Credit: The Rev Rob Marshall
It's Time! That's South Africa's motto for the world's greatest sporting occasion, the World Cup, which opens tomorrow in Johannesburg.
The phrase "It's Time" is still associated with the expectation accompanying the release of Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid. But, for the World Cup, it's taken on a new level of expectation.
First, of course, It's Time for soccer to strut its stuff. I'm sorry for those who are dreading next month. But even the most cynical football critic might just flick over to watch England face the Americans on Saturday night.
Secondly, of course, It's Time for South Africa to show that it can deliver on the expectation which has built up over years of preparation. New airports, stadia, roads and hotels. I saw many of them myself during a recent visit. After all the preparation : now it really is the time.
Most important of all, however - and a lot of documentaries and features have been highlighting this in recent days - It's Time for South Africa to really move forward. All of the rhetoric; the hope embodied when apartheid came to an end, the inexcusable and painful levels of poverty and inequality which remain - It's Time to use the opportunity of being in the world's spotlight for all the right reasons - to create a better South Africa.
The idea that you have to prepare carefully if you want to deliver rather than disappoint is deeply theological. The people of God had been waiting for something good to happen after centuries of disappointment. Then, in the first of the Gospels to be written, in the first chapter - Mark writes: "the time has come, the time is at hand, the Kingdom of God is actually here. The moment has arrived".
And, being human, those who encountered this mystery responded in a variety of ways. Indeed, the announcement took a lot of believing. Some were interested. Some rejected it out of hand. Others still do. After all, human beings are on a constant search to explain the mystery of the meaning of life and Mark's message seemed too good to be true.
Does the international community really believe that It's Time for South Africa? I hope so. Have the people of South Africa got it in them, to realise, to believe their own slogan - that this is their time, their moment? I hope so even more. That this really is the time for the rainbow nation to produce a memorable world cup.
The Talmud, echoing Ecclesiastes wonderful poem about there being a time for everything, observes that the humans can never control time. If we try to force time we will surely be pushed back.
Rather we should seize every given moment, such as this, and make the most of it
