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I think it is important to teach a bit about the Liturgical Calendar Year. We are now in what is called “Ordinary Time” in the Church Calendar Year. Many of you know exactly what this means; however, some of you may not. I want to take a few moments and offer information from United Methodist sources, about this time of year.
*The word "ordinary" here does not mean “routine” or “not special.” Instead, it refers to the "ordinal numbers" (first, second, third, etc.) used to name and count the Sundays (such as the Third Sunday after Epiphany). This term comes from the Latin ordinalis, meaning "numbered" or "ordered," and tempus ordinarium, “measured time.” The liturgical color is “green.”
For some congregations, this is a time to focus on evangelism, as found in the Old Testament and Gospel reading for each week. For others, the focus will be on preparing to help others grow in their discipleship. The Epistle reading each week emphasizes this (*from UMC.org).
**Ordinary Time stretches across summer and through the fall past Thanksgiving, depending upon when Advent starts. There are few feast days or holidays, at least for the Protestant Church; the closest thing that you get is All Saints Day.
So, imagine my surprise when I discovered that Ordinary Time doesn’t mean ordinary in terms of mundane, but in terms of numbers! Ordinary comes from the root word for “ordinal” or “the counted weeks” and in this case, it is the counted weeks between Pentecost and Advent.
Ordinary time doesn’t mean Normal Time but counted time, marking time. It’s not Normal Time, but I do believe that most of us are counting time in terms of when we can worship together again, when we can leave our houses without a mask, when we can resume some “normal” activities like going to school with other students or having conferences (General, Jurisdictional, Annual, and even church conferences) without fear of becoming sick or our loved ones getting sick. Normal Time. I wish Ordinary Time was Normal Time!
But it’s not: it’s time we count like birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, retirements, etc. How do you count time? I always think back to the musical "Rent" and my favorite song in it, "Seasons of Love" by Jonathan Larson:
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets
In midnights, in cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife
In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, a year in the life?
*(Article by Bishop Sally Dyck, August 3, 2020, United Methodist Insight )
I hope you enjoyed the articles; and I hope they were helpful!
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