Nothing “Ordinary” about Sundays in Summer

Beginning in June, we'll all notice that the green paraments once again adorn the chancel, the pulpit and the lectern. The next time we change the liturgical colors will be when our next class of confirmands publicly give witness to their baptismal faith in October.

Most of us know that the liturgical colors we see are based on the liturgical calendar which provides a context to our corporate worship life. Time in the liturgical calendar is designated as “Festival” or “Ordinary”. In June, we again enter, “Ordinary Time.” Unfortunately, to our ears, “Ordinary Time” in the church sounds boring and mundane.

When we use the word “ordinary” in reference to these Sundays of the church year, we are not saying they are boring or mundane. The term simply indicates we are marking time using ordinal numbers – that is, we are counting the Sundays.

After we have seen the bulletin headings of the “10th Sunday after Pentecost,” the “11th Sunday after Pentecost,” or the “23rd Sunday after Pentecost,” we wonder if there will ever be anything “exciting” happening at church, like there is during the Festival seasons when we hear of the great works of God in human history (Christmas, Easter, the Advent and 2nd Coming of Christ, etc.). What we fail to recognize is that each Sunday we gather God is working mightily in human history.

The “Ordinary time” of the church calendar helps us to focus on the fact that our lives are part of the unfolding of the history of salvation that we celebrate during the festival season of the church year. During this extended period after the festival of Pentecost, we focus on how His mighty acts impact us and our lives here and now and for eternity. We move away from recalling the historical acts by which He saved “mankind” and we celebrate God's continuing action in human history through the Word and the Sacraments by which He saves us. Through His continuing action, God continues to build and sustain His Church throughout the ages until Christ's return to gather us to Himself.

“Ordinary time” is marked by the number of Sundays after our celebration of Pentecost. On that day, the Apostles were given power from on high when the Lord poured out His Holy Spirit upon them and they went out and began proclaiming repentance and forgiveness in the Name of Jesus. Through their preaching, the Lord added 3,000 members to the Church on that one day. Their teaching and preaching continues in the Church of God today as the Word of God is proclaimed.

Through that same Word and the Sacraments that Christ entrusted to His Apostles, God continues to work in EXTRA-ordinary ways to bring people to the knowledge and deepening trust in all that He has done to save us from sin and death, all that He continues to do to protect and preserve our physical life and all that He does to strengthen and keep us in the Christian faith that we would live and reign with Him for all eternity.

While we mark the time with ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd. . . ), these are no “ordinary” times. During these Sundays, God continues to work in extraordinary ways calling us to faith and washing us clean again and again in the waters of our baptism as we hear the words of absolution. He continues to teach us through His Word, and feed us with His body and blood through the Sacrament.

God continues to pour out His extra-ordinary gifts upon us each and every week. And therefore, even during these “Ordinary” Sundays which we count, God is doing extra-ordinary things to give us eternal life with Him.

To God alone be the Glory!

Pastor Dent