Sermon, 3rd after Epiphany (B)

 If I were to ask you what time it is, I'm guessing you would look at your watch or phone or whatever device, and tell me what it says. 

 

Time, in this context, is a social construct that we use to try and better understand and assign what's going on in the world. 

60 seconds form a minute, 60 minutes is an hour, 24 hours is a day. 

 

We even break down those... our calendars mark the days of the week, our daytimers help us keep straight specific appointments and commitments. Some of us even take it one step further and colour-code our calendars, so we can (try to) shift our way of thinking into the appropriate category. Dark green for worship, dark blue for hockey games, you get the idea. 

 

And in this concept of chronology, we pattern our lives. 

 

But... even within this structure, time has different meanings for us. Some moments seem to stretch out forever, when we might say time is dragging on - how that kettle takes forever to boil, or how 2020 seemed to last 173 years. And at other instances, time seems to race, too quickly passing us by - as we watch a child grow, for example, or when a loved one is nearing death. 

 

At these times, we cease looking at the watches - because we don't seem to trust them any more. The hours and minutes and seconds - while, at these important moments we start to recognise how arbitrary and almost artificial those designations are. 

 

At those times, we shift to focus on a different type of time: a non-linear, non-subjective kind of time. What a character in one of my favourite shows once described as " a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff.”

 

I like to think that it’s that time-y wimey stuff that proves that not all time can be measured on a watch or a calendar. Because, I believe there are some times that move from the CHRONOS – chronology, that linear time – to the KAIROS – the divine time.  This signifies the right or opportune moment. This makes time qualitative, not quantitative.

 

And that difference is significant. Especially when we are considering timeless realities, timeless lessons, timeless scriptures.

 

 

Jonah today has been spending some earthly time learning how to dwell in the midst of grace. And in this fish-belly time, he does some thinking and praying, and he has his KAIROS moment, where he asks for God's help and declares his trust in God as the source of all salvation. And it is in light of this kairos moment that he enters Nineveh, and proclaims the word of God - with such enthusiasm (and hyperbole) that even the animals are brought into the repentance fasting rituals. 

 

For Paul, we hear that the appointed time has grown short: he is blunt in asking the Corinthians to re-evaluate their priorities and practices. He wants the focus to be on healthy relationships, as the appointed "kairos" time is growing short. 

 

This is not a schedule that he is keeping to; when he says that the present form of the world is passing away he is anticipating a large God moment about to come: a distinct and special time where clocks and sundials are no longer valid, and our perception of chronos time will no longer have meaning. To this time or season, Paul wants the people to be prepared: for when the time of God breaks through - and Paul is speaking of the second coming of Christ - our values should reflect divine priorities, not earthly preferences.

 

John's Gospel nicely juxtaposes the chronos and the kairos right from the start - After John was arrested. Well, that's definitive. It's clear - it's a way to let people know what the historical timeline was. John was arrested, and then Jesus' ministry begins. 

 

And what a beginning - a kairos moment, a change of holy presence in the world. The time is fulfilled, Jesus says, because a new era of Godly experience has begun. The kingdom of God has come near, this is that opportune moment to repent and believe in the Good News. 

 

And Jesus models for us the best way to do that: as he makes disciples - companions - helpers. He calls others to join with him, in the moment, to share Good News, to bring release to the oppressed, salvation to the lost, comfort to the suffering. To leave all that would trap and restrict, and instead to extend an invitation to follow, to join, to walk alongside. A God moment indeed. 

 

In all of these situations, we see that God does not remove people from the earth in order to fulfill prophecy or scripture or any divine purpose. Rather, God comes into the world - the chronological time that we humans understand, in a way that is life-changing, ministry-inspiring, a divinely pivotal moment - a kairos experience. 

 

And as a result of this kairos, the chronos changes. Time influences time, a shift of the cosmos to engage us lowly humans into the will and work of God to bring about the Good News of God's love, grace and salvation. 

In ways that can never be put in a day planner or a wall calendar, or even in a specific way in the annals of history. It's kairos - God's time: bigger and better than we can ask or imagine. 

Perhaps it really is just a big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey... STUFF after all. 

 

So. If I were to ask you what time it is, I'm guessing you would still check your watch or phone or whatever device, and be able to articulate a number for me. 

 

But I'm also guessing that deep down, part of you would tell me what season it is, what holyness is happening, what important shift there is, and be able to articulate an important God moment. 

 

Is it time to mend relationships? Is it time to pray? Is it time to reach out to those experiencing need? Is it time to rest and listen to God? Is it time to extend grace - to others, and to yourself? Is it time to receive care? Is it time to re-organise your priorities? Is it time to follow Jesus? Is it time to proclaim the Gospel? 

 

However God's Kairos is breaking into your chronological time, I pray that you will recognise it for what it is: for there's no time like the present to praise our God.