Ordinary Time

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 9^th June, we entered the long period of Ordinary Time which continues until Advent Sunday on 1^st 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 75^th 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