From The Rectory
As
you may know, the Church of England divides the year into “Seasonal Time” (the
festivals of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost
and so on, associated with the life of Jesus) and what is known as “Ordinary
Time”. After Pentecost or Whitsun on Sunday 9th June, we entered the
long period of Ordinary Time which continues until Advent Sunday on 1st
December.
It
seems to me there’s wisdom in this division of time into the seasonal
festivities and the ordinary. In life there are special occasions and great
events, but much is ordinary and mundane. It does us good to come to terms with
that. It would be a sign of immaturity if we were constantly unsettled and
needing novelty. God always sees and knows. He never gets tired or bored. He
cares about the little things as well as the big things, the normal, the
ordinary and the routine. Wednesday afternoon, Friday night and Sunday morning
might be different, but they all matter.
Sometimes
there will be crises which have a great impact on us. We might suddenly be hit
with a life-changing medical diagnosis, for example. One moment can change
everything. Some generations live through extraordinary times. At the beginning
of June, we particularly remembered the 75th anniversary of the
D-Day landings. How can we know how we might have reacted if we had been
required to storm an enemy beach under machine-gun fire? But most of us will
not be at the centre of such an epoch defining event. Character is largely
formed in the ordinary. It is sometimes then tested in the extraordinary, but
perhaps more often it is proved in regular day to day faithfulness in the
circumstances which God gives us, whether they seem momentous to us or not.
The
Bible tells us not to despise the day of small things (Zechariah 4:10). In
Jesus’ parable of the Shrewd Manager, Jesus says: “Whoever can be trusted with
very little can also be trusted with much” (Luke 16:10). Or again, in the
Parable of the Talents, the Master says: “'Well done, good and faithful
servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of
many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'” (Matthew 25:21).
Ephesians
6:10-20 can feel like one of the most exciting and dramatic passages in the
letter. Spiritual warfare and the armour of God are stirring and heroic themes.
But it’s striking that this passage follows hot on the heals of instructions
about relationships between husbands and wives, children and parents, slaves
and masters (or employers and employees, as we might apply it). The great
battles of the Christian life are sometimes fought out not in conscious
confrontation with demonic hordes but in the presence of our loved ones at the
kitchen sink. We might feel we would love to do great things for God, but the
frontline of our fight for godliness this week might be patience with the kids
when we’re all tired and hungry, or being considerate to our spouse, or a
hundred little interactions that seem humdrum and insignificant. If we could see
things from God’s perspective, we might see these daily opportunities for sin
or for godliness as just as dramatic in their way as the stuff of which history
is made.
Habit
can be a great help (or hinderance!) in the Christian life. The Bible sometimes
likens living for Jesus to a race. It is often more like a marathon than a
sprint and it calls for a long obedience in the same direction. It might not be
glamourous, but there is much to be said for faithfully plodding on, praying
for God’s help to walk with Jesus. If we regularly chip away at some great task,
over time, lots can be achieved. Many people have found over the years that a
regular daily pattern of prayer and Bible reading has been a great help to
them. Even something as simple as a bookmark, or a Bible reading plan, or some
Bible reading notes, could make a real difference to just a short time each day
deliberately paying attention to God’s Word.
Maybe
we might pray that God would show us, perhaps in the midst our ordinary things,
where our real battles for Christlikeness are. May God keep us faithful to him
both in the special and in the ordinary.
The Revd Marc Lloyd
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