Ordinary time

Pastor Ed wears a green stole at church during ‘ordinary time’.

In the liturgical church calendar ‘ordinary time’ str-etch-es from Easter and the Resurrection sl-ow-ly through the year until Advent and then Christmas.

A nothing special time. No Hallelujah’s. No “Joy to the World’. No colorful banners. No lilies or poinsettias.

Ordinary time should be grey, don’t you think?  Bland and colorless. Cloudy without the silvery linings.

Ordinary time happens in that in-between time when:

• you’re waiting for that something or that someone;
• you’re wishing your treadmill of a routine would change;
• you’re wanting what you hope you can eventually have;
• you’re wasting precious time (you think) when you just want to get on with ‘it’;
• you’re willing prayers to be answered that aren’t;
• you’re wondering when grief will end and joy will return.

But in our ordinary time, God in the meantime is still is at work. Hmmm…but doing what?

Jonathan, my son, preached a sermon called Why God Delays His Promises. (Worth the click and your data plan to listen to the podcast on the road.) He shows what God was up to in David’s life in the 15 years between when Samuel pulled him from the pasture and when he finally took the throne.

He waited 15 to rule 40.

David had some battles to fight, some leadership skills to hone, some opposition to face, some patience to develop, some sins to commit and confess. God refined David’s character, and David refined his knowledge of God.

Yes, ordinary time actually can be a green time of growth.

So be hopeful in your ordinary time. Christ is on His way. Christmas is coming.

Indeed,

Mary Lynn