Grace and peace to you all!
A sower went out to sow…
—Matthew 13.3
There are two words for time in Greek: chronos means measured time, the time of clocks and calendars; kairos means “expectant time”, waiting time, like a pregnant woman waiting for her child’s birth. From a chronos point of view, we are in mid-summer: daylilies bloom in every hollow, the days are long and warm (well, mostly warm). Lake Champlain is dotted with boats and paddleboards. It’s mid-summer, and it’s glorious!
We are simultaneously in kairos time, too. My garden is starting to flower for peas and beans; small green tomatoes promise rich, red fruit in the future. I’m planning for an upcoming vacation that’s not here yet. And at WFC, we are preparing for next week’s Candidating Sunday, when the congregation will meet the candidate vetted and selected by the Search Committee. The air is full of expectation!
It’s all caught up in Jesus’ parable of the sower. “A sower went out to sow,” Jesus begins, describing something done in a chronos moment, when the time to plant is right. And it’s also a kairos moment, because the sprouting and flowering and ripening haven’t happened yet. The rest of his parable describes which seeds sprout, and how, and why. Chronos and kairos are intertwined.
We live in both of these times, each and every day. I believe our task, as people of faith, is to discern the chronos moments for acting and loving, and to greet the kairos moments with prayer and hope. And to come to all of it with unending gratitude for the richness and blessing of the lives God has given us. Blessings, today, on all you do and on all you look forward to. May you know God’s presence in all of it!
~~~~~~~
