Time Change Happens Every Autumn
Cada Otoño Se Realiza Un Cambio de Hora
by
Mary Hunt Webb
Posted Friday, September 30, 2022
It will soon be time to change our clocks again! [Photographer: Louda Dav. Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com.]
You know that the autumnal changing of the clocks is coming. Yes, I know that time change is more than a month off on the first Sunday in November. Although that happens twice a year, its occurrence still seems to catch some people by surprise.
The one I remember best occurred when I was the liturgist coordinator for our church. As such, it was my job to schedule a liturgist or reader for each Sunday. The liturgist reads the Bible passage that is related to the sermon that will follow, leads the congregation in prayer, and makes announcements. In some churches, he or she also leads the singing of hymns.
Volunteer liturgists help Sunday services to run smoothly. [Photographer: Analogicus. Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com.]
When Time Change Sunday appeared on the schedule one spring, I tried to think of which of the liturgists would have the least difficulty with making the change and appearing at church on time. I chose our Pastor Emeritus because I figured that as an experienced pastor, he would have dealt with this situation many times so that he would be sure to be at church on time.
When that Sunday arrived, I was there ahead of the start of the church service to make sure that everyone was in place. I looked around for our Pastor Emeritus, but he wasn’t there. As the minutes ticked by, our Senior Pastor was getting anxious. I was out looking for the elderly pastor when our Senior Pastor summoned another liturgist to the lectern. With no preparation, that person started the service.
The church service was almost over when our former pastor arrived. Despite all the mention of the time change the previous Sunday from the pulpit and in the media the day before, our beloved Pastor Emeritus had forgotten to change his clocks!
If it can happen to an experienced pastor, it can happen to anyone!
The Bible tells us that, "A person finds joy in giving an apt reply – and how good is a timely word," (Proverbs 15:23, NIV) and that happened when one pastor came up with an ingenious solution to prevent that kind of forgetfulness. For two weeks ahead of the Sunday designated for changing clocks, he advised the congregation not to change their clocks until after church was over. Everyone was to be at church according to the time by which they had functioned the past few months so that everybody would arrive at church at the same time. Then they could change their clocks after they returned home.
It worked! No one was sleep deprived or irritable at church that day! Consequently, that became the norm for dealing with Time Change Sunday at that church.
No one needs to let the Time Change make life difficult. There are solutions.
BIBLE VERSE USED IN THIS POSTING
Proverbs 15:23 — A person finds joy in giving an apt reply – and how good is a timely word. (NIV)
Proverbios 15:23 — El hombre se alegra con la respuesta de su boca; Y la palabra a su tiempo, ¡cuán buena es! (Reina-Valera 1960)
Regardless of whether you question the wisdom of changing the time to or from Daylight Savings Time, you can make life pleasant or miserable for those around you by the way you handle the change. [Photographer: Sven Lachmann. Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com.]
