I suppose you could say my internal clock functions on event time as opposed to clock time.  These are sociological distinctions that describe the way time functions in various cultures (think “island time” vs. Day-timer).  Here’s a bit from a sociological abstract about the difference:

Cross-cultural research documented two types of temporal culture governing the way individuals schedule tasks over time: clock-time, where individuals let an external clock dictate when tasks begin/end; and event-time, where tasks are planned relative to other tasks and individuals transition between them when they internally sense that the former task is complete.

Actually, it’s worse than that.  I think time is something we construct to make sense of the perceived world about us.  In other words, because we observe that something did happen (past) and something is happening now (present) and we anticipate something happening later (future) we call this observation by the name “time.”  Then, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, we divide up this thing called time into increments that transpire on a clock.

There’s nothing wrong with that and it functions perfectly well for 82.5% of our lives (I made that number up, just go with it).  The problem is that I don’t think that’s whole story.

Two Understandings of Time

The Bible has 2 different understandings of what Time is, or at least how we experience it.

• “The time has come,”
• “The time promised by God has come at last!”
• “The time is fulfilled,”
• “The time is now!”

All of those are different translations of the same scripture.  Here’s the rest,

“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:15

Then we find this at the beginning of Luke’s story,

“When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son” Luke 1:57

So are these the same or different understandings of time? They are different kinds of time.

καιρὸς v. χρόνος

kairos v. chronos

Kairos time is about fullness and “now-ness.”  It is an experience of a depth of a moment.  It’s not bound by sequence or efficiency.  Kairos is not contained or containable.  It is an unfolding of the event horizon in a relational universe.  It is, if I may be so bold, orgasmic and culminating.  Kairos is about epochs, eras, and openness.

We’ve all had these moments.  When we become absorbed in an invigorating conversation or story (novel or film) and then say things like, “oh my! I’ve lost track of time”  or  ”how is it already 2:00 am!”  We loose ourselves in these moments and we relish in them.  It is in these Kairos moments when we feel most alive and human.

Kairos, is the kind of time in Mark’s Gospel where the fullness of Kairos has come.  It is in this Kairos-fullness that Jesus proclaims the Kingdom is near.  And I’d suggest that the Kairos is culminated because Jesus is present.  It is his being present that makes the Kingdom near and the time “right.”

“The kairos has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:15

Chronos, is the clock time of Luke’s Gospel.  It is normal time.  It is chronological time where things happen in regular sequence.  It was normal and regular for Elizabeth to give birth because the subsequent number of months had past and it was the next thing to have happened.  That isn’t, of course, downgrading the magnitude of what was happening in the story or the import of John’s birth.  It’s just the noun the writer used to indicate a chronological unfolding of events.

“When it was chronos for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son” Luke 1:57

So, three suggestions:

Time doesn’t exist

You can’t smell it, taste it, touch it, feel it, or hear it.  There is no direct empirical evidence that time exists.  And, if anything, we’ve all had those moments when “time stood still” or “time flies.”  In other words, we regulate our lives by chronos, but that doesn’t mean that that is all there is.  There is a certain degree of ephemeralness about time.  It is not as concrete as we might like to think.  Which is why I’d like to suggest that it does not exist (at least not in the way usually think about something existing).

Time is fluid

So, if it isn’t as concrete as we might think, then, what is it?  It’s fluid.  Time flows like liquid in all directions at once.  It can fold back upon itself and even move ahead of itself.  It works more like a lava lamp than a ruler.  It is dynamic and always changing.  It responds to our interaction and yet it is somehow unaffected by it.

Time has telos

And yet, time is moving …. somewhere.  It has an aim and a goal.  It is not merely meandering about or spinning on an endless loop.  The function of time, theologically, is teleological.  In other words, time’s movement is a dance with a big finish.  God’s desire is to draw all things – all creation – to himself.  God’s aim and goal is for the cosmos to become enmeshed in kairos.  Not unending chronos time, but ever-present becoming of fullness.  The goal of time is God.  Our eschatological move is toward the fullness of time.  In other words, sabbath/jubilee/kingdom-on-earth-as-in-heaven/unity with God and one another.

Navigating Time

All that said, how do we navigate the fluidity and lack of concreteness of time while on our way to the fullness of the Kingdom?  Three bits to be unpacked at another time:

• past – we finish what we started
• future – we scheme and dream with God
• present -we live eternally now in the ever-present Presence of the present

“Whatever your political views, let’s not sacrifice care of creation on the altar of ideology.”

This was accompanied by a link to this article:  Santorum Obliquely Suggests Obama Worships Earth, Not God 

29 comments later….

Now, my point in this post isn’t to address the comments made thusly.  Nor do I really want to wade into the point the article was making.  Rather, I wanted to, in a sense, (a) set the record straight about what I meant and (b) why it matters.  In other words, why I’m “Green.”  Likewise, (c) I want to make a comment or two about the heretical nature of taking an alternative view, and why that’s a very good (and Jesus-like) think to do.  Yes, you read that right, Jesus was a heretic and we love him for it.

(a)  What I Meant

I meant that my fervent desire was to see care of creation, environmental stewardship, ecological mindfulness – whatever you want to call it – transcend the “he said, she said”, argumentativeness of partisan politics.  Now, perhaps that is a naive desire and unrealistic.  Creation, and the resources we gain from it, will always be political.  It will always be something that the body politic must wrestle with.  Somehow we have to debate, negotiate, and even argue our way to a common understanding of what resource gets used by what community or individual.  That’s fine and to be expected.  But using creation as a bludgeoning weapon to hit one another over the head with is just wrong.  We can have fervent disagreement over the role of government to regulate (or not), use (or not), manage (or not) a given resource from the earth, but can we agree that we have one planet that we live on and we need to respect that fact.

In other words, one political party shouldn’t be the environmental party and the other the non-environmental party.  One party, or leader, ought not lambaste another for being concerned about the environment.  Again, it’s fine to have a fierce debate about how we engage the environment.  But using the environment as a litmus test for whether you are in or out of our group is pathetic.

(b)  Why I’m Green

I’m Green, because God is Green.  God made and loves and cares for creation.  And by creation I mean the whole kit and kaboodle, the cosmos, you, me, and everything we see.  He called it very good – not just humanity, the whole shootin match, all things made that were made.  Check the tape.

Here’s a couple of examples, key texts if you will:

• Genesis 1-2 – God hovers over waters, makes humanity in His image, calls it all very good, makes a dude out of mud, gives the dude mouth-to-mouth, plants a garden, gives us a job to do, takes a walk, talks with His creation – all in the first 2 chapters.
• John 3:16 – You’ve heard this one, right?  “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Well, “world” there is κόσμον or κόσμος.  That’s right, the cosmos.  The whole ordered creation.  God loves it all and Jesus came for the whole thing.  Not just us humans.  He incarnated, lived, died, resurrected and redeems you and me and earthworms and dalmatians and ficus trees and orchards and microbes and molecules.  Paul has a bit to say about this too, but that’s for another time.

Which leads us, of coure, to Global Warming.  Er… wait.  It does?  Really?  No, actually it doesn’t.  There is good debate about Global Warming – is it happening? is it real? do humans cause it? can we stop it? does driving a Prius really help? will I get beach front property in Ohio?  I think it is fair to say that the mainstream of the scientific community is persuaded that it is real and we are causing and we may or may not be able to do anything about it.  That, of course, doesn’t make them right.  And frankly, for the purpose of this discussion at the moment, I don’t care.

Being Green for me has very little, maybe nothing, to do with Global Warming, Climate Change, or Saving the World.  It has everything to do with my heart being captured by the Creator who loves and cares and sacrifices for His creation.  I am persuaded to live as gently as possible on the earth because I respect it.  I respect it because the God who made me made it.  And more!  I’m made out of it – dust to dust.  I care about the earth because I’m embedded in it and connected to it – because that’s how it was ordered or designed to be.

(c)  and other heresies

Ok, I’ve gone on long enough for now.  This point briefly.  I recognize that what I’m suggesting is not in keeping with the status quo.  It is an alternative view.  Probably one that wouldn’t play well in a political campaign, dinner party, or even some (maybe most!?) churches.  You might even say that what I’m suggesting is heretical.  That’s fine.

Methinks I’m in good company.  Jesus was a heretic too.  Status quo was for him to be a good Jew.  Maybe bitch and moan about the Roman occupation.  Maybe train with the Zealots to beef up on his hand to hand combat.  Maybe retreat to the desert for a holy huddle with the Essenes.  Or maybe just capitulate with the powers that be, keep his head down, obey the Torah, marry a nice girl, have a few kids and, you know, settle down.

Except he didn’t.

He went around talking about the Kingdom coming on earth as in heaven.  He touched untouchables.  And he loved the unlovable.  I mean really!  Crazy heretic!

What is, in your opinion, the most effective method of discipleship?

How do you create communities of followers of Jesus?  The modern (read: evangelical) assumption was that you did so by winning individual converts and gathering them together under your tutelage.  The historic (read: denominational) assumption was that you grew them from birth within an established structure.  If you did want to gather these historic followers of Jesus in a new context you exerted the equivalent of brand loyalty (ie. Methodist flock to Methodists, Episcopalians to Episcopalians, etc…).

But these modes and methodologies seem to be lacking.  I’m not saying they are wrong or that they don’t even still work.  They aren’t and they do.  But I’m increasingly convinced that they are incomplete and lacking.  Lots of folks have been doing real good work around this and I happily refer you to them, but wanted to take a minute and share some initial thoughts of my own.

How do you create communities of followers of Jesus?

By which I don’t mean:

• How do you make converts – though conversion is important
• How do you create structures – though structures, including spaces, places, buildings, and technology are important
• How do you distribute information about Jesus – though information is important
• How do you illicit an emotional response – though engaging our emotions is important
• How do you do good, just work – though do-gooding and social justice are important

I do mean:

• We can’t follow Jesus alone.  It only works in community
• Following is an activity.  It is not passive, reticent, or apathetic
• We engage ourselves and other holistically – bodily, cognitively, and emotionally (it’s not an “only if we feel like it” or “if we have all the right information” situation)
• It assumes transformation.  We are not what we/God desires us to be and following Jesus presumes and provokes a change (conversion, transformation, metanoia) within ourselves and our neighborhoods.
• Creating communities of Jesus followers necessitates leadership, but doesn’t limit itself to those in leadership.

So, the title of this post… OrthoPraxisCommunitas?  Well, that means an engaged community that practices their faith rightly, correctly, or well.  More on the bits here:  Ortho  Praxis  Communitas

That said, I think I need to back up a bit.  Sometimes I think that we have given over our assumptions about discipleship (or spiritual growth, spiritual formation, etc…) to a kind of pseudo-scientific methodology.  We are groping for a function and formula that will produce verifiable, predictable, measurable results.  If only we could find the right methodology then we could plug our church people into it and manufacture fully formed followers of Jesus.

Except it doesn’t work that way.

Now, at this point, my suspicion is that you, fair reader, are assuming that I’m going to wax elogantly about how discipleship is organic, mysterious process that can’t be measured (so we shouldn’t try).  That it’s really all about our relationship with Jesus and how can that be quantified or evaluated?

Well… not quite.

Let’s see, I need some help here.  Here’s a quote from a modern day prophet of poetry, explicator of the complicated:

“There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.”  - Donald Rumsfeld

Here’s my contention.  We do know certain things about discipleship – the process of maturing as a follower of Jesus.  We can lean into these knowns.  We can work system as it were.  But there is also plenty we don’t know and there are even things we don’t know that we don’t know.  Clear as mud?

What is Known

Dallas Willard has done some masterful work on these known realities.  For a great starting point I’ll refer you to this article he wrote.  Here’s a quote (with a link to the article):

“So, if we are to be spiritually formed in Christ, we must implement the appropriate vision, intention, and means. Not just any path we take will do. If this V-I-M pattern is not properly put in place and resolutely adhered to, Christ simply will not be formed in us.”

Our maturation follows a particular pattern.  Much the way a plant grows in particular ways (seed, roots, seedleaf, sprout, leaves, flower, fruit, etc…).  It would be silly to expect a fruit on a tree that hasn’t flowered yet.

What is Known to be Unknown

However, this maturing process isn’t as cut and dry as all that.  It may be simple, but it’s not simplistic.  Discipleship (the process of maturing as a Christ-follower) is a complex system.  And like all complex systems (parenting, gardening, economics, politics, stock markets) there are direct consequences, fuzzy connections, and unintended consequences.  With complex systems I find it helpful to speak in terms of spheres, or realms, of understanding instead of dictated steps (1+1+1=3).

With this maturation process as a follower of Jesus I like to think of overlapping echoes of integration.  Sound has this unique ability to radiate out from a point and overlap with other sounds creating harmony and harmonics that are greater than sum of their original origins.  The sounds – as the echo and bounce about – integrate in unique and new ways.

I’m envisioning three spheres or echoes or soundings of discipleship.  As these overlap they create unique and new contexts where transformation can happen in a person’s and a community’s life.

These spheres are:

• Story – we are narrative people.  We live inside of stories – the ones we tell ourselves and the ones that culture embed within us.  We can intentionally work to story ourselves into the narrative of God.
• Environment – we are context-bound.  We exist within the confines of places, structures, habitats, and habits.  We can choose which of those contexts allow us to be formed more into the image of Christ than other contexts.
• Relationship – we are social creatures.  We can’t do life – or even really be human – alone.  We need each other.  We have the opportunity to put ourselves in relationship with those who draw us more and more into life as a follower of Jesus.

Today’s workplace brought to you by Mammoth Cafe in Newport, KY. Met with a couple NKU students about our Spring Break Mission Trip and going to meet with the Illustrative Isaac Karns in a bit about a Worship Experiment we’re scheming. Also wrangling emails and social media and blogging.

Opening Night – Stations 1-7

Opening Night – Stations 8-14

Naturally, we’ve had a couple great BBQ meals and checked out the coffee scene in KC.  Speaking of the coffee scene, Church of the Resurrection (COR) has a great coffee/espresso bar right in their hospitality area.  I met Lance, the bar manager and he and I are going to chat about coffee and ministry sometime this week.  I’m continuing to look for ways we can engage our students in Radical Hospitality and Social Justice by way of excellent coffee.

We’ve also connected with Rob Webster, Director of Video Production, at COR.  I’m looking forward to learning more about this area of ministry from Rob that I’d love for us to grow into.

We’re looking to visit the International House of Prayer and KC Boiler Room

I’m posting some photos on my Flickr account as a visual record of our trip.  Check them out here.

Lots of great stuff happening… so exciting!

Why am I fed up? There are three basic reasons.

1. Too distracting!

2. Too polemical!

3. Too consuming!

So what am I going to do about it? I’m going to spend the month of December pondering the place of social media in my life. The specific proposition that I’m considering is something of a social experiment.

What would my life and ministry look like if I abstained from social media (specifically Facebook & Twitter) for one year? The WF has a wonderful new intern (Bethany Daniel) who will become queen of WF social media communications, so that arena will still function in my absence.

I’m hoping I will be able to write more (blogs, articles, book?). I’m hoping to be less distracted, more present, less polemical, more nuanced, less consumed, more discerning.

Can I do it? Is it even possible to function in 21st century society without accessing Facebook? Sure, I could do away with all digital media, like I do for one month a year. But can I still email, text, and blog without utilizing explicit social software? How will it effect our ministry with college students?

I’ll be considering all that and my reasons for quitting during this month. I’d love feedback too, because while I question the veracity of social media I still value being social.

So here’s the thing.  I know there are faithful campus ministers on each of those campuses.  I’d take time to list them, but it would be a long list (if you need a connection to one on a particular campus, let me know and I’ll hook you up).  Most of those campus have multiple leaders, ministers, and missionaries serving on them.

We in the church spend, it seems, a lot of time wringing our hands and worrying about where all the young people went.  We fret, “Why aren’t they in church on Sunday morning?”  Justifiably older members tend toward fears of whether their beloved local church (or denomination) will even exist in the next 20-30 years.  They reason, understandably, that if the next generation aren’t in the pews there won’t be people to carry on once they’re gone.

My friends, them there colleges and universities are filled with young people!  In fact, taken together just the campuses I selected (ones where I know one or more campus ministers/ministries) would total a population of more than most cities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky or the Greater Cincinnati metro area!  Only Lexington, Louisville have more than 134,532 in Kentucky and, in Ohio, Cincinnati.

If we gave up on our campus ministries at these institutions of higher education (AKA “mission fields”) it would be akin to abandoning a major metropolitan area.  (Not that I’m expecting that to happen…. I’m just saying)  I know we must continue to re-envision what it means to be effective and successful in our ministry endeavors – much less faithful – but we mustn’t stop trying.  Whether or not our job is to get those young people into the pews on a Sunday morning (and I’m pretty sure that’s not our main job) or however we define success.  We must keep being creative, innovative, and experimental in our mission to be a sign, instrument, and foretaste of the Kingdom of God.

Finally, I think there’s work to be done on how we understand our role on each of these campuses.  I’ve written before about conceiving of success ecologically in a ministry/mission environment and I think there’s more to delve into there.  Likewise, if we consider network theory (social networks both digitally and geographically contrived) we might begin to see our role as a campus minister as more of instigator and seed distributor than as only a chaplain or shepherd.  This is where 5-fold ministry, the empowerment of the laity, and flexible structures of mission come into play in a big way…. but that’s for another post.

This morning I dropped Cloey off for school, she’s a big 1st Grader now, and headed to NKU.  Today was the first day of class and the campus was a buzz with new sneakers, backpacks, and “Ihaven’tseenyouallsummerhowareyou!!!!”  It was great to be on campus as life returned from the summer slowness.  Even better was to sit at Starbucks and constantly greet students who I’ve come to know and with who I have nurtured meaningful relationships.  Three years ago my first day on the job was the first day of class and I sat in Starbucks not knowing anyone.  Today was markedly different.

Then tonight the university hosted a movie on the Science Center lawn.  The Baptists provided burgers, a new church plant provided water bottles, we made lattes.  Oh, did we make lattes!  We used 4 gallons of milk, 5 pounds of coffee beans, 2 bottles of syrup, 5 gallons of water.  Guessing we did upwards of 200 drinks.  The students LOVED them (and they are probably still wide awake from them too)!  Extra special thanks to Chris Bean and the Espresso Guild for helping us out with equipment and set-up and La Terza Coffee for wonderful beans.  It was a great way to bless the students with hospitality and presence.  It was also a great way to get to know students and start conversations.  My friends, I’m pretty sure God showed up.  Really.  I think I served him an iced vanilla latte.  And to top it all off I got serve with a whole host of NKU students who make the Wesley Foundation home and a couple Asbury Church folk, all of them worked and played together wonderfully and intently.  It was awesome!

Did I mention, I love my job!