Carpe Kairos
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV, Cycle B
Carpe Kairos
Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. (vv. 15-16)
In the movie, The Dead Poet's Society, Robin Williams portrays John Keating, an English teacher who returns in the late 1960s to his alma mater, the prestigious prep school, Wellton Academy. His unconventional teaching ways have some strong effects on his students -- in particular: Charlie Dalton who hates the school; Knox Overstreet who is helplessly in love with a girl; painfully shy Todd Anderson who has been sent to the school where his popular older brother was valedictorian; and Neil Perry who wants to be an actor despite his father's refusal. Keating inspires the boys to think on their own and to go against the status quo.
They re-initiate the Dead Poets Society, a group that Keating was in as a student at Wellton. Through their club, the boys discover the magic of poetry and the power of words. Keating uses famous quotes from Whitman, Thoreau, and other classical thinkers to motivate his students. In their own way, each student is motivated and is changed for life.
In a particularly critical scene, Keating tells his students, "We are food for worms, Lads! Believe it or not each and every one of us in this room one day will stop breathing, turn cold, and die."
In an effort to encourage the students to reach their potential, Keating invites his students to consider the students who had attended the school before them. He said, "They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you. Their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it?"
Then he says in an eerie voice as if coming from the grave, "Carpe. Hear it? Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary!"
Paul writes to the Ephesians and tells them they should be "making the most of the time." Paul's phrasing literally means, "Redeem the kairos." The ancient Greeks made a distinction of two types of time: chronos, which is chronological time and kairos, which is the moment. Chronos has a beginning and an end -- birth and death. Kairos is now -- the significant occurrences in between. Paul is saying:
Carpe diem!
Claim the moment!
Go for the gold!
Reach for the brass ring!
Strike while the iron is hot!
Now is the time!
Seize the moment!
How we live makes a difference. Paul says to make the most of the time given to live in the will of the Lord. The wise choose to spend their time yearning to be filled with the Spirit rather than being filled with "spirits."
Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. (vv. 15-16)
In the movie, The Dead Poet's Society, Robin Williams portrays John Keating, an English teacher who returns in the late 1960s to his alma mater, the prestigious prep school, Wellton Academy. His unconventional teaching ways have some strong effects on his students -- in particular: Charlie Dalton who hates the school; Knox Overstreet who is helplessly in love with a girl; painfully shy Todd Anderson who has been sent to the school where his popular older brother was valedictorian; and Neil Perry who wants to be an actor despite his father's refusal. Keating inspires the boys to think on their own and to go against the status quo.
They re-initiate the Dead Poets Society, a group that Keating was in as a student at Wellton. Through their club, the boys discover the magic of poetry and the power of words. Keating uses famous quotes from Whitman, Thoreau, and other classical thinkers to motivate his students. In their own way, each student is motivated and is changed for life.
In a particularly critical scene, Keating tells his students, "We are food for worms, Lads! Believe it or not each and every one of us in this room one day will stop breathing, turn cold, and die."
In an effort to encourage the students to reach their potential, Keating invites his students to consider the students who had attended the school before them. He said, "They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you. Their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it?"
Then he says in an eerie voice as if coming from the grave, "Carpe. Hear it? Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary!"
Paul writes to the Ephesians and tells them they should be "making the most of the time." Paul's phrasing literally means, "Redeem the kairos." The ancient Greeks made a distinction of two types of time: chronos, which is chronological time and kairos, which is the moment. Chronos has a beginning and an end -- birth and death. Kairos is now -- the significant occurrences in between. Paul is saying:
Carpe diem!
Claim the moment!
Go for the gold!
Reach for the brass ring!
Strike while the iron is hot!
Now is the time!
Seize the moment!
How we live makes a difference. Paul says to make the most of the time given to live in the will of the Lord. The wise choose to spend their time yearning to be filled with the Spirit rather than being filled with "spirits."
