A few years ago, I remember telling Confirmation students that Holy Week was the most sacred time of the year, and one of them quickly retorted “I thought ALL times were sacred!” After I recovered from shock that she had been listening that closely in class, or in Worship, I heard in her words a reminder of that profound truth: all times are sacred!

And that is a truth to reflect on this week. Having celebrated Trinity Sunday, we enter into what the church calls Ordinary Time. I often think of it as Green Season, as this is the color we see during Ordinary Time, in stoles and the paraments on the altar. It can feel sometimes like a season of several months when nothing much happens, in contrast with Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, where there is always something we are waiting for or celebrating, with music, paraments, prayers, and rituals that are made for that time. In some ways that might be true, liturgically speaking. But at a much deeper level, this season in which green is the color of day for many days stretched out together, it is a season in which we can take time to notice the life, love, and continual movement of the Spirit all around us, every day. Green is the color of new growth, of things emerging out of what seemed dead for a while, a time of rest that is nonetheless still changing and transforming. In these months of summer, we can all take time to notice the sacredness of creation and life around us, even in Ordinary Time.

Blessing the Ordinary

Jan Richardson

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