![]() As I looked at the image and read the description and the labels, I realized I had indeed lived that diagram, several times now.īut the more we reflect on our journeys, the more we can learn to recognize the signs of God’s movement in our lives…the coincidences, the tugging on the heart, occurrences we don’t understand. Another such aha moment was while reading a ministry book which had a graphic in it depicting the author’s understanding of the call process. Sometimes, we don’t know that we are in those kairos moments until we look back, and we can then connect the dots. Yep, I had been courted, not begged, not voluntold, but courted. The instructor used the analogy of courtships…and a lightbulb went off in my head. ![]() We were talking about engaging volunteers at different levels and for a few minutes we were focusing on finding volunteer leaders for bigger commitments. I remember sitting in a classroom a half-dozen years ago. I like to laugh and say that the Spirit is patient and persistent, that She will keep at it using others and coincidences to lead you along, hoping that you will get the message. Often time I’ve noticed something nagging or pulling at my thoughts or soul. Sometimes the movement of the Spirit has taken a while to notice, or maybe to acknowledge on my part. I have been on that threshold a number of times in recent years. Do we consider that these moments might be kairos moments, might be moments of God’s activity in the world? And sometimes, that kairos moment is right there, an opportunity that just seems to present itself out of the blue or that comes about quickly. What do we notice in our pausing? Are we paying attention to the shifts and the changes happening? How do we perceive the things we notice? Kairos moments can be times when things are changing but there is a lot of uncertainty as to what will be. These threshold spaces and times are an opportunity to pause, listen and watch. We come to these thresholds many times in life in our personal lives as well as a family, as communities, and as a society. Liminal space is often likened to a threshold with the old on one side and the new on the other side of the threshold. In-between (liminal) and transition times not only feel like wilderness at times, but are often kairos times. To respond to something requires one to notice, to become aware of activity or changes, of something different. So, in the sermon this past Sunday, it was pointed out that the Gospel stories these weeks are about people’s responses to the activities of the Divine. It is often the time of something new being birthed, or just on the horizon. Theologically, kairos is God time, it’s the movement of God, of the Holy Spirit, in the world. In church circles kairos is used to differentiate from chronos…our time, linear time, measured in hours, days, etc. And no, I did not learn it in my ancient Greek language class, I knew the word prior to the class. The right, or opportune, time is the meaning of the ancient Greek word kairos.
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