Tag: Kairos

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Hark! The Fourth Verse Now We Sing!

From time to time, I mention Kairos Prison Ministry in this space, for it is hard not to speak of the awesome wonders God works in the lives of incarcerated people. If you’ve heard of Kairos, you are most likely familiar with the semi-annual, four-day Kairos Weekends in which we volunteers share with inmates the love and forgiveness that are found solely in Christ Jesus. Yet we also return to the prison through monthly reunions and weekly Prayer & Share. And for this month’s reunion, I and some others were asked to share an especially meaningful Christmas carol and why we find it so meaningful. So, do you mind if I practice on you this week?

I chose “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”1 It is the gospel put to poetry; the good news wrapped in rhyme. Were you to open your hymnal to this enduring favorite, you would probably find three verses. Then would it surprise you to learn Charles Wesley’s composition had ten? The first verse, the familiar one, proclaims a promise kept: a heavenly King who brings us the peace, the reconciliation of God the Creator and us, His created. The second stanza points us to Jesus’ human incarnation: “Offspring of a virgin’s womb” — the Godhead veiled in flesh, “pleased as man with man to dwell.” Flowing on through its third verse, this Christmas classic heralds the Messiah’s heavenly origin: the “Sun of Righteousness,”2 bringing His light and life to us, defeating death and raising us through new birth.

So let’s pick up where our hymnals leave off, for verse four — so powerfully sourced in Scripture — is the cry of the redeemed soul, a prayerful response to God’s faithfulness,. Sing it softly; let it melt into your soul.

Come, Desire of nations, come!3
Fix in us Thy humble home:4
Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring seed,5
Bruise in us the serpent’s head;6
Adam’s likeness now efface,7
Stamp Thine image in its place:8
Final Adam from above,9
Reinstate us in Thy love.10
Hark! The herald angels sing,11
“Glory to the new-born King.”12

Satan is defeated, and in Christ we are new creations13 being transformed into His image.14 Isn’t this what we want? When we behold God’s great promises fulfilled in the most unexpected of ways, don’t our hearts respond in joy, thanksgiving and trust? And in this trust, don’t our spirits cry, “More!”?

Yes, Lord, deliver us from evil, and transform us into unimaginable glory. Grace us with fruitful lives throughout our days here. We see what you’ve done for mankind; do also what you will in each of us. Guide us daily away from our old nature, and transform us into yours. Grow your church on Earth. In Christ we live; in Him we pray. Amen.

1 Charles Wesley, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” Hymnal.net, accessed: December 15, 2025.
2 Malachi 4:2
3 Haggai 2:7
4 John 14:23
5, 6 Genesis 3:15
7, 8 1 Corinthians 15:49
9, 10 Romans 5:19
11, 12 Luke 2:13-14
13 2 Corinthians 5:17
14 2 Corinthians 3:18

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Pardon the Interruption

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” — Yogi Berra

Nearly 125 inmates and outside volunteers recently gathered for a Kairos Prison Ministry monthly reunion. The purpose of this evening’s theme — “interruptions to the natural order of things” — was to wake us to the realization that disruptions to normalcy may be God’s invitation to encounter Him and discover His plans for us. The emcee for the evening pointed out some Biblical examples, Saul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, for instance — the Pharisee would become an apostle. There was Moses at the burning bush — the one raised in Pharaoh’s household would lead the Exodus from his land. We could point to Abraham, Joseph, Job, and many more whose life changed at various points of interruption. Most likely, we could look in the mirror and find one more.

Some discontinuity comes as welcome relief, such as when hopelessness encounters hope and heartache finds healing. For instance, one prison resident recalled, “I had always set walls around me, but I took them down on my Kairos Weekend in 2003, and I have had no walls since then.” Kairos was, for him, a positive disruption, a welcome life-changer. Some interruptions, however, are traumatic, such as difficult diagnoses, relationships in wreckage, or monetary meltdown.

So what do we do when normalcy is disrupted, whether seemingly for the good, or seemingly for the bad? Trust; we must choose to trust. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”1 Notice God’s command to trust, and His promise to act. For God’s faithfulness is not dictated by circumstance, rather in sovereignty He “works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.”2 So whether God causes an interruption or merely allows it, of this we can be sure: God will subject all things to Himself, for in all things, “God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”3 God is sovereign over all things and He will act. In God we trust.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never fail; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” — Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV

Father, You are sovereign over all things, and all things must be subjugated to Your will. Help us to remember this amid life’s unexpected interruptions and to place our trust in You. You are good. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 Proverbs 3: 5-6 ESV
2 Ephesians 1:11 NIV
3 Romans 8:28 NIV

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The Gift of Listening

From the Oscar-winning film, “Pulp Fiction”1 . . . 
Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman): In conversation, do you listen, or wait to talk?
Vincent Vega (John Travolta): I have to admit that I wait to talk, but I’m trying harder to listen.

My first Kairos Prison Ministry Weekend was in the Spring of 2009. Like all first-timers, I was nervous in the weeks leading up to the event, but by day two, Friday afternoon, I had become so excited and engaged that I was no longer thinking of the men in terms of inmate or outside volunteer. The atmosphere seemed as familiar and comfortable to me as any other gathering of friends, and by Saturday afternoon, I was amazed at the openness and joy in the room. I’d seen spiritual transformation before, but nothing like this. I thought to myself: “‘Listen, listen; love, love’ (the Kairos slogan) really works.”

Truly listening is truly loving. In his letter to early believers, the apostle James exhorted them, “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”2 How can we begin to love our neighbors as ourselves if we don’t take time to understand them? Moreover, the psalmist celebrates the liberty we experience when God lends His ear to us. “I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.”3 The 20th Century German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it this way: “God’s love for us is shown by the fact that God not only gives us God’s word, but also lends us God’s ear. We do God’s work for our brothers and sisters when we learn to listen to them. So often Christians, especially preachers, think that their only service is always to ‘offer’ something when they are together with other people. They forget that listenting can be a greateer service than speaking.”4

For most of us, selfless listening — effective listening — is sacrificial. We prefer to express ourselves, and when we do let others speak, perhaps we are, like the “Pulp Fiction” hitman, merely “waiting to talk.” But when, instead, we “try harder to listen,” our silence speaks with unmatched clarity. It says: “You matter. I care. Look up! There’s hope.”

Listening: it may be the greatest ministry to which God calls you today.

Father, You listen to my every prayer, even to the unarticulated cries of my soul. Grace me to listen selflessly to others, that they too would know the freedom, hope, and joy of being heard. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

1 Tarantino, Q. (1994). Pulp Fiction. Miramax.
2 James 1:19 ESV
3 Psalm 116:1-2 ESV
4 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (London: SCM, 1972), 75. https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/loving-people-by-listening/