178 Christmas in Time

   (Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “Christmas in Time”, originally shared on January 3, 2022. It was the 178^th video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)

   It’s Christmas-time until next Thursday, January 6^th, the Church’s celebration of the Epiphany of Our Lord.

   It seems weird to still be celebrating Christmas after New Year’s Day in our culture, even a little forced. But there is more than one way to measure time. Today, we’ll find out what they are and what they mean.

   Happy New Year! I’m sure you’ve heard that once or twice over the past couple of days. We have entered a new year, another trip around the sun measured on January 1^st. We are experiencing the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus and bracing for a surge of new cases in the next couple weeks. It’s 2022, or as the priest at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena said that his son calls it, “2020, Season 3!”

   New Year’s Day always feels a little anti-climactic to me since we just celebrated a new Church year on the First Sunday of Advent, on November 28^th, just about 5 weeks ago!

   In fact, New Year’s Day doesn’t just follow the Christmas holiday. It comes during the Christmas season. Fun fact: the word “holiday” is a contraction of the words “holy day”.

   We still have 3 days to celebrate Christmas, in the 12 Days of Christmas that end on January 6^th, this coming Thursday, the day of the Epiphany of Our Lord.

   Measuring time is something human beings have done for at least thousands of years, and probably from the beginning of human consciousness.

   The Greek world, and language, in which much of the New Testament part of the Bible was written, had two ways of measuring time: chronos and kairos.

   “Chronos” is a measurement of time as a sequence, one thing happening after another. It is measured in numbers. Our words “chronology” and “chronograph” come from the Greek word “Chronos”.

   “Kairos” means “the right time”. It is measured by what is culturally appropriate or what feels right.

   People living in “chronos” time set deadlines and appointments and show up on time. People living in “Kairos” time do things when it seems right. Events begin when everyone gets there, or when it feels right to start.

   Obstetrician appointments are made on “Chronos” time. Babies are born on “Kairos” time.

   Kairos is what is seen in this passage from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, the 4^th chapter, beginning at the 4^th verse,

⁴ But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. ⁶ And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

   Jesus was born, “when the fullness of time had come”. God acted in kairos time.

   We’ve been waiting for Jesus to return for about 2,000 years.

   When will Jesus come again to judge the world, the living, and the dead, and the already-but-not-yet reign of God will come in its fullness, a new heaven and a new earth?

   Jesus said that only God the Father knows, and God the Father didn’t make an appointment. There is no time for Jesus’ return known to humans, not even to Jesus, at the time, as recorded by Matthew in the 24^th chapter, the 36^th verse,

³⁶ “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

   Meanwhile, we wait, as in labor, for the restoration and fulfillment of all things, as Paul writes in Romans 8:22-25,

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; ²³ and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

   We wait in time, with all of creation, for the fulness of our redemption, for the new heaven and the new earth. We wait with patience.

    I like science fiction movies. Some of my favorites involve time-travel. Is it possible? Would the present be changed if we changed anything in the past? Is our present the product of changes that were made in the past by future time travelers? Weird things could happen.

   I realized some time ago that I myself could travel through time. It’s called “aging”. It just happens very slowly. And weird things do happen. For example, I never in my wildest dreams imagined that the time would come when I would walk into a bank wearing a mask and no one would call the police!

   And we experience time in different ways as we age.

   Lyle Schaller, my hero in church development, once said that when you plan for the long-term, you have to remember that a year means different things to different church members. A 7-year-old is convinced that there are at least 675 days between birthdays. But a 70-year-old knows that there are no more than 125.

   Our celebration of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ, God become human flesh, to suffer and die for our redemption, happens in time. It’s still happening. And it will be celebrated forever. We will celebrate it as sons and daughters of God. Because all time is God’s time.

   “For everything, there is a season”… gets quoted a lot; usually in reference to the Byrd’s song “Turn! Turn! Turn!”, written by Pete Seger and a hit in 1965. The lyrics were adapted from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8,

3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: ² a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; ³ a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; ⁴ a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; ⁵ a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; ⁶ a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; ⁷ a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; ⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

   There is a time for every purpose under heaven. God created time and exists beyond time. We cannot understand God or God’s works or God’s ways or anything about God any more than a clay pot can understand its potter. We can only know what God choses to reveal to us. And God has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ. That’s the miracle of Christmas! Christ is born. Christ has died. Christ will come again.

   So, wherever you are in time, keep your Christmas decorations up until January 6^th, keep your chin up, and keep looking forward, for as Paul writes in Romans 13:11,

¹¹ Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;  

   Sally and I hope you stay positive and test negative.

   God’s redemption and good health to you in 2022!