In the last couple of months, I have become a great fan of the blog written by Dr. David Manner, Director of Worship and Administration for the Kansas/Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists. (David would cringe at the formality that his title conveys, because in all honesty he's just "David.")  His posts routinely pose a question or challenge aimed toward worship planners and worship leaders.  So, personally speaking, it's usually right up my alley.  This week's post, however, carries implications that I believe can equip followers of Jesus to become better worshippers in both private worship and corporate worship settings.  The blog (copied and pasted below in italics) explains the difference between "time" spent in worship and "moments" spent realizing the revelation of God.

If worship renewal is to occur, an understanding of chronos and kairos will encourage congregations to move away from worship based on moments of their own making toward worship based on God’s time. 

Chronos is chronological or sequential time considered as being orderly, rhythmic, and predictable.  It is time that is externally controlled, can be measured by a clock, and is quantitative.  Our words such as chronological, chronic, and chronicle are derivatives of this Greek word.

Kairos is the time not measured by the clock, but the moment God has chosen.  It is time that could disrupt the normal flow of tradition, habits, methods, and ways of thinking.  Kairos is qualitative.  A deeper understanding of this holy or God-given time is replete with possibilities of renewal, repentance, and action.  When Jesus’ brothers failed to understand who he was, he tells them, “My time (kairos) is not yet at hand, but your time (kairos) is always opportune” (John 7:6).  Kairos cannot be manipulated or controlled.  Kairos moments are not created through song selection, style, emotion, or worship order.  They do not originate from our innovation, desire for relevance, or by following a recipe or model of perceived success observed in another place.  Fr. Ken Kulinski communicates a deeper understanding of kairos:

Kairos time is the moment, of undetermined length, in which the eternal (God) breaks into the temporal (the universe), shattering and transforming it, and prepares the temporal to receive the eternal.  It is in this moment in which the conditional cancels itself out and makes itself the instrument of the unconditional.  Kairos time is the time needed to seek out the golden thread woven through the fabric of life.  It is the golden thread that takes the good from the old and attaches to the new fabric being woven.[1]

In a chronos approach to worship, a congregation is asking God to enter its story.  In a kairos understanding of worship planning and implementation, the congregation is asked to enter God’s story.  Kairos could occur in the first approach but has already occurred in the incarnation, life and ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Have we marginalized or even completely missed kairos moments in our efforts to create meaningful worship experiences?  God provided Scripture, prayer, and the Lord’s Supper as kairos opportunities for us to join the conversation that has already begun.  Have we minimized these elements or relegated them to a place of worship service transitions in order to give more time (chronos) to other elements of our own making?

[1] Fr. Ken Kulinski, “Kairos-God’s Time.” CowPi Journal, 9 October 2003. Database on-line. Available from http://cowpi.com/journal/2003/10/kairos_gods_time.html.

As I think through the difference in chronos and kairos as explained above, I genuinely believe that we are sensitive to the latter in our worship here at Blue Valley Baptist Church.  Granted, those of us who serve in the BVBC Worship Ministry do spend ample amounts of time each week in planning and preparation for the services we share, but I also am convinved that God guides us as we plan and reveals himself as we prepare so that our times of worship give voice to his message and not our own.  In hearing his voice throughout the process, we can find freedom to listen and discern the moments in worship when he does something we didn't expect.  For me, those are the best moments we share.

So what does all this mean for the worshipper in the pew?  It is a challenge for you to come each week with a heart that looks for kairos moments... If what we say we believe is true, that our worship transcends our personal agendas and preferences in order to focus on God's revelation of himself, then seeing and hearing him should be the standard by which we determine our own engagement in worship.