Time Between Times

Celtic mythology and lore often features a phenomenon known as the time between times. The time between times is basically exactly what it sounds like – in the twilight of the day, that period where the sun is setting and it is really no longer daytime but not yet nighttime – was to them the time between times. This was the time where the earth began to slumber, the sun began its descent of rest into the earth and the governor of the night – the moon and stars were about to take the stage. Thus during this time one was caught in a loophole of time and space, beginning and endings, death and life.

This was often the gateway for supernatural or extraordinary activity – any spell or incantation; any dream or endeavor would take on more of a magical nature during the time between times – the gap between time and space, beginning and endings, death and life.

I realized the other day that as I approach my 23rd birthday I am living in a type of time between times. This is the time of my life where friend’s weddings become almost a weekly occurrence. It is the time where many people are embarking on their life’s journey and they found the companion with whom they wish to traverse the path. Upon finding that companion they come together in holy matrimony, joining their two lives together and birthing one, new and solitary life.

It is the time of new beginnings.

However as I near 23 I have realized that this is also the time of my life where the passing of elders – death – also becomes almost a weekly occurrence. I returned from a wedding last weekend – a celebration of new life – only to learn that an old family friend had passed away. The friend was not someone with whom I was particularly close but some in my family were and seeing their grief I felt much of my own. The friend was not someone with whom I was particularly close but a day will come one day where the passing of loved one’s with whom I am close – a day I pray is far off.

This time in life is also a the time of endings.

And so at 22 I have come to learn that I live in a type of time between times. It is a time where new beginnings are being forged – including my own – as those of us who are young set out, embracing, enjoying and engaging the life before us. But it is also a time where endings are realized as the generations before us come to the twilight of their journey.

And through it all the hope is that when we are in Christ – when His righteousness covers our rubbish – the ending is merely a new, and perhaps the first and most glorious of beginnings. For even in the pillars of the Gospel we learn of a time between times. We as Christians recognize that we are descendants and participants of a rebel race – a race that plunged itself into sin and darkness but a race that has received the Light of God. And yet even as we have had the Light of God shone into our hearts and our sin forgiven we have not yet left our bodies of sin, we have not yet reached the heavenly city. We are on our way but we aren’t yet there. We have one foot in this time but we long for the time where there is no more darkness.

I suppose the fulfillment of the Celtic times between times is the Christian one – where the darkness and night give way to the never ending light of day found in the face of Christ.