In the cultural setting of the Second Testament writings, Greek philosophy regarding time heavily influenced the rhythms of life. Two understandings of how time operated engaged in a dynamic interplay:
- Chronos – A quantitative measuring of time (hours, days, week, and seasons), chronos is the way that the earth marks time as constituents and partners of the created order. Simply, it is “earth time.”
- Kairos – A qualitative measuring of time, kairos is a moment that is neither defined by boundaries nor limited by the rhythms of linear or cyclical progression. Kairos is the time of the divine; it is “heaven time.”
A healthy understanding of worship represents of a convergence of these two understandings of time. For example, when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, his exemplary words bore witness to this divine-human partnership: “God’s will be done on earth as it is heaven.” If we truly understand worship as a conversation between God and humanity, then faithful worship finds its identity in that moment when chronos, the marked time of earth, and kairos, the ineffable moment of heaven-time, meet. Like the God who comes in Jesus, our worship together as the gathered assembly is brought into its fullest form as a communal and ritual embodiment of incarnation: humanity and divinity in loving partnership.
The conversational interplay between the divine and the human, between chronos and kairos time, can also be understood as an exercise in mutual imagination. In worship, God’s imagination (the dream for the world’s potential in Jesus) bursts upon the assembly’s imagination. God’s dream, a world of shalom, is manifest in the community through specific actions: hospitality, submission, songs of story and identity. The ordinary, marked activities of life (chronos) become beautifully transformed by the in-breaking and in-dwelling of God’s magnificence (kairos). Music, art, space, language, movement, bread, and cup all become something better, something greater because of this great partnership of mutual submission. For now, we see that transformation dimly and infrequently. But in the ever-expanding fullness of God’s reign, the great convergence of heaven and earth will be met with resounding praise and celebration. It will be nothing less than worship.
For conversation: In the worship practice of your context, where do you see the in-breaking of God’s kairos onto the assembly’s chronos?
Very well stated, Chris.