Sermon for January 25, 2009

                                   "Time"      by Rev. Christopher Fazel

                               Scripture: 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 Mark 1:14-20

Back around 1997, someone showed me a video of a program that was on television.  The program was called "Ancient Prophecies."   And it described the predictions of various seers and prophets throughout history, including those from the Bible.  And the predictions (as they were interpreted in the program) all pointed to cataclysmic events that were soon to happen.  Earthquakes, firestorms, plagues, lands sinking into the sea -- you name it, it's all coming at once, and probably before the end of the century.  Needless to say, the program was alarming. 

            Now, I don't think any of this is news to you.  These kinds of expectations have always been around.  When the calendar last turned four digits -- from 999 to 1000, all of Europe expected Jesus to return.  In fact, much of the crusades was about winning back Jerusalem from the Muslims in time for Christ's return.  And further back, even Paul expected the end of the world, as we know it to happen in his lifetime -- as he said in our reading for today, "For the appointed time has grown short...the present form of this world is passing away."  And yet, 2,000 years have come and gone, and as far as I can tell, the present form of this world is very much as it was in Paul's day -- we still slog through family entanglements and social injustice, doing our best to find meaning and purpose and joy in life. 

            It's enough to make one cynical about any significant change that may, through time, arrive in this world of ours.  But our Bible and faith are very consistent in proclaiming that God is working a purpose out in this world of time and space, and God's reign of peace and justice is the final outcome of all creation. 

            But we ask, as we have always asked, "When?  How long, O Lord, How long?"  And it seems to me that the Bible gives mixed messages on this business of time.  On the one hand, Jesus says, "It's not for us to know when, no one knows, not even the Son," he says.  But on the other hand, Jesus says to us, "Watch, stay alert, don't get caught unawares, be awake when the Lord comes."

            Now, I don't think we can resolve this seeming conflict of messages from our scripture until we can get a better understanding of how the ancient Hebrews understood time.  Now, our understanding of time is the legacy of the Greeks.  The Greek philosopher Heraclitus described time as a river.  He said, "You can never step in the same river twice."  Time is flowing commodity.  That's how we see it.  And so we talk about saving time, or wasting time.  We never have enough time, or we have too much time.  Or we are always running behind time.   And we want to know how much time we have left.  We are so imbedded in this understanding of time, that we can't imagine that there's any other way of looking at it.  But the Hebrews had another way of looking at time.

            In the New Testament, there are two primary words for time.  The lesser-used word is KRONOS.  It lives in our language in words like chronological.  And that reflects our dominant view of time --- the tic-toc of the clock.  But the most often used word for time in our New Testament is KAIROS.  That is the word used for time in both of our New Testament readings today.  And it means, the right time for something to happen -- it means the fulfillment of a preparation.  For the Hebrews, time wasn't so much a flowing river, as it was a place -- the perfect place for something to happen. 

            For those of you who bake, know that there is a moment when the bread or cookies are done.  A moment before, it was not done – a moment after, it would be over done.  There is one moment when the baking is perfect.  That's the meaning of KAIROS -- the perfect moment -- the place of fulfillment.

            In some of our communion liturgies we hear, "In the fullness of time, you sent Jesus, born of Mary."  That's what KAIROS means -- the perfect opportunity for something to happen.  The time is right.

            So, when Jesus proclaimed throughout Galilee, "The time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God has drawn near," Simon and Andrew and James and John, responded in an appropriate way, because the time had come for ordinary people to experience the nearness, the power, the love of God. 

            Now, what does all this have to do with you and me?  Well, first let's remember that in our Bible, there is not just one time when the power and the love of God breaks in and impacts on human awareness.  In fact, the Bible is a vast collection of these epiphany moments.  When they occur, some respond and some don't.  When the star appeared in the east, some followed it, but not all.  When the angels sang, some listened and went seeking -- some, but not all.  Some were too busy, some were too lazy, some were too worried.  The situation is this:  God brings to each of us moments -- the right moments -- to experience the nearness and the power and the love of God.  If we are watching for them, they bring life and light and purpose and joy into our existence.  If we miss them, they're gone.  Others may come, but those opportunities are missed.

            "How much time do we have left before this or that happens?"  Wrong question.  Rather let us ask, "Am I watching for those KAIROS moments  -- those places of opportunity to draw near and to become channels of the love and the power of the living God?"  Let us watch this day for the coming of the Lord into our lives.  For the Lord draweth nigh with assurances and assignments. 

            Thanks be to God.  Let us pray.

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