CHERISH YOUR DEFINING MOMENTS

      Each of our lives is filled with Kronos time and Kairos time. Kronos time, as in chronology, is the sort of time that we count. It is ordinary time, like going to the grocery store week after week, or doing laundry, or watching TV. It comes and goes, but it rarely touches or transforms our lives. But there is also Kairos time, which defies our efforts to measure it, because it’s too deep, too sacred… to be counted, or measured, or put into any sort of a box.  It is bigger, much bigger, than the moment itself and, as often as not, it shapes us in permanent ways... so that we are never the same person again. In the sea of a million moments, a handful of them "define" us because they help us- sometimes force us- to come to grips with who we really are; they transform us, and they set us on a course that changes our entire lives.

      I remember, like it was yesterday, sitting in Sherry’s one-room apartment, across from what was then Veteran’s Auditorium, in Des Moines, IA., listening to the music of Rod McKuen, as her window fan churned the hot, summer air. It was a modest place, to put it kindly, but it was heaven to me. It gave me peace and a sense of contentment that I hadn't known before… and it set me and Sherry on a course that will culminate in our 50^th anniversary soon. I remember, too, the overwhelming sense of emptiness that overcame me just before I entered the treatment center… and the weight that was lifted when I said the “Sinner’s Prayer” with Pastor Lu. It was a sacred time- and defined me not only as a friend of Bill’s, but as a forgiven and saved disciple of Christ Jesus. Sherry’s diagnosis of cancer was yet another defining moment… that turned our world upside-down… and forced to live in the now… because there’s no point in buying a 50-year roof… when you have 5 years to live.

      There have been other defining moments, of course, the birth of our daughters, our granddaughters, our grandson, and our great-grandson… and the ups and downs of their lives, some of which were transforming in their own way. Life is filled with unexpected drops of joy, unforeseen challenges, and any number of little deaths… in which we lose some part of ourselves and our identities. My two younger brothers are gone now, mom and dad are too… and there’s a sadness that goes with being the last one standing. But their dying was a sacred moment nonetheless! Within the myriad of Kronos moments, we all have a handful of defining moments force us to come to grips with who we are and where we’re going, Many of these are moments when God has broken into our lives in ways that get our attention, reassure us, challenge us, and give us the opportunity to be more than we ever thought possible.
      It's always been so. God is always involved in our lives, and when he chooses, he speaks and acts... if we have eyes that see and ears that hear. Most of Jesus’ moments were Kronos moments. Most of us life was filled with everyday stuff. When he was a kid, he played with the other kids, and when he was an adult, he spent a great deal of time coming and going, sleeping, and sharing stories with his friends... about the people they saw and the things they did on any given day. If you sometimes think that your life is filled with routine, you're in good company... but our Lord's life also had many Defining moments! His baptism comes to mind- the beginning of his ministry, and his Father’s affirmation of love. His time in the wilderness comes to mind, a time in which he was tested in ways common to all of us… and discovered that he had the faith to put the word of God first. His encounter with the Syrophonecian woman comes to mind, where she seemed to persuad him that even the dogs ought to get a few crumbs. Gethsemane comes to mind because it was a moment that called for complete and utter surrender to His Father’s will.

      Jesus had other Defining moments, for sure, and so did Moses, who is the subject of Pastor Sarah's current preaching series. If he hadn’t been placed in a little basket, he would’ve drowned or starved as an infant; if he hadn’t killed the abusive Egyptian, he wouldn’t have come to grips with his own identity; if he hadn’t stopped at the very well that he stopped at in Midian, he wouldn’t found his wife nor his calling as a Shepherd… and he wouldn’t have seen God’s burning bush. Responding to God’s voice when he heard it was a defining moment for Moses- as it is for any of us- because it  opened up a dialogue… and even though Moses made a number of excuses, his conversation with God led to a calling that would free a people and change the world. When he told his father-in-law that he was leaving and took his first step toward Egypt, Moses experienced a defining moment because the first step is always the most difficult! Moses’ life was lived mostly in Kronos time, but it was defined by Kairos time… because it was in those moments that he heard God’s voice and/or discovered the way in which he had to go. 
      Moses’ life was changed when his father-in-law told him to delegate decisions to others... and the ending of his life was defined when God told him that he was not destined to cross the Jordan. Moses had many defining moments, but what God wants us to know today is this: so do we- so do you! What are the moments that have defined you? When has God spoken to you? Through whom? With what sort of message? What moments in your life have defined your journey and who you are as a person and as a Christian? How does God speak to you most clearly- in the thoughts of your mind, through you conscience, through your pain and your tears, through the people he has placed in your life? And is He still speaking to you? Is He still opening and closing doors? Is he speaking to you from a mountain top, or is He pushing you into a wilderness of some kind, or is He calling you to do something you don’t want to do? And let me broaden the word "you" to include our church... because I believe that, within the ordinariness of our ordinary days, God is speaking to us in ways that will define us for ever.  It is my hope that you will hear God calling- that you will hear Him calling and say “Here I am”- that you'll say “Here I am” and go…in trust and confidence,., believing that God will see you through! Amen.