Time #1 - Moments
| For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes3:1-8) |
When I preached on this passage, I borrowed two useful Greek words from the New Testament: chronos and kairos. Chronos is clock time: minutes, hours and days. Kairos is the significant moment, the opportune occasion. While Ecclesiastes was written in Hebrew rather than Greek, these two words provide a helpful way of thinking about time.
Ecclesiastes was written by someone in search of truth and meaning. His exploration is sharp and critical - he is disillusioned with much of the fluff of life. He has explored work, hedonism, power and wealth and found them all wanting. While he is dismissive of many things, he finds some truths along the way.
One of the truths he finds is that while life has many "chronos" times,
what gives time meaning is the "kairos" moments...
A time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant...
So the significance of time is not the hours and dates, it's the moments.
How often do we find ourselves rushing for "deadlines", frantically keeping schedules and packing life full of appointments and events, but missing the moments?
Meaning is not found in how many hours we spend at work.
Purpose is not found in a full calendar.
Sometimes we just need to be late so that we can watch our toddler take their first steps.
Sometimes we need to replace the whistle stop tour of Europe for a slow holiday on a quiet beach where we can bond with our kids instead of chasing them from train to bus to plane.
The saddest thing is when a moment happens and we rush past it.
We need to learn how to escape the tyranny of the "chronos" to embrace the "kairos."
Jesus did this very well. He never seemed hurried. He had time for interruptions because He recognised moments. A blind beggar's cry, a woman touching His cloak, children climbing into His lap, a conversation beside a well. He never allowed the schedule to rob Him of the moment.
Life happens in the moments.
And in those moments the clock keeps ticking, but our hearts realise that something eternal is happening.
