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Dec. 1 St. John’s Winnsboro: Advent 1

Introduction

I want to talk about time1 this week. Well, I really started talking about time last week when I reflected on beginnings and endings.

Last week’s concept of time was endings and beginnings. This week I turn to the contrast between two different kinds of time. I frequently remember the joke I heard long ago about there being two different kinds of people. There are those who divide the world into two different kinds of people … And there are those who don’t.

When it comes to people I come down firmly on the side of there being just one kind of people not two. Well in this case I come down on the side of two kinds of time. But time, well time can fairly usefully be divided into two: there is sacred time and there is ordinary time. One religious thinker from earlier in the 20th century divided things between sacred and profane. For our purposes it’s probably enough to just use the word ordinary.

There is the kind of time that is measured by the alarm clock that goes off beside my bed. In retirement I have tended to keep the alarm clock off. But sometimes I still need to get up at a certain time. Sometimes – I don’t wake up until the alarm clock wakes me up. That’s ordinary time – or profane time.

There is another kind of time. The moment that came to mind for me was the moment when the doctor held up my healthy, breathing, first born. In those days we didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl. And all I wanted was a healthy child and mother. The doctor looked at me and asked, “What is his name?”

That was a sacred moment. It utterly changed my life. I burst into uncontrolled tears – for the first time in many years. In some important way I learned in that moment what it really meant to love.

Sacred

The most wonderful time. link to recording

It’s that time of year. In the words of the legendary song: 2

It’s the most wonderful time of the year
With the kids jingle belling
And everyone telling you be of good cheer
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
It’s the [hap-] happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings
When friends come to call
It’s the [hap-] happiest season of all

What makes it that? Is it what Andy Williams sang about? Or is it something less obvious? Less tangible?

Is there some kind of clock that can measure sacred time? Is there something about it that makes it clear? At this time of year the words of Jesus encourage us to pay attention – don’t just rush through time without noticing the sacred when it slips on by.

Kairos

Some of you may watch late night television. Do you have a favorite comedian? If so, then you know something about the importance of timing. Those entertainers are acutely aware of timing.

They know time not with their head so much as in their gut or maybe in their heart.

Knowing time like that means that you may be able to recognize when ordinary profane time slips into sacred time.

We are referring to a special kind of time when we say "this would be an opportune time to … [fill in the blank] Ordinary time is quantitative. We count the minutes, days, years. Sacred time is all about quality time. When we are living in quality time the time on the clock really doesn’t matter very much.

Scripture

In fact the Greek used in our NT has two different words used for two different kinds of time: kairos and chronos.
Kairos refers to sacred time. It is used to refer to the “appointed time”, the time of the Lord, It is especially prominent in Matthew and Luke. Chronos is chronological time. It is the kind of time we count with a clock – of course in the New Testament there weren’t clocks as we know them. But people kept track of that kind of time – clock and calendar kind of time.

The Lessons are all about time. And the New Testament in particular distinguishes between sacred time and profane time by the use of two words: kairos and chronos. It is clearly more interested in kairos which is used almost twice as many times as chronos. 3

Isaiah the prophet is …

… about focusing on a time to come. It’s a time not yet apparent but just around the corner. Isaiah is anticipating a time to come. Hope for what we cannot yet see.

At this time to come the people who are scattered among the nations will be gathered together.

At this time to come swords will be beaten into ploughshares, then there will be a peace which passes understanding.

Paul (Romans)

Paul says to us: "You know how to tell time. You know how to respond to the alarm clock when it goes off. You know how to keep appointments – more or less. But all too often you don’t recognize the kairos time that is almost upon us. “Salvation is nearer now than ever before,” he says.

When my first child was born I became aware of new dimensions of life and love that I had not been able to recognize before that. When Paul tells us its time to wake up that’s something of what he means. It’s time to notice the sacred moments that want to be woven into our lives.

[perhaps skip?] The day is near at hand. I caught some of my students off guard when we were discussing Elie Wiesel’s book NIght. The setting of the book is Auschwitz and from one perspective it can be pretty depressing. But I explained that the Jewish reckoning of time, the Jewish understanding of what constitutes a day is that the day begins at sundown. That means that sunrise comes after the night is spent. Day follows night.

Paul tell us to forget about the trappings of our life, the clothes we wear, the comforts we come to depend on – and instead put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew

We hear from almost the end of Matthew’s gospel. It is the first reading from this gospel during this year of Matthew. Most Sundays – until next December – we will hear from Matthew’s gospel.

It is distinctive at many levels. Listen through the year for some of those distinctive elements of the book. You might want to do a bible study, alone or with others, to learn about it.

But today we hear from Matthew’s account of the last days of Jesus’ life when he is teaching his followers about how to live at a time that feels like the last days.

He tells them keep awake! and he urges them to be ready.

Jesus directs us to:

Act as if – at any moment we may encounter the face of God, or hear the most important words of our life or see the most beautiful sight we will every see.

Act as if the next moment may be our last and this moment is the most important of our life.

Act as if the next moment is the beginning of the rest of our life. That moment I was asked for the name of my first born changed my life forever.

Act as if you are about to meet a new friend who will someday save your life.

Act as if the next conversation you have will change a person’s life.

Jesus tell us to wake up, to be ready. That’s not a literal command. It is a command about how to live our life. To see in the world around us the “grandeur of God” – to borrow a phrase from the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins.

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

The poet Emily Dickinson said:

We turn not older with years but newer every day.

And on my business cards you will read from William Blake:

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”
― William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

Sacred time is all around us. All the time. Take the time to notice.

Notes

This coming week:

  • December 1:Nicholas Ferrar, Deacon, 1637

  • December 2:Channing Moore Williams, Missionary Bishop in China and Japan, 1910

  • December 4:John of Damascus, Priest, c. 760

  • December 5:Clement of Alexandria, Priest, c. 210

  • December 6:Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c. 342

  • December 7:Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, 397

  • kairos cf. summary

  • Advent 1 lectionary

Blessings

Advent

May Almighty God, by whose providence our Savior Christ came among us in great humility, sanctify you with the light of his blessing and set you free from all sin. Amen.

May he whose second Coming in power and great glory we await, make you steadfast in faith, joyful in hope, and constant in love. Amen.

May you, who rejoice in the first Advent of our Redeemer, at his second Advent be rewarded with unending life. Amen. And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you for ever. Amen.

May the Sun of Righteousness shine upon you and scatter the darkness from before your path; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you, and remain with you always. Amen.

Wreath

Lord our God,
we praise you for your Son, Jesus Christ:
he is Emmanuel, the hope of the peoples,
he is the wisdom that teaches and guides us,
he is the Savior of every nation.
Lord God,
let your blessing come upon us
as we light the candles of this wreath.
May the wreath and its light
be a sign of Christ’s promise to bring us salvation.
May he come quickly and not delay.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.

  1. After I had delivered this homily I read a marvelous article on bbc.com that provides an empirical justification for discarding our over-emphasis on linear time. ↩︎

  2. “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” is a popular Christmas song written in 1963 by Eddie Pola and George Wyle. It was recorded and released that year by pop singer Andy Williams for his first Christmas album, ↩︎

  3. kairos 86 times, chronos 54 times. ↩︎

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