Remember to set your clock back one hour before bed on Saturday evening. Daylight Savings Time is coming to an end. But does anyone really care about time?

The ancient Greeks had two words for time: “Chronos” and “Kairos.” Chronos is more familiar to our understanding of time. It relates to a series of points in a linear fashion, with measures such as: seconds, minutes, months, and years. Kairos is characterized as an emotional feeling or atmosphere and refers to a right or opportune moment. I have also heard Kairos referred to as “God’s dimension,” not marked by the past, the present, or the future.

But does anybody really know what time it is? Does anyone really care? As we sit here at this moment, it is Halloween. The next big holiday is Thanksgiving. Then, in Chronos time, we look ahead to December 25th – Christmas Day. In Kairos time, we experience the festive holidays; we sense this time in our very being.

I always worried about time when I was a student. Have you ever done those all-nighters to complete term papers the night before they are due? Often, we don’t address what must be accomplished until the very last moment. And that is when time really matters. Pressed against a deadline, that’s when time matters. Chronos catches us!

Everything’s linear. There’s a beginning, middle and there’s an end. But have you ever been in a position where the clock stops, and suddenly, time doesn’t matter? Think of a loved one, somebody close to you, when something important happens. You are frozen in time. Or the first time you look into someone’s eyes, you realize you love that person and care about them. Time doesn’t matter. You are caught up in the joy. That’s Kairos.

Chronos, however, is different. Let me tell you about a gentleman named Robert Lamm, who grew up about forty miles from Lindenhurst in Brooklyn Heights. I find him to be an expert on time. He also loves music. During his formative years, Robert grew up singing first in the boys’ choir and then in the men’s choir at his local Episcopal church. He also loved to play the piano, and Bach and other classical musicians inspired him. No wonder his passion led him to a career as a musician and songwriter.

Robert knows what it is like to pull an all-nighter, compelled to work through the night to meet a morning deadline. Early in his career, he had scheduled time in a recording studio to produce a new song. The problem was the day before the studio time was reserved, he had not yet entirely written the song he had hoped to record, so he had to work through the night to finish it! Frustrated with writer’s block and the clock ticking away throughout the night, he was nearly going out of his mind. Racing against the clock, he looked at his watch and saw that it was 3:34, 3:35 AM. And he had to finish. It was 25 or 6 minutes to 4:00 AM, and he had to write a song! “25 or 6 to 4.” The clock gave him the song! He finished the lyrics. In the morning, at the scheduled studio recording session, he and the other founding members of Chicago recorded the hit song— “25 or 6 to 4.” I guess you could call that a Chronos hit!

I believe Robert Lamm may have been obsessed with time before that hit. He wrote another song. Do you remember that one? “Does Anybody Really Know What Time it Is?” He wrote that in 1969, when he started the band named after the Chicago Transit Authority (which is not known for keeping time, just like the New York subway system or the Long Island Rai Road.) A short time after, they shortened the name to Chicago.

So, pay attention to your Chronos time. Set your clock back an hour and enjoy the extra rest. Then, join us for Kairos time as we worship the Lord on Sunday, November 3, at 9:30 AM.

Blessings,
Pastor Marc