Ordinary Time and the Christian Life
The color green permeates the season of Ordinary Time. This season starts in early summer and as you look out of your window or walk through the park you’ll likely see flourishing trees and flowers blooming. When you go to church you might see green vestments and liturgical decoration. Outside and inside of the church the theme of the season is growth and flourishing.
During Ordinary Time, we focus the natural, ordinary, everyday growth that results from living through dry, difficult, pruning seasons as well as seasons of abundant, water-soaked, sun-drenched celebration and Spirit empowerment. During this season we simply let the fruit that the rest of the year plants in us come to life. We let our extraordinary encounters with God enable us to live faithful, ordinary lives in ordinary times.
I had the opportunity to preach last Sunday, the first Sunday of Ordinary Time. I asked the questions, “what does it mean to the be an ordinary Christian? What are the marks of the ordinary Christian life?”
Spoiler alter, at the heart of our ordinary life with God is our slow and steady, daily growth as followers of Jesus.
The lectionary text (the assigned scriptures) we’re interesting this year. Maybe not what you would typically think of for the first week of Ordinary time. I focused in on both the Old Testament reading and the Gospel passage…
Deuteronomy 5:6-21 — Moses recalling the 10 Commandments.
Mark 2:23-28 — Jesus responding to the Pharisees questioning how he and his disciples were observing or not observing the sabbath.
Here’s a few of thoughts I had…
I recently saw a clip of a pastor saying that he was done with “quite time” and if anyone at his church said something about having a quite time he would respond, “not at this church!” He wants to have “times of delight, times of feasting, time carried on the wings of the Holy Spirit.” I understand his sentiment. I also want to have times of feasting on God’s Word. I want to times of extraordinary connection and Spirit filled encounter. I pray my kids experience that and the people at my church know what that sort of encounter with God is like! I pray for it! However, the reality is that much of our time with the Lord is quite and ordinary. And that’s not a bad thing! There is nothing wrong with you if your time with God is often quite and ordinary.
Our Christian calendar actually reflects that.
We have seasons of feasting: Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, ect. We have times of fasting: Advent, Lent, Good Friday, ect. But when you look at the liturgical calendar most of the year is Ordinary Time. Just like our lives. It’s said if you don’t know how to fast, you want be able to feast. I think it’s also true that if you don’t know how to navigate and be faithful in ordinary times, then times of fasting and feasting will also be hard to navigate faithfully. We can’t always be feasting or fasting. That’s just not real life.
There is a season for everything. A season to feast, a season to fast, a season to mourn and a season for joy. And there is a season to simply be an ordinary, faithful Christian.
Welcome to Ordinary Time!
Beauty if often birthed in the mundane.
Boring can be beautiful.
It’s often in the ordinary that we learn to live well when the extraordinary happens.
So the question is…
What does the ordinary Christian life consist of?
How do we embrace our everyday, ordinary life with God?
One mark of the ordinary Christian life is growth.
Recently I turned 45 and my daughter turned 12. We’re in pretty different seasons of life so say the least. Her growth is much more visible. To look at a picture from a year ago is to plainly see how much she is growing and becoming a beautiful young woman! Other than a few more gray hairs, I look pretty much the same in pictures from a year ago. But because I know my head, heart, relationships, and other aspects of my inner life and mind I can promise you, I’m still growing! My hope is that I will grow in many way, especially spiritually until the day I die.
For the Christian, growth is not an option. Even if that growth is more ordinary than extraordinary. Even if it’s slow or unnoticeable by some. We’re all called to be growing in life with God, as disciples of Jesus, as people led by the Spirit. My hope and prayer is that we are growing in our Christian life every day.
Growth should be an ordinary, faithful part of our lives!
How do the scriptures for assigned for the first Sunday of Ordinary Time support this premise that Ordinary Time encourages ordinary growth in the life of a Christian?
First we have the 10 Commandments. And of course, these 10 are just a portion of A LOT of commandment we find in the Old Testament. Many people would say, “See, that Christian thing is just about follow a bunch of rules.” I think it’s so much more than that!
What if we saw “DO NOT” as one side of a coin. On the other side was was the opportunity. For every no, what if we could find the yes on the other side?
When God tells us NOT to worship idols or others gods, what if we also heard the encouragement to worship the One True God who wants our good and moves and acts for our flourishing. What if when we read “Do not envy or no not covet your neighbors stuff” we flipped the coin and heard, “root for you neighbors, love those around you and want the best for them.” The opportunity is to cultivate love gratitude. If we could do that for others maybe it would help us to grow into the sort of people that have that for ourselves and don’t need to envy because we’re grateful for what God has given us.
A good exercise to try out is to work your way through the 10 Commandments and for every “DO NOT” find the “DO” on the other side. For every no, find the yes God is trying to cultivate in your life.
I wonder if Jesus’ take on the sabbath, which we read about in Mark 2, is the key for us to unlock the good in the rest of the commandment.
”Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.’”
We hear “No,” “Don’t do that,” “Stop it,” “Thou shall not…” and because we have a text problem, the voice we imagine in our head is that of a stern, angry, curmudgeon God who wants to control us.
Have you ever texted someone on our phone and thought you were being nice and friendly. The voice in your head as your texted was kind and light hearted. But later you found out the person read your text and thought you were being short and rude. Maybe they thought you were mad because the voice they imagined as they read was stern even thought that is exactly the opposite of what you intended. I think we do that to the Bible all the time! We hear a mad God but I wonder if when he inspired that text he was being compassionate and helpful. He wanted our good and growth and all we heard was command and control.
When you read the 10 Commandments what is the voice you hear?
When you read Jesus’ words in Mark 2, what do you imagine his tone being?
When if God’s tone is compassion? What if the voice of God is always dripping with love? What if God was ALWAYS for our flourishing and good and never simply out to control us?
What if every commandment was God trying to help us to grow into people who love God, love others, and who are daily growing into Christ likeness?
You see, Jesus says that the sabbath is FOR us. We aren’t FOR the sabbath.
What if every command if FOR us and for our growth?
So maybe what Jesus says about the sabbath is the key to understanding every commandment, all ten and even all the others. God is for us at all times and in all places. God wants us to grow and flourish. God is ALWAY FOR US! Let’s read the commandment like that.
Let’s hear God as for us and for our growth today!
This should be part and parcel of or ordinary life with God!
Maybe Ordinary Time is the perfect time to learn to hear God differently and live like God is for us!