “timeless” message of simple discipleship. This week our focus will be on prayer! Hope to see you in person or on Livestream this Sunday!

Shalom,
Philip