The Time of God's Coming
Last Tuesday we further explored the season of Advent; the term means "coming." We are getting ready for "the time of God's coming," in the person of Jesus, I said. This led us into a remarkable discussion about time--manifestations, experiences, dimensions of time. I suggested that in the New Testament there is more than one concept of time.
The first is represented by the Greek word chronos, which class members immediately distinguished as "chronological time," the long or the short of it. In the Christmas story, King Herod grills the wise men, wanting to know when they first saw the star in the sky--he is trying to determine a date to mark Jesus' birth. This kind of time is experienced in a linear way.
But Class members speculated that there may also be "God-time!" Biblically, this is expressed in at least two ways:
--Kairos is "the right time," the opportune time, a critical or decisive time. When Jesus began his ministry in Galilee, he announced, "The time (kairos) is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near; be transformed, and believe in the good news (Mark 1:15)." God has come close to us, right in the midst of history . It is time for us to respond in a way that changes the shape of our lives right now and prepares for a new future. The quality of this transcends measurement.
--And there is a third expression of time--this one also beyond measurement. It is aionios: That which is eternal, unbound, forever.. "Eternal life" is a life of communion with God, beginning in the here and now.This is truly "God-time!"
Frederick Buechner writes:
"Eternity is not endless time or the opposite of time. It is the essence of time.
If you spin a pinwheel fast enough, then all its colors blend into a single color . . . which the essence of all the colors of the spectrum combined.
If you spin time fast enough, then time-past, time-present, and time-future all bleed into a single timelessness or eternity, which is the essence of all time conbined.
As human beings we know time as a passing of unrepeatable events in the course of which everything passes away including ourselves.As human beings, we also know occasions where we stand outside the passing of events and glimpse their meaning. Sometimes an event occurs in our lives (a birth, a death, a marriage--some event of unusual beauty, pain, joy) through which we catch a glimpse of what our lives are all about and maybe what life itself is all about, and this glimpse of 'what its all about' involves not just the present but the past and future too.
Inhabitants of Time that we are, we stand on such occasions with one foot in eternity."
--Buechner, Wishful Thinking, p. 23.
The first is represented by the Greek word chronos, which class members immediately distinguished as "chronological time," the long or the short of it. In the Christmas story, King Herod grills the wise men, wanting to know when they first saw the star in the sky--he is trying to determine a date to mark Jesus' birth. This kind of time is experienced in a linear way.
But Class members speculated that there may also be "God-time!" Biblically, this is expressed in at least two ways:
--Kairos is "the right time," the opportune time, a critical or decisive time. When Jesus began his ministry in Galilee, he announced, "The time (kairos) is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near; be transformed, and believe in the good news (Mark 1:15)." God has come close to us, right in the midst of history . It is time for us to respond in a way that changes the shape of our lives right now and prepares for a new future. The quality of this transcends measurement.
--And there is a third expression of time--this one also beyond measurement. It is aionios: That which is eternal, unbound, forever.. "Eternal life" is a life of communion with God, beginning in the here and now.This is truly "God-time!"
Frederick Buechner writes:
"Eternity is not endless time or the opposite of time. It is the essence of time.
If you spin a pinwheel fast enough, then all its colors blend into a single color . . . which the essence of all the colors of the spectrum combined.
If you spin time fast enough, then time-past, time-present, and time-future all bleed into a single timelessness or eternity, which is the essence of all time conbined.
As human beings we know time as a passing of unrepeatable events in the course of which everything passes away including ourselves.As human beings, we also know occasions where we stand outside the passing of events and glimpse their meaning. Sometimes an event occurs in our lives (a birth, a death, a marriage--some event of unusual beauty, pain, joy) through which we catch a glimpse of what our lives are all about and maybe what life itself is all about, and this glimpse of 'what its all about' involves not just the present but the past and future too.
Inhabitants of Time that we are, we stand on such occasions with one foot in eternity."
--Buechner, Wishful Thinking, p. 23.
Pastor Scott,
ReplyDeleteThe response at the bottom by Frederick Buechner really gave some insight to me. Reading this really made me think about how true it is. I am glad you added this passage at the end.
Chad
That's great, Chad! We should talk some more about it tonight.
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