“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

http://www.lectionarypage.net/LesserFF/Mar/GregIlum.html

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

“Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; your dominion endures throughout all ages.” http://t.co/6GjVBRkk #LectionaryProject #ThomasKen #Ps145

“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!

Starbucks @ NKU, copious email, and an afternoon run around campus.