Tag: Ordinary Time

Crunch time

But God’s grace gives us strength

Hebrews 13:9 Your strength comes from God’s grace.

Psalm 23:4 Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.

The image I chose for “Ordinary Time” is a father holding his child’s hand. It speaks to me of security, love, and strength.

Shutterstock: Vyestekimages

This day in “Ordinary Time” is a crunch day for Dave and me as we prepare to fly to Colombia early Wednesday for the first Latin American REVER Congress. (REVER stands for “to take another look,” a fitting acronym for emotional restoration ministry.) The theme of the congress is “Finding Joy in Difficult Times.”

This special event is drawing participants from across Latin America. Dave and I, as the “grandparents” of REVER, which we started in Brazil in 1996, will be speaking for 15 hours Friday and Saturday. Luciene, international director of REVER, has the opening plenary Thursday evening. (For those who prayed Lu through her terrible accident almost a year ago: I learned yesterday that she’s walking short distances now without a cane!)

I don’t expect to post this Thursday. By the time we get home next week, I hope my Inbox will be full of your “But God” stories—a feast of rejoicing in God’s work in your lives! I promise: YOU will be the one who benefits most, as you remember and tell and find yourself encouraged by what God has done for you, your hand in His.

This song says it all.

God of Every Grace, Keith and Kristyn Getty, Matt Boswell, Matt Papa

But God sends the Spirit

Acts 1:3-5 During the forty days after his crucifixion, Jesus appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Pentecost, the day God chose to send the Holy Spirit in fulfillment of Jesus’ promise, initiates what is called “Ordinary Time” in the church calendar. Ordinary Time lasts from now until Advent.

So what is Ordinary Time in the life of the church? As befits its initiation through the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, its focus is the Holy Spirit, active in and through us, in all kinds of ways as we live our ordinary lives. We see this in Scripture through the writings of Luke, Paul, and John. Luke tells the tale of the “Acts of the Holy Spirit” in the years following Pentecost. Paul teaches and exhorts us to live fully into his power and gifts. John, guided by the Spirit, opens a window into what is yet to come. We have time—from now until December—to explore all three of these authors.

Thinking about this has made me both curious about what I can learn about the Holy Spirit, and hungry for stories of the Holy Spirit active now, not just two thousand years ago. What have been the acts of the Holy Spirit in your life? Are you willing to share them, to encourage the rest of us?

I’m also entering Ordinary Time this year feeling restless, wanting to experience more of the Holy Spirit’s Presence and power in my life and to see him at work around me in the challenges we all face. Wanting to hear his voice above all the other voices.

Curious. Hungry. Restless. That’s me. How about you? How are you entering Ordinary Time?

Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds.
Repeat them in our day. In our time make them known.

Habakkuk 3:2