Chapel Matters

After all the craziness of the last two terms, with lockdown, I am sure we are all looking forward to some normal! Just an ordinary term would be good please!

As many of you will know, this term sees us right in the middle of what is called Ordinary Time in the church calendar, and reminding ourselves about what Ordinary Time means can actually help us get through this extraordinary time the world is experiencing.

The Christian calendar is marked by two main events – Christmas and Easter – which are two pretty extraordinary moments! Christmas is the moment when God became human, born as a baby (the incarnation), and Easter is the moment when Jesus rose from the dead (the resurrection)! The rest of the time is called “ordinary time,” perhaps in contrast to those two extraordinary events,

but mostly because of maths! This season is called “ordinary” because it is to do with counting the weeks between Easter and Christmas – and when we count things off, or when we put them in order, like 1st, 2nd, 3rd we call these ordinal numbers. This week right now is the 17th week of ordinary time, because it has been 17 weeks since Easter Sunday.

One of the things about Ordinary Time is that it is a time to put into practice things that can help us grow, spiritually and emotionally. You might have noticed that the colour for Ordinary Time is green – this primarily symbolises growth, and growth is something that takes time. Just as seedlings take time to grow into strong trees, the skills and attitudes that we might want to cultivate in our lives also take time, and we need to cultivate these things before we need them.

If we practice things like prayer, mindfulness, meditation, then when we really need to draw on those resources to help us in hard times, they will be there. If we practice things like gratitude or being kind to others, then these things become part of who we are. When some of the challenging times of life happen, then these things will give us strength and the ability to get through when it really counts.