HTR Magazine June21 Web - Flipbook - Page 18
Heaven in Ordinary
As we reach June we enter, what in Church circles is often referred to as
“Ordinary Time” ….. Wouldn’t that be nice?!
Nothing seems to be ordinary anymore and we seem to have exhausted our
supply of words to describe the “unprecedented” circumstances under which
we have been living.
Nevertheless, all being well, this month should see a further lifting of
restrictions and some sense that we can ‘breathe’ again; meet, gather and
simply be human with one another once more. There are no grounds for
complacency of course and after a year of false dawns and misplaced
optimism, it’s important that we take small, measured, incremental steps on
the path to ‘normality’.
… And for all that we are impatient to recover lost ground, rebuild our
congregations, re-engage with our communities, nevertheless we should
beware of simply seeking to recreate life before the pandemic. It would be
easy to return willy-nilly to the “known” ways, the (allegedly) comfortable
certainties of the past. Many of them were perhaps not as life giving or fruitful
as we may have persuaded ourselves they were.
There is surely a need as well as an opportunity to re-evaluate our priorities.
Hence this “ordinary” month is actually scattered with the celebration of some
extraordinary people who invite us, in their different ways, to consider how the
transforming power of Christ is at work in the world.
There is John the Baptist, whose birth we celebrate on 24th June. John called
the people of his own day to examine their hearts and minds and lives in the
light of the one who was coming after him – soldiers, tax gatherers, the
religious leaders were all called to repent, to turn around to face in a different
direction and walk in the Way of the Messiah.
There is the Apostle Barnabas, “son of encouragement” who sold his field
and gave the proceeds to enable the work of the church; generous in spirit as
well as in material matters who sought to reconcile Jewish and Gentile
Christians, affirming that whatever your background we all find our true
identity in Christ. What an important message in an age of fragmentation and
uncertain identity.
