Kairos: the card player
Friday, 3 December 2021
| Charles Ringma
do you, o god,
keep the kairos moment
close to your chest,
like a card player
in some grimy back-room?
this is what we wait for
in the march of dreary years,
but signs turn into the mirage
of a desert rainstorm.
is waiting now our greatest calling,
rather than the wildness of dancing
in the upswing of your spirit
where the rivers flow?
your favourites,
simeon and anna,
grasped the moment in that baby boy
of a kairos joy.
they waited long.
the years hung on them
like a worn-out cloak.
but their gaze was steady and true.
and we like them
should wait for you.
Charles Ringma has taught in universities, seminaries and colleges in Asia, Australia and Canada. He is Emeritus Professor Regent College, Vancouver, Canada. His recent publications are Hear the Ancient Wisdom, Sabbath Time and Chase Two Horses.
Photos:
Simeon and Anna Praise the infant Jesus by Arent de Gelder. Public domain at Wikimedia Commons.
Rembrandt: The Circumcision in the Stable. Public Domain at Wikimedia Commons.