From the Pastor’s Desk

ORDINARY TIME

There are two halves of the church year. In the joyous first half, the Festival Half of the Church Year, we recall the major events of Christ’s life—Jesus’ glorious nativity, His growth in wisdom and knowledge as a boy, His Spirit-filled baptism at thirty-three years of age, His faithfulness as He was tempted by the devil, His patient three-year ministry of healing and teaching, His suffering at the hands of cruel men, His bitter death on the cross for us, His release and resurrection from death, His wondrous ascension into heaven, and His gracious sending of His gift from heaven of the Holy Spirit. The first half of the year is pretty exciting!

The second half of the year is called the Non-festival Half of the Church Year. Another name for this season is Ordinary Time. We might think that this is a good name for this season as it is rather ordinary, however, it is anything but ordinary in the way that you are thinking of it. Ordinary Time gets its name not from the season being “normal,” but from the word “ordinal.” Ordinal has to do with numbers, numbers that are sequential. Each Sunday does not have a special name such as “Christmas,” “Epiphany,” or “Ascension,” but gets its name by a number counted from the day of Trinity onward. While the first part of the church year is marked by the Sundays being labeled with names, this half of the church year is noted for its absence of them. Each Sunday gets its name by a number, hence the name “Ordinary Time.” Another way to say this is that we are in “Numbered Time.”

There is a lesson that we can learn from a season that is counted sequentially. As Christians, we are counting the days to the Lord’s return. In Psalm 90:12 we pray, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Wisdom comes in reflecting that our time on this earth is fleeting. As we count in ordinary time, we are also counting up. While it may not seem like much changes in this long season, we are reminded that while we don’t know the end, we are making progress. The bible says in Matthew 24:36, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” We mark our days. It might seem like an ordinary Sunday, but it is a unique day to receive God’s Word & Sacrament.

It has been said that the unbelieving world does not count time in a numerical way which progresses but sees time as a circle that repeats. Elton John sang in the movie The Lion King about “The Circle of Life.” “Life is,” according to a famous quote, “one damned fact after another.” According to this false understanding, the time of the world is bound by natural causes and corrupt man and is going nowhere.

For the Christian, time is ordinary! We are going somewhere (even if it is taking a long time), and in the midst of time, God breaks into our lives in fantastic ways. His Word is sent to us every time we come to church and open the Word on our own. We are growing in faith and sanctification. And while from one perspective as Solomon said, “there is nothing new under the sun,” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) we can also say, “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16 Seasons may repeat, and the church year calendar might be in a circle, but we are growing in grace and are closer to that day where we will be forever with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17)

Welcome to Ordinary Time. Though this summer we have not yet reached double digits, Romans 13:11 reminds us, “For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” Time today draws meaning because history is not a circle of random events but is a timeline. We have a past—
a history with our Lord, we have a present— events that take place daily as our Lord blesses us, and we have a glorious future—a day and time where ordinary time will forever cease.

Until that day, may God bless and keep you ordinarily, each day, one at a time, one after another.

In Christ,

Pastor Seifferlein