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While we were in Prague, we received word that Rena Dalipi had died. The Dalipi family have been long-time friends of ours. We grieve for them and with them over the loss of their daughter and sister. She succumbed to undiagnosed tuberculosis.
After our return to Skopje, we consulted with Agim and Habibe Iseni, other long-time and mutual Albanian friends of the Dalipi family, about making a visit to Gostivar to offer condolences and compassion to the family. Agim and Habibe advised us to wait for a week or so until all the extended family had made their proper visits and returned home. They suggested that this would be a more appropriate time for our visit. We would have a better opportunity to give our attention to Mejzin & Zijarave and their son, Lek, apart from all the confusion and busy-ness which normally accompanies such an event.
In his book, Here and Now, Henri Nouwen makes a distinction between the Greek terms, “chronos” (clock time) and “kairos” (the time of opportunity). In recognizing these two concepts of time, Nouwen points out that we must live with the restraints of clock-time, but that our lives will be enriched by our understanding that we also have a more expansive framework of times of opportunity. We can anticipate that this visit with our friends, the Dalipi family, will require several hours out of our day, but we also anticipate that this will be a “time of opportunity” in which God’s love will be revealed.
After our return to Skopje, we consulted with Agim and Habibe Iseni, other long-time and mutual Albanian friends of the Dalipi family, about making a visit to Gostivar to offer condolences and compassion to the family. Agim and Habibe advised us to wait for a week or so until all the extended family had made their proper visits and returned home. They suggested that this would be a more appropriate time for our visit. We would have a better opportunity to give our attention to Mejzin & Zijarave and their son, Lek, apart from all the confusion and busy-ness which normally accompanies such an event.
Without being consciously aware of it, Agim and Habibe were counseling us in effective pastoral care ministry in their cultural context. How much more meaningful will this visit be because we decided to wait for the appropriate time. Our intention will be to convey to the Dalipi family that they are embraced and enwrapped in the arms of God’s eternal love.
In his book, Here and Now, Henri Nouwen makes a distinction between the Greek terms, “chronos” (clock time) and “kairos” (the time of opportunity). In recognizing these two concepts of time, Nouwen points out that we must live with the restraints of clock-time, but that our lives will be enriched by our understanding that we also have a more expansive framework of times of opportunity. We can anticipate that this visit with our friends, the Dalipi family, will require several hours out of our day, but we also anticipate that this will be a “time of opportunity” in which God’s love will be revealed.
