Time
My Dear People,
"'Your clocks,' he says plainly, "which are always ticking, do not have to be listened to.'"
So says the mockingbird, "with the frightfully bright eyes," "his supple tale," and his "passion songs."
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Yesterday we celebrated Nelson's four-year-old birthday.
Actually we had a little birthday party for him several weeks ago ("Pin the tale on the Wild Thing!"), so as not to get too close to our due date for our new little boy. So yesterday was just a little family celebration at the end of the day, with a cake theme: a supper of pancakes, followed by a dessert of cupcakes. (We tried to think of some other kinds of cake, but couldn't.)
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Have you ever noticed how long the elevator takes at St. Paul's? Depending on the day, I find myself doing one -- or more -- of three things: 1) laughing to myself at how long it takes; 2) being exasperated (because I have cut an appointment too close); or 3) taking the time to say a little prayer. In honor of that third -- and best -- option, I now, by the way, refer to our elevator as the Contemplative Elevator.
We might consider it one of our ministries.
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As you may know, in biblical Greek there are two words for time, chronos and kairos. Chronos, as you might guess, is chronological time, earthly time, clock time; while kairos is God's time, God's eternity. In reality we are always living in both chronos time and kairos time. The question is how much we are attuned to one or to the other, or to both.
Meister Eckhart once said, "Time is what keeps the light from reaching us. There is no greater obstacle to God than time."
The mystic was speaking of chronos, of course; or, more to the point, he was speaking of our attachment to time and its passage.
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As I write this, I hear the bells of St. Paul's ringing.
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Bells will ring. Clocks will tick. Birthdays will come and go.
God abides.
Will
we?
Your brother in
Christ,
Wallace+
