June with David

Dear Friends


 Back in the 70s, Slade sang the hit "I wish it could be Christmas everyday". I guess that I am not alone in breathing a sigh of relief that their wish didn't come true - the bank account and the nerves couldn't stand it if it kept on going! The whole point about feasts and festivals is that they are one off days, to celebrate something special. However special days in the church calendar do sometimes kick off, or bring to an end, a whole season - a time when we unpack the meaning of some aspect of our faith on a deeper level than would be possible if we only observed a single day. 
 

This year, as we enter June, we also come to the end of the Easter season, which culminated at Pentecost. We now journey through what the church calls "ordinary time". Although that might sound a bit flat after the highs of Easter, it is actually a very important time of the year. The colour for the season is green, which is very appropriate given that it runs from late spring, right through the summer until autumn. At this time of year, the natural world is a riot of greens - evidence of all the growth that plants are busy with. While in the spiritual realm, this season reminds us that the Christian life is not all about the peaks (or the troughs) but about slow and steady growth. It is about living faithfully day by day: putting faith into practice one prayer at a time, one decision at a time, one deed or word at a time. Of course it is lovely to have "high days" and I hope that our shared worship provides that on a regular basis: a time when we can feel connected to God and to each other; when we can be recharged, encouraged, challenged or comforted in our faith. However, that is not where (as the saying goes) "the rubber hits the road". That happens in the very ordinary things of life.

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 And that leads to another significance of "ordinary time". In George Herbert's poem "Prayer", he wrote of "heaven in ordinary". It is wonderful phrase, capturing the sense Christians have of God taking flesh in Jesus, entering the stuff of our human nature and sharing the lives of ordinary human being. It also speaks to our belief that God's Spirit of life and love is present in every place, every moment, every experience. Which means that heaven can be found in the ordinariness of life. The secular is sacred. The whole of life can be a meeting place with God.
 So as summer approaches, I hope you have a very ordinary - yet very special - season.
 
David