The origins of the sacred view of
time is found in the Jewish background to the Christian faith. The Hebrews
perceived two kinds of time: Kairos and Chronos.
Chronos is ordinary,
moment-by-moment (secular) time. (Chronology) But
Kairos is time that marks a crisis
or a turning point in history.
For the Jew, the Exodus was a
kairos event because it marked the moment God decisively entered into their
history, brought them up out of the land of Egypt, chose them as his people,
and entered into a corporate covenant relationship with them.
In Israel, Chronos was given
meaning by the kairos events. Festivals that celebrated and relived
historically critical moments had the effect of lifting ordinary time into
redemptive time. Thus, God’s people lived by a sacred year, which was rooted in
what God had done for them. To celebrate a festival meant much more than just
having a good time. It was a way of continually connecting day-to-day life in
the world with God’s redeeming and saving acts. Feasts were celebrations of the
God who was for Israel. They were God’s feasts by which his saving action
for Israel was constantly present.
The Christian approach to time is similar to that of God’s people in the O.T. Like the Hebrews, Christians also have a kairos moment that informs and gives meaning to historical sequence. It is the Christ–event–––the birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and promised return of the Savior. As Christians, we confess that al time has a center. And that center is Jesus Christ himself who has redeemed all things (Col 1:15-23). From the center, this kairos event is history, the meaning and significance of all time radiates. It is through the remembrance of the Christ-event in worship that we are able to sanctify all time.
Therefore, time in worship
now becomes a means through which we can enter into the service of the King.
The church, by recapitulating the kairos event, can mystically and
symbolically represent time as redeemed in the blood of Jesus. The worshipping
community knows what worship is by the important sense of time… The worship
experience is a “re-experience” of the true meaning of God power in that the
God of all eternity came into our time. We live because He lived…The KAIROS
event defines our Chronos events.
You are a blessing! You know I love ya, Don