Gò0dNews for Everyone
The New Normal
“T
by Amy Oyler
he new normal.” How many times have we
you do the same. There may not be anything particularly
heard this phrase over the past year? Many of
great about a random Tuesday in August. But if we pay
the protocols and safety procedures that we
attention…maybe there could be.
have had to adapt to during the pandemic have become
All of this brings me back to my original thoughts
so commonplace that we have started to call this time our
about normality. With so much upheaval, isolation,
new normal. At the same time…we still want to “get back to
anxiety, and grief in the past year or more, we find
normal.” We want to do things without certain restrictions
ourselves now living for the normal. We are desperate for
and without the fear of spreading a dreaded disease that
the very times we once thought mundane and maybe even
has ravaged our world. We certainly want to participate in
boring! Just for the sake of feeling safe again, we long for
events that have been canceled over the past year as well. Considering this made me think of the liturgical calendar and the periods known as Ordinary Time. In this case, however, “ordinary” does not mean “normal” or “routine”. According to the official website of The United Methodist Church, the denomination to which I belong, it refers to the "ordinal numbers" (first, second, third, etc.) used to name and count the Sundays, like the Third Sunday after Epiphany for instance. There are two periods of Ordinary Time in our liturgical calendar: one is between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday, and the other is
ordinary activities. Even going to the grocery store or a
from Pentecost to Advent. Even though these periods do
restaurant may be a welcome distraction from the isolation
not technically mean “ordinary” or “normal”, they feel
we have been subjected to for the past year. Hugging a
that way. They are the times between the special times. No
friend or family member means more to us now. Attending
holidays, no big celebrations. Just our regular, run-of-the-
church in person is a joy. Anything that makes us feel like
mill times. Filler.
ourselves again is a blessing.
Aren’t we sometimes guilty of living for the special
Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us each day our daily
occasions? I know my favorite time of year is from
bread.” Our day-to-day lives are important, not just filler.
October to December. I eagerly anticipate this time every
While we may always be fans of holidays and special
year. Fall, football games, Thanksgiving, Christmas.
occasions, I pray that we can leave this pandemic with a
Those are the times to look forward to! Do I miss the
new appreciation for the simple joys of a normal day.
take them for granted because I am looking past the inbetween times to the special occasions. Maybe some of
44 // May 2021
About The Author
beauty of the times in between? Maybe I do. Perhaps I Amy Oyler is a member of Rush Chapel United Methodist Church. She is wife to Jason, a dentist, and mother to Tanner, Timothy, and Thomas. A former English teacher, she enjoys working with the youth at Rush Chapel and “floating” where God leads her!
