Temporizing

I’ve been wrestling with tomorrow morning’s sermon for the Feast of the Annunciation (well, they’re supposed to be no more than five minutes, so “homily” would be a more precise term). (I know that Annunciation comes on March 25, but it had to be transferred out of Holy Week, so this year it’s observed tomorrow.) I had a very vivid idea of what to do yesterday, at the installation of our new priest-in-charge at St. Luke’s, but on reflection it seems a bit too vivid in the mode I originally imagined for it. I need to rework the beginning bit so as to evoke the premise less explicitly; the conclusion can be pretty direct, but the opening needs to unfold more gently.

So while I try to work that out, I’ll tell you what Pippa and I thought of at the supermarket yesterday. We walked down the aisle with office supplies, to see whether I needed any of the goodies for my new digs, and as we surveyed the offerings, we noticed the clock array. “In this era of consumerism,” we thought, “are there any superficialities that haven’t been taken advantage of? Maybe just one. . . .”

“What if you sold special clocks pre-adjusted for Daylight Savings Time?” (You can sell the “Standard Time” models in the fall, and can quickly branch out into special clocks pre-adjusted for each time zone, too.) Now, don’t tell us that American consumers are too sophisticated for an idea such as that — Pip and I just take our cues from the advertising industry.