Look for those Kairos moments

Matthew 11:2-11

Throughout the season of Advent there are many words and phases that we associate with the season. Advent is a time for watchful waiting. A time for hope and anticipation, a time for searching. A time when we look forward to the light of the Christ, a chance for new beginnings. A time of expectation.

In a very short time we will reach our destination – the birth of a baby, the gift of a messiah to the earth. As the excitement towards this time builds we remember how much there is to be done. The buying of presents, making sure the decorations are up, cards still to send, planning our Christmas lunch. All of this underlines that this is a season of rejoicing, a time for joy, happiness and peace.

Yet for many this time of the year isn’t necessarily a happy one. Often at this time there are people who are painfully reminded of those whom they have lost,  times of loneliness, times when the darkness fills their days. But Advent is a time when can discover for ourselves and for others the image of hope.

Our reading from Isaiah today gives us that sense of hope. We hear of exiles returning and the desert has been transformed where flowers blossom and the burning sand is quenched by streams of water. A place where the eyes of the blind are opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. It gives us a glimpse of Gods promise, the Advent hope. We watch and we wait in expectation – we look for Christ - in the most unexpected way –he arrives in a humble stable in Bethlehem.

As we look to the Gospel today we are given a real sense of hope. When Jesus finally comes, John the Baptist, who has been watching and waiting for the coming of the chosen one, just wasn’t sure whether Jesus was the one. As he lay in prison, he sent word by his disciples and asked “Are you the one who is to come or are we to wait for another?” On reading these words it struck me how similar we are to John the Baptist, in this respect. We go about our lives and see suffering, we see violence and hatred, we see our planet’s resources depleted, our lives get tough and we find it difficult. In these times when we too will ask “If you are the Lord, the one who is to come, why this?” But we need to remember that God never promised to offer all the answers, he never promised to make life easy. He never said life would be without difficulties and challenges. Faith demands us to trust in God.   He simply gives himself to us. So Jesus doesn’t simply respond to John’s question by saying, yes I am he.

Jesus tells Johns disciples - Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

Jesus by his words simply says to John, look at the evidence, decide for yourself if you think that I am the one. This moment in time is one of those meteoric points in history. This is Kairos moment.

Kairos is a Greek word. The Greeks had two words for time – Kairos  is the appointed time where God meets you for revealing his purpose and will. Chronos is Chronological time, the worlds time, This indeed was a Kairos moment. A moment when history and humanity was changed forever.

The Advent and Christmas season for all of us has become a very stressful time. The pressures of consumerism grow each year. We have to be ready, we have to plan. Each week in the weekend newspapers we are given moment by moment plans on how to prepare the perfect Christmas lunch. Our world is a place where everything has to be now. We see every Saturday evening people competing in programmes such as the X factor, seeking fame and wanting celebrity now. Seeking transformation in their lives – the trappings of celebrity.  We have fast cars, people never having time to stop, always in communication with mobile phones and the internet. We live in what people call, a rat race, have instant coffee, microwaves, ready meals, overnight delivery, express mail. We eat fast food and then want fast diet programmes.

There is even a church in Florida that advertises 22 minute services. Go there and they promise that in 22 minutes it will all be over, and you’ll be out in an instant!. A world where many rarely experience true silence.  A world where people rarely just pause.

As Christians, Advent gives us a perfect opportunity to pause.

Advent gives us the ability to stop chronological time and let God have his time. A time for Kairos. A time for God’s time.

Having worked in Education for many years I have always had to work to targets and deadlines. We had detailed plans of what we wanted to achieve and when and how we would achieve them. Working in this sort of environment has quite an effect upon you in that this habit of planning and control can spill over into every other aspect of your life. I would plan everything with military precision. Holidays, the goals I wanted to achieve, the things I wanted to do. And then God goes and gets in the way. Suddenly three years ago God took control, no longer were my plans important. Now was the time to relinquish control, trust in God and let him work in my life. And lo and behold the most amazing thing happened – I was selected for ordained ministry. It just shows how God is always full of surprises. This for me was my kairos moment.

Making space for God is very important and Advent provides us with the perfect opportunity to pause, to put our foot well and truly on the brake and reflect quietly in anticipation of our saviour’s birth.

Devil's Mustard Mill

During the Summer I visited Kirby Stephen in Cumbria for a weekend in my touring caravan. Early one morning I took my dog for a walk before most people were up.  I headed for a place called the Devil’s mustard mill . In the middle of a wood a small wooden bridge spanned the river. On one side of the bridge was the Devil’s mustard mill. A huge torrent of water falling from a water fall with such force that it had carved a great corkscrew in the limestone rock. The noise and power of the water was tremendous.  However I turned and looked over the other side of the bridge. There was a deep still pool. The trees were reflected in the water, the sun was glinting on the surface and there was a real sense of stillness, calm and peace. The water was so calm you could see fish swimming below the surface.

It struck me as I stood on the bridge. On the one hand was the Devil’s corkscrew, for me representing life  - a torrent of frenetic activity, fast paced and unrelenting, whilst on the other side was a glorious, calm,  still pool a place where God’s presence and stillness could be found.  It is right that we seek those places where we can find God and allow his presence to permeate our very being.

So to return  to the gospel today we think of John anxiously waiting for the news about Jesus – was he the one? The whole of John’s life had been focused upon him being the herald, preparing the way for the one who was to come to fulfill the scriptures. Here he was expecting the messiah to arrive bringing judgment on the earth with fire and trumpet blast. Jesus arrival couldn’t have been any different. Jesus didn’t fit John’s expectations. And yet there was Jesus in the midst of all humanity, teaching, healing, loving  and redeeming. We don’t know whether the answer John’s disciples returned answered his question or not. But what we do know is that Jesus comes to us to release us from our chains and if we let him in he will lead us, transform us and bringing a message of freedom and hope.

“…the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news brought to them…”

On our journey through Advent let us give God a chance to come into our hearts. Let us pause a midst all the hustle and bustle, the planning and the shopping, so that he may he come to us afresh. May we all let go and give God a chance to reveal his purpose and will in us and encounter our own kairos moment.