What Time is it? An Advent Reflection

One of the main themes we hear during Advent is about the coming of Jesus "in the fullness of time".

Last Sunday the Bishop preached at our church.  One of the things he talked about was the two types of time - chronos, and kairos.  Kairos is a Greek word meaning the right or opportune moment .  Chronos refers to  sequential time. 

Kairos intrigues me.  It is harder to grasp than the notion of chronological time -which is measurable and quantitative. After all I know how to tell time and I am often checking my watch and thinking ahead.  Many people are doing that now - busy preparing for Christmas - afraid of "running out of time". 

 Kairos is qualitative - it signifies a time between, a moment  when things seem to come together - the right or appropriate time to say or do the right or appropriate thing.   Looking back over many years of life there were a number of chronos times when Judy and I experienced kairos moments.  We literally were challenged by critical events that provided opportunities that required decisions that dramatically changed our direction.  

I think of the devastating earthquake that struck Managua just before Christmas in 1972 and the opportunity and call to go immediately to Nicaragua to respond to that humanitarian emergency - the right one to be in the right place at the right time.  It changed our lives from that moment on.  One example of many in our lives where decisive action was needed. 

But there were and continue to be many times when  a quieter and more deliberate contemplation of the here and now are called for.  I like this quote from Bonhoeffer:

God will often require quick action, but God also requires stillness and reflection.

 

This is what Advent provides - a time of expectant and patient waiting juxtaposed with the pull and pressure to be doing something with and for others.  It is meant to be a quieter time than it has become in our modern culture - that is a given.  So, at the least,  let us use our time well and watch for God's purposes during this season.

Henri Nouwen, the Catholic priest who wrote many books on the spiritual life, wrote:

The spiritual life is a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, trusting that new things will happen to us, new things that are far beyond our imagination, fantasy, or prediction.

A Quiet Time in Yellowstone Park