The First Baptist Church of Redlands
TA PE S T RY
Woven Together In Love: Colossians 2:2
ISSUE No. 6
JUNE 2018
Ordinary
During the Church (or Liturgical) Year there are all sorts of seasons, highlighted by special celebrations. This past year it seems as though we have moved from Advent to Christmas to Lent to Holy Week to Easter to Pentecost with hardly any time to breathe in between. It has all been good and meaningful but with summer upon us, many of us are feeling a need to take a deep breath and find some refreshment. We are entering into that season called “Ordinary Time.” This will take us through the summer and the fall until we get to Advent. I grew up thinking that it was during the “extraordinary” times that I grew in my faith – camp, special conferences, exciting speakers, concerts. The problem is, when the excitement wears off, we think we need the next exciting thing to help us grow—and, in fact, we are probably not growing very much. Growth happens in “Ordinary Time,” when we incorporate into the routines of our lives the habits and activities that nourish our relationship with God. Someone said, “The function of routine is to give us time to recoup our energies for the next unpredictable challenge. Enjoy every minute of normal time you have. Store it in your heart as energy and endurance. You will someday need the peace and calm and certainty
A MESSAGE FROM PASTOR SHAWN
Time
you have garnered there.” Summer is often a time to be intentional about developing habits into our routine that will continue into the rest of the year. It is that time when we can read a book that nourishes our soul or spend time with people in a way that is refreshing and life-giving. We may have some time to be involved in service to others, either in a formal way, like volunteering at one of the organizations that are serving the community, or informally, by visiting someone who isn’t able to get out much, or fixing a meal for someone who is feeling overwhelmed -- maybe just sending a nice note to someone to brighten their day. In each act, incorporate prayer for the one that you are serving and for yourself, that you may learn something in this experience. You may want to pick out something about which you would like to learn, something that you would like to study. There may be someone who would do this with you.
I hope that during this Ordinary Time that we will all learn to carve out the space for Sabbath rest. From the beginning of time, God has intended that we take a day a week for rest. Some, at times, have allowed this to become a burden through legalism. But most of us have completely neglected this practice in our own lives. If we have a day that we don’t have to go to work, we need to get everything else done on that day. We are too overwhelmed to take any time off to just relax with God. So may I suggest taking one step at a time. If you can’t take a whole day, plan some kind of relaxing thing for part of a day. Read a book. Sit outside. Go for a walk or a hike. Be intentional about being “in the moment,” allowing all of the things that would get in the way to be put on hold for a while. Try to be “prayerful” in the experience— practice the presence of God in that space of time. You don’t need to be talking to God, just realize that God is there with you and enjoy it. As this practice becomes part of your routine, do what you can to expand it, either as a daily practice or a weekly practice. It is my prayer that this season of Ordinary Time will be one in which we each grow in our relationship with God and we as a church we move into a deeper sense of community with God and each other.