Ordinary Days
I love birthdays…
I love birthdays, not just my own. I really like remembering others and celebrating their special days. My three children also adore counting down to their birthdays, sometimes starting months beforehand. My youngest starts asking in January when she will be the next age. Her birthday is in July. Last year, I think she asked me every day for six months when she would turn four because that is the age one can start chewing gum in our house. Every morning, she would come downstairs and ask me, “Am I four yet?” or “Is it my birthday today?” And every day, I would have to tell her, “Not yet, not yet.”
The rhythm of the church calendar teaches us about the rhythm of life. We celebrate important moments like birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations. But most of life is not a celebration. Most of life is, well, ordinary. We are currently in a period of the church calendar called Ordinary Time. We call it that because yes, it is ordinary but also because ordinary comes from the word ordinal, meaning numbered. This season occurs twice and is marked by numbering the weeks between Epiphany and Lent and the weeks between Pentecost and Advent.
Currently, we are in the longest stretch of Ordinary Time. The color of this season is green, representing both hope and growth- hope in the glorious celebrations that are to come like Advent, when we remember that God came to live with us, and growth, as we follow God through our everyday lives. Many churches spend this time reflecting on what Jesus’s resurrection means for us in our homes, our work, our schools, and our free time. What does it mean to you in your ordinary life?
FREDERICK BUECHNER, AN AMERICAN AUTHOR, WROTE, “THE RESURRECTION MEANS THE WORST THING IS NEVER THE LAST THING.” EVEN OUR REGULAR LIVES, FULL OF SADNESS AND MISTAKES AND AT THE SAME TIME, JOY AND LAUGHTER, ARE NOT THE LAST THINGS. WE CAN TRUST THAT GOD IS WITH US EVEN IN THESE NUMBERED DAYS AND WE CAN HAVE HOPE THAT CELEBRATIONS ARE COMING.
