"Not-So-Ordinary Time" by Carroll Makemson

Back in March, as Tom and I were tired of quarantining and feeling weary waiting for the reopening of our world, I needed to brighten our ordinary feeling life. I decided we needed some holidays. We celebrated birthdays: Dr. Seuss, our son (without him), Girl Scouts, and our granddog Indy. Beyond birthdays, we celebrated Pi Day, Daylight Savings Time, Second Vaccination Day, the Ides of March, St. Patrick’s Day, St. Joseph’s Day, the first day of spring, and the last day of our confinement all during the month of March. We made an ordinary month extraordinarily entertaining with special food and decorations.

After a fifteen-month absence, our congregation has returned to worship in our church building with new appreciation and admiration for our beautiful sanctuary. Ironically, we have come “home” during Ordinary Time on the liturgical calendar. Ordinary Time begins after Pentecost and lasts until Advent. Maybe, Ordinary Time doesn’t have the excitement of Christmas or Easter, but for most of us worshipping together in our sanctuary and seeing church friends did not feel the least bit ordinary. It was extraordinary! Extraordinarily wonderful!

The name Ordinary Time comes from the Latin “tempus per anum” meaning “time through the year.” This liturgical season can be longer than five months, giving us plenty of time for God’s work in our family, church, community, and world. Just because the liturgical calendar names it “ordinary” does not make it boring or meaningless. Ordinary time means a return to sacred rhythms after seasons of celebration, change, or transition. After the year of upheaval we’ve all experienced, a return to the sacred rhythm of worshipping together, in person, with a community we love so dearly, feels wonderfully appropriate.

I feel certain that in His short ministry, Jesus did not take a summer or multiple months off, but instead continued preaching, praying, comforting, and performing miracles regularly -- maybe even daily. His time on earth was extraordinary in so many ways. Even if this season is called Ordinary Time, perhaps our call is to heed the words of Mother Teresa, “Do ordinary things with extraordinary love.” And as we ease into our post-pandemic “new normal,” whatever that looks like, we can delight in the sacred rhythm of ‘ordinary’ worship as a beloved community.