ADVENT, SPACE, AND TIME

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Yesterday, I wrote about space and time.  Let’s think some more about that in relation to Advent.

All of us, when we die, may be remembered fondly for those things we say over and over again.  My family will remember me always for saying about any event in the past, good or awful, “If there had been a hair’s difference in the past, I never  would have met my wife.”

I say that because it’s a miracle I met her, and the greatest miracle of all: she agreed to go on a date. 

In the Bible, when space and time were experienced as sacred, the person gave the place a name and erected an altar.  All of us have places and times in our lives that are unforgettable to us.

Susan and I first met in a space, a teacher’s paper and supply store which was the right place.  We met after school, about 4:00 PM on a Wednesday, which was the right time.

Momentous events unfolded rapidly that transcended mere clock time.  Coincidences fell into place so naturally the word “synchronicity” comes to mind (note one of the root words for time embedded in that word). 

First of all, we never should have happened.  I hate shopping, especially after school, but I was in desperate need of dry erase markers. No dry erase markers meant no Essential Question on my dry erase board which meant all my instruction would have blown apart until such time I purchased dry erase markers--according to the educational fad of that time.

Indeed, being ensconced on my sofa, nullifying with movies or video games the object permanence of angry, defiant inner city students would have been normal chronos time for me. 

Second of all, when it did happen, it never should have happened.  I sported a mullet at the time. I thought it was cool. She did not.  Susan hated mullets.  But the kairos kicked in with good conversation and one synchronicity that made it all happen.

I happened to have in my back pocket at the time, a card that represented another space and a future time.  In that space, five ballroom dancing lessons awaited me.  I imagine anyone who knows how to Foxtrot experiences kairos as they glide across the floor.  But I had no partner until in that space and time Susan said, “Call me," after I asked her.

          That first date was kairos time too.  I knew then I wanted to spend all my time, any kind of time, with her. 

Ray Bradbury once wrote a science fiction story about a man who traveled back in time and stepped on a butterfly he should not have stepped on, hence “the butterfly effect,” and by doing so he changed the outcome of an election in the future from a democrat before he time-traveled to a fascist after he returned.

If I had stepped on other insects than I did, if I had been afraid and not ridden that horse that threw me off and broke my glasses, if my beloved sister had not died in a car accident, if I had become an atheist instead of a Christian, if I had joined any denomination other than Baptist, if I had taken a bus to seminary from Chattanooga to San Francisco instead of completing a third of the journey on my bicycle, if I had only read the King James Version of the Bible, if I had never drunk a beer, never smoked a joint, or if I had called AAA just once to change my flat tire which I was perfectly capable of changing myself, I doubt I would have met my wife. 

          Let me bring this to Advent.  Anyone who has ever been in a place where and during a time when the presence of God has elevated life to pure joy has experienced Advent.  Anyone who dreads a day, yet feels dread dissipate the second one remembers all our days belong to God knows the experience of Advent.

The stories tell us all about it.  Indeed, they do more than that.  They show us so we might experience Advent again every year.

I know the wonder of it all.  In a paper and supply store, my future wife and I made wonderful kairos together. 

          Blessings…