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What does the word 'Kairos' mean?
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download the pdf version of this page Contents See also
- Kairos Bible Study
(
54K)
War, hunger, poverty and ecological degradation—when we pick up the newspaper and read the signs of the times, it is a perplexing and sobering experience. In this complex world, interpreting the present time without confusion or despair is an immense challenge. And, as people of faith, not only are we to see and judge, but to dare to act for justice—a task ever more urgent and yet ever more risky and demanding. If we are to discern wisely, speak boldly, and act decisively, where will we find our hope and strength? Who will be our companions?
Hope comes as “God’s gift to us as we envision, seek, work, embody and pray for justice in a broken world” (On the Way, Kairos/USA). As an Easter people who believe in Christ resurrected, despair, and even death, cannot ever be considered the last word. In each moment of discernment and choice, there is opportunity as well as crisis, optimism as well as despair, life as well as death. When we respond to kairos—God’s special moment of grace, truth and decision—with wise and faithful action for justice, we find our place with “friends of God, and prophets” (Wisdom 7:27). Each word of truth, each act of solidarity and each step of justice, reinforces hope and nurtures the movement of people that will make ‘another world possible’. Kairos, the word, is an invitation to action. KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives— the coalition of churches and religious organizations working together for justice—is an invitation to community, a community of people living into hope and engaged in faithful action for justice in our time.
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Responding to Kairos: The Time for Justice |
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The word kairos comes to us from the Greek word for time. Contrasting with chronos, meaning ordinary or chronological time, kairos means holy or God-given time, time laden with meaning and choice. Kairos signals a time of crisis and new possibilities, a time of repentance, renewal and decisive action. This can be a pinnacle moment, such as the current challenges to churches and communities presented by globalization. Kairos can also be a stream of moments, daily injustices that call us to act in God’s name. Every time we read the signs of our world and see injustice, the very meaning of faith is at stake in our response. Recognizing kairos means acknowledging that the time to act for justice is now.
Many times throughout this century, Christians have sought to name a kairos. In the mid-1980s, a group of Christians in South Africa seized upon the image of kairos to express their sense that the struggle against apartheid had brought South Africa to an historic crossroads. They believed that they were confronted by a fundamental religious and political choice, that genuine hope for the future required a commitment to struggle against apartheid, and that the church was called to condemn apartheid and witness to hope for justice.
The South African sense of kairos also inspired people in other contexts to examine whether or not their societies too lived in a time of kairos, at an historic crossroads, confronting them and their churches with radical choices. In 1988 a group of more than one hundred Central American pastors, theologians and lay leaders concluded that their region, torn by civil wars and U.S. intervention, was in such a time. In 1989, groups of Christians from Asia, Southern Africa, and Central America joined in affirming that their countries, different in so many ways, also lived in a time of kairos, suffering in similar ways in the current global system and confronting similar fundamental choices in their paths forward.
The idea for Kairos/USA emerged among Americans who, in 1990, were anticipating celebrations of the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the Americas in 1492. They were challenged by indigenous peoples to reflect, critically and prophetically, on the significance of the arrival of European Christian culture, and to rethink “celebrations” of its 500th anniversary in 1992. Their publication, On the Way: From Kairos to Jubilee, testifies to the sense of an arrival at an historic crossroads with the need for fundamental choices. It links the domestic and global dimensions of crisis, pointing to ecological issues as the “possibility of catastrophe at the heart of creation.”
As the 1990s progressed, the sense of being at an historic crossroads grew more intense around the world. Kairos Europa was created from a broad network of European Christians to seek “a socially just, life-sustaining and democratic Europe.” And at the close of the twentieth century, the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative (CEJI) emerged within the ecumenical inter-church coalitions and the denominations, taking on profoundly theological dimensions, and seeking hopeful solutions to the moments of crisis and time for action identified in the rich kairos tradition. CEJI drew on the biblical image of jubilee to name the growing sense around the world of readiness for a new beginning in history.
The Year of Jubilee, coinciding with the dawn of a new millennium, resonated with a sense of both end times and a new beginning, a time full of great hopes but also of great fears for the future. Inspired by the over-arching symbol of jubilee, CEJI stitched together a variety of organizations representing different constituencies addressing many social justice and eco-justice campaigns — from debt cancellation for poor nations to climate change and indigenous land rights— as different aspects of a shared hope for the world. Jubilee invited us to pause, reflect, pray together, celebrate joyfully, refresh and renew ourselves and our churches.
Each community that has seized upon this image of kairos in word and action has contributed to the development of a living tradition. It is in this stream of faithful witness that KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives finds its place.
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Becoming KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives |
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In the beginning….
On July 1, 2001, from a rich global heritage and a hopeful Canadian
tradition, Canadian churches and religious organizations formed
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives. A faithful and
decisive response to God’s call for respect for the earth
and justice for its people, KAIROS is dedicated to promoting human
rights, justice and peace, viable human development, and solidarity.
In KAIROS, the churches and religious organizations work together
for justice, benefiting from collective discernment in responding
wisely and faithfully to the signs of the times.
KAIROS brings together the work of ten previous national ecumenical coalitions, each of which was a response to crisis and opportunity. Their work was broad, ranging geographically from the Americas (including Canada) to Asia, Africa, and the Middle East; thematically from human rights to economic justice, ecology, and Aboriginal rights; and in practice from research to education and advocacy.
Each of the former inter-church coalitions arose at a “kairos
moment” such as the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, for example,
or the negotiations for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
They continued to exist in a “kairos time” when equality,
equity, and peace were under threat around the world. KAIROS is
very much a continuation of the work of these coalitions, built
on their extensive histories and varied experiences, but expressed
and energized anew in response to new possibilities. Now we must
live into our powerful name and live up to the legacy of the almost
30 years of expertise and solidarity represented by these former
coalitions.
In creating KAIROS from these previously independent organizations, the churches have formed a stronger and more unified movement to respond to the realities facing our world. The current agenda and mandate of KAIROS reflect dedication to action in the following priority areas:
- International human rights
- Global economic justice (including corporate social responsibility and global trade and debt issues)
- Ecological justice
- Canadian social development (including anti-poverty advocacy and funding, health care and refugees/migrants)
- Aboriginal rights
- Global partnerships
- Education and animation
The Board, program committees, and staff of KAIROS carry forward these priorities, working with key partners and a network of people from across the country.
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