Earlier today, I was in a conversation with some friends at church, and one of them mentioned off-hand that tomorrow is July 1. That simple statement made me pause – where is 2011 going? I just stopped writing 2010 out of habit, and already the year is half-gone!
Time, it seems, is fluid, and one’s perspective on time can shift. Sometimes it seems as if time passes like molasses; in class, for example, time can crawl, even if you are enjoying the teacher or course material. Other times, though, time flies: when enjoying yourself with friends, dreading some event or encounter, reading a great book, watching a fantastic movie, or spending time with a new boyfriend or girlfriend. Time ebbs and flows, speeds up and slows down – and not always to our liking.
In one sense, we know this transitory experience of time is merely subjective. Time marches inexorably forward, as stead as the gears of a wristwatch or the chimes of Big Ben, and no human effort can affect the quantifiable reality of the passage of time.
Yet there is some indefinably qualitative reality of time that makes it rush by or slow down. Indeed, the significance or value of life events or circumstances alters the experience of time. This sort of experiential reality lies behind a very important understanding of time from God’s point of view: kairos time.
In the Greek language, the normal experience of time is called kronos – the root for modern words like chronometer and chronological. Yet every now and then, something happened that changed the very experience of time. This was called kairos time – and it was a very special sort of time indeed.
According to the Gospel of Mark, Jesus’ inaugural sermon was “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15) Such a proclamation in and of itself is very instructive. Yet something bigger is going on – something I first learned from Mike Breen and the folks at 3DM: the word for “time” in this verse is “kairos.” This time is more than simple chronological time – it is an experience of something bigger, something special. It is the moment of the inbreaking of the kingdom of God.
It wasn’t the only time that has happened, either. In fact, God often works through such kairos moments to touch our lives. They can be quite unique or important moments – a wedding, the birth of a child, the death of a grandparent. They can also be very ordinary or mundane – a cup of coffee with a friend, a walk in the park, a difficult conversation. Yet these moments – whether big or small, unique or ordinary – are incredibly significant. They are moments when we hear God’s voice and commune with Christ.
Are we looking for these kairos moments? Do we recognize them and grasp them? Or do we watch them float past in time’s rushing stream? My prayer is that we will become able to recognize kairos – the moments that matter. The kingdom is at hand. Will we realize it? Will we allow it to change us? Will we embrace the good news? We will only if we recognize the kairos moments of life.
In Christ,
Adam
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