22 September 2014

Are we on Kairos Time or is it just a hyper Chronos Moment?

Sometime over the last few days while riding in a Car2Go, I was sick last week (gimme a break), I heard a commentator on the radio talk about the failure of the #Occupy Wall Street movement.  Something along the lines "they had no agenda or didnt make any specific demands or was not attached to a political machine."  On the surface the commentator was correct but under the surface...he couldnt have been further from the truth.

I confess that during the #Occupy time I was not at all connected or interested.  Ironically I was unemployed, had only emergency health insurance for me and my family, every day was a struggle to get by, debts were mounting & etc - if there ever was a time I should have been connected or interested, it was then.  But I was emotionally depressed and drifting and desperate, I had to get a job.  Thanks to some dear friends, a loving (and patient) spouse, an amazing therapist, the world's greatest American Baptist Churches, USA executive minister, and the world's greatest American Baptist congregation I made it through my trial.  I am just now in a place where I feel I can connect with the #Occupy movement.  I hope I'm not too late.

The movement is over you say, there are no more camps, protests, no meaningful legislation...  Au contraire.

-This weekend at least 400,000 people marched in the streets of New York City to march for the environment and demand meaningful and immediate action.
-This Spring a nearly 700 page book on economic disparity was on the best seller list!
-Seattle has set the bar with a $15/hour minimum wage.
-Further expansion of LGBTQIA rights in state and federal courts.
-Moral Mondays demonstrations/marches in North Carolina and other states.
-Righteous Outrage in St. Louis!
-How the water pollution in Charleston, WV brought a new consciousness to the community.

I look at these events and others as a movement, a movement that is saying ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.  These events and others, in my view, are the children of the #Occupy Movement.

Are we on Kairos Time or is this just a hyper Chronos Moment?  It will be just a hyper Chronos Moment unless various groups get together, sing the same song, and push this to Kairos Time.  I'm hoping, preaching, praying, joining with others, and doing what I can to make this Kairos Time.

How are you helping to push this chunk of existence to Kairos time?

an adaptation of Howard Thurman's Prayer, The Work of Christmas

When the songs of the protest are stilled,
When the banners in the sky are gone,
When the event organizers are home,
When the marches are back with in their homes,
The work of Kairos begins:


To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,

To expand equal rights for all,
To pay the worker a living wage,
To release the prisoner,

To reconcile the human family,
To repair the earth,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers & sisters,
To make music in the heart.

No comments: