By Pastor Pam Seebach
Harmony, Mabel, and Newburg United Methodist Churches
Students and teachers (for the most part) have been released from school for the summer. Ahead of us stretches a long expanse of summer days, an expanse of time which, as a child, seemed endless. Long days of doing nothing, interspersed with trips to the library or the swimming pool. Beautiful, ordinary days with no homework and few responsibilities!
The church marks Ordinary Time, too. This past Sunday, we celebrated Pentecost – a brief flash of red on the church altar before endless days and weeks of “ordinary” green. Ordinary Time is defined as the period of weeks between the end of Easter season and the beginning of Advent, or between the end of Christmastide and the beginning of Lent – it’s like the “unspecial” days in the church. But wait! How can any day seem less than special if God is in it?!?
I took a walk around town today; the air was redolent with the scent of newly mown grass and blooming flowers. God is in it! Our chickens have begun laying eggs again after a prolonged period of cold and molting. God is in it! The church’s “ordinary” time simply refers to counting off the days or weeks. Truly, no day is ORDINARY with God. Psalm 118:24 declares, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (NRSV) The psalmist didn’t specify WHICH day (June 5? December 25? February 18?); no, THIS is the day. Every day. Whatever day we turn to God in joy, thanksgiving, pain, or curiosity – THAT day is the one God made; rejoice!
This is the last article I will write for Pastor Devotions because I am retiring at the end of June. I enjoyed putting some of my musings out there for all of you to read, and I thank those of you who read them! God blessed me amazingly by sending me to serve the United Methodist Churches – and the communities! – of Mabel, Newburg, and Harmony. I rejoice in these seven years of worship and service!
Rejoice and be glad in every day with God!
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