Ordinary Time

Several years ago, when I was new to the idea of the church calendar, I appreciated discovering that there was an ordinary time: a short season after the season of Epiphany and a long season after Pentecost. So much of our lives are lived in the mundane that it is a comfort to know that God is at work there. Green is used each Sunday in ordinary time as a symbol of the life and new growth that is done by the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. The church does not die out, but instead, like the trees and blooms all around us, it blossoms and grows by the work of the Holy Spirit.

A Pandemic: Anything but Ordinary

This ordinary time feels anything but ordinary. This week, all I wanted to do was have people around my dinner table, laugh or cry, share conversation, and build community. I am sure that many of you feel a similar grief.

Ministry in the pandemic looks anything but ordinary. Each morning looks similar to the above picture: drinking coffee and praying through the daily Scriptures, getting ready to live stream morning prayer while keeping an eye on the baby monitor. Whether we are praying over Zoom for Compline, or having our monthly gathering, this table, light ring, and computer have become essential tools of ministry. These are not ordinary days. During this pandemic people have lost jobs, have asked for help in basic necessities for the very first time, are struggling to balance work and family life, have felt the tension of strained relationships at home, have lost friends and family to COVID-19, and are looking at the prospect of a summer and fall where children are still at home rather than at school or summer camps. There is so much grief in the unordinariness of the pandemic.

A Season of Protest: Anything but Ordinary

And if the pandemic were not grievous enough, on May 25, George Floyd was unjustly killed by police officers in Minneapolis. This follows on the heels of the death of Ahmaud Arbery, whose death cries out against the racial injustice in this country. Our Bishop has signed a letter that was written by four other Bishops in the Anglican Church in North America, which you can find here about the death of George Floyd. This letter rightly reminds us of this:

“George’s death is not merely the most recent evidence that proves racism exists against Black people in this country. But it is a vivid manifestation of the ongoing devaluation of black life.”

And as a result of this act of injustice we are now in the 10th day of protests across the country. Each day has felt like wave after wave of confrontation. There is nothing ordinary about this season. This season feels so heavy, and rightfully so, for these are weighty matters. Racial injustice is a problem in our country and must be addressed. We cannot brush these issues aside for cheap and superficial unity. The work of reconciliation is difficult, painful work that we, as Christians, are called to engage in (2 Cor 5:11-21) and it is a slow process.

What Does Ordinary Even Mean?

These are not ordinary times, and while it is right to think that God is at work in our ordinary moments, that is not all that “ordinary time” signifies. It is an invitation to growth and transformation as we abide in the Holy Spirit. When we talk about an ‘ordinary’ in the liturgy, it refers to those parts that do not change. In a way, the ordinary portions serve as the ideal template on which hangs the other portions of the liturgy. This season is meant to invite us into a new ordinary, an ideal new reality, against which all other moveable parts of life are measured (see M.P. Foley, “The Origins and Meaning of Ordinary Time,” Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal 23.1 (2019), 67). As Orthodox theologian, Fr. Alexander Schmemann says,

On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit — and with him and in him the new time —descended onto the church. The old time did not disappear, and outside in the world nothing changed. But to the Church of Christ, which lives in the Spirit and by the Spirit, the commandment and the power to convert it into the new time was given. “Behold, I make all things new” (Rv 21:5). This is not the replacement of the old with the new, not an exit into some “other “ world. It is the same world, created through the love of God, which in the Holy Spirit we see and receive as God created it: heaven and earth, full of the glory of God. (A. Schmemann, The Eucharist, (New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2003), 219).

In this time which is anything but ordinary, the Holy Spirit invites us to abide in His creative power, the new ordinary by which all of life is measured. This transformation of old time (the world and our hearts enslaved by sin) into new time (abiding in the Holy Spirit) is the work of the church, especially in the unordinariness of this season; in lamentation, grief, mourning, and repentance there is a promise, in Christ, of restorative mercy, justice, forgiveness, grace, and love.

This week our Archbishop has called us to a week of prayer and fasting. Please take a moment to read his letter.

Here are some ways that you might consider responding:

• Pray. Before all else and in all other things we might do, let us pray. For the next ten days in morning prayer we will pray the additional prayers suggested by our Archbishop. Next Wednesday at Compline we will have dedicated space to pray for healing in our nation and in our hearts. Along with your prayer, consider fasting from a meal, from meat, or something else for the next week to focus your prayer.

• Adopt a posture of listening (James 1:19), especially to those whose voices are not usually heard. Perhaps begin with this helpful video by Christian artist, Propaganda.

• Work for reform and stand with the marginalized. The form of how to do this is personal and locally adaptable (e.g., protest, preach, write, host a conversation, etc.). If you are clergy, consider signing this: A Letter to Fellow ACNA Clergy: On Anti-Racism and a More Diverse and Just Anglicanism

• Join the Repentance Project and address the systemic legacies of slavery.

These are not ordinary times, so let us join in prayer to be transformed by repentance and faith in the new ordinary as we abide in the Holy Spirit.

In Christ,

Morgan+