Volume 28, No. 8                                                    
February 23, 2003

Keeping a Lid on Time

   Contact through a timed-release capsule will make our descendants feel better, at least according to one genius.

   In a book of messages included in a vault to be opened by a future generation, Albert Einstein wrote, “I trust posterity will read these statements with a feeling of proud and justified superiority.”  Also in that time capsule put together for the 1964 World’s Fair was a collection to illuminate life in the 20th century.  It included a bikini, tranquilizers, credit cards, birth control pills, a Beatles record and a Bible.

   Saving things from the present for the future really took off in the 1920s when artifacts from the Egyptian pyramids were first brought to light. Then, in 1940, a Georgia university president named Dr. Thornwell Jacobs filled a container the size of a swimming pool with materials representing the day. If, as originally planned, the Crypt of Civilization is opened in 8113, our descendants will find thousands of items, including newsreels and recordings, a Donald Duck doll and a device designed to teach the finders the English language.  

   Today, the International Time Capsule Society wants to document every single container destined for future opening.  According to the Society, only a small percentage of capsules will ever be recovered, for two reasons:  theft and forgetfulness.  In 1976, for example, President Gerald Ford was set to seal the Bicentennial Wagon Train Time Capsule, but somebody stole it from an unattended van.  At Blackpool Tower in England, even sophisticated sensing equipment and a clairvoyant couldn't find a capsule from the 19th century.  When M*A*S*H ended in 1983, the cast secretly buried a cache of props and costumes somewhere in the studio parking lot. Since that  lot has shrunk over the years, the capsule may now be under a hotel.

   To prevent such problems, the Society offers these time capsule guidelines:  set a specific recovery date;  choose one person to oversee the entire project;  select a proper container that will protect your valuables;  instead of burying your treasure, find a visible location and mark it with something that describes the capsule’s “mission”;  fill the container with things that will have meaning in the future;  have a committal celebration;  and renew the memory of your capsule with regular reunions of those involved.

   God has done all those things to secure his treasures for the future.  We, the church, are his time capsule — a capsule that, in each generation, must be recovered and rededicated.  If you think about it, the things most precious to our Father are vulnerable to theft and forgetfulness.  Love, purity, righteousness and a steadfast faith are so easily stolen away by the cares of the world and the enemies of the Cross.  Worse, we sometimes become so slowly but gradually detached from those things, we lose track of them entirely.  That’s reason enough to stay in close contact with the overseeing Authority.

   Let’s remember God has set a specific recovery date for the treasures He’s preserved, though “no one knows the day or the hour”, except him (Matt. 24:36).  When the time is right, He’ll send back the same Son who began the work of saving us for a future we can hardly imagine  “Let heaven fill your thoughts,” says Paul. “And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you’ll share in all his glory.” (Col. 3:2-4)

   Though God designed the church to be a safe, secure place for those He saves, our protection depends on how well we seal ourselves from the things that can corrode and corrupt our faith. But instead of being burying away, He wants us visible and involved in the world, our mission and our future clear for all to see.  Our church must be filled with the spiritual things that will have lasting meaning, not the fads and passing fancies of a damaged, distracted world.  

   It’s not enough just to commit ourselves to Christ then blithely go about our business.  Every Sunday must be a joyous reunion that reminds us we’ve been saved for a glorious future;  a renewal of our hope;  because you don’t have to be a genius to know there’s more to life than trying to keep a lid on time.

By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the Followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.  Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications.  To subscribe, contact sgamble@bfree.on.ca