It seems that we now live in a time where time is not only relative, but fleeting. Yesterday I saw a commercial about a store issuing a new policy to “buy-back” any electronics purchase that would become “outdated” or “outmoded”. The surest way to have the latest gadget available is to buy it today and wait – tomorrow what you purchased would be outdated. Cell phones, cars, computers, tv’s…they all have progressed so fast that it is almost impossible to keep up.
This kind of time is what they Greeks used to call “Chronos” or the measurable amount of time. Our days are filled with seconds, minutes, and hours. We can march to the “Chronos” or chronology of our calendars. What is popular today will likely be about as useful tomorrow as our old Neru jackets of yesteryear.
But there is another kind of time. It is called “Kairos” and it isn’t measured by minutes or days. It is measured according to God’s terms. It is witnessed not in minutes, but moments. It is measured in the ways that God has acted across the spectrum of human history. At the appropriate time, according to God’s view of things, God acts. For examples of this, we can see throughout scripture how God has chosen to act at the appropriate time: “While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child” (Luke 2:6); and also “From that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near’” (Matthew 4:17). This sense of time is related to the events that have taken place, but refer more to the movement of God’s grace in the world.
March 9th is Ash Wednesday, and it marks the beginning of the season of Lent. For forty days not including Sundays (Chronos), we are drawn into a time (Kairos) of faithful discernment to reflect on our own lives, our faith, and our sinfulness. It is a time to recollect where our lives have diverged from God’s will for us, and to repent, to turn back God-ward. It gives us the opportunity to remember why Jesus came to us, what he did for us, and how we are redeemed in that act of selfless love.
What does all this mean? It means that in the midst of all the seconds, minutes, hours, days, years, etc., we are all invited to become more aware of the movement of God through the Holy Spirit in the moments that we are in. God has chosen this moment to speak to you – are you listening? God has chosen this moment to bring together all things necessary for you to experience God’s grace, accept it, and move closer to the One who loves you most. It means that you have been given a chance to inch your life forward toward that wholeness that can only come from the One who gives us the breath of Life!
We will be having a special worship service on Ash Wednesday, March 9th, at 6:30 p.m. in the Sanctuary, where we will impose ashes, and remember that we are in need of the grace of God. We will follow this with a special sermon series regarding the Lenten Disciplines which will help us to move closer to God. It is an excellent opportunity to grow in your faith, and become the Disciples God created all of us to be.
The only question is, Are you going to set aside the time (Chronos) to experience this act of God’s grace in this season of Lent (Kairos)? See you in Church!
Grace and peace,
Brad
