Don’t you just love the first Sunday in Advent? Just when winter begins! “Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat!” Well, actually, I’ve never had goose - not even pate – and my doctor would remind me of the cholesterol! But I love Advent. And the first Sunday in Advent is just that – first! There will be more – and then Christmas. How exciting! Wow, what a great season! There is a magic about it that I do not need to describe!

But I never really understood Christmas until I understood Easter.

When spring is coming, I “sort of” want tulips but still long for one really good snowstorm. Then Lent suddenly appears! I never really understood about Lent until I understood what Easter meant. That made Christmas more meaningful. And then, of course, that meant that Advent was, well, a bit more special.

Did you notice how close they were this year, Christmas and Easter, Advent and Lent? We notice in the choir – not only because of the music we rehearse and sing – but because of the color of the vestments we wear. We have a liturgical calendar to tell us – but often we ask one another, “What color are we today?” Hey, we just have plain old green now. Nothing special going on. It’s Ordinary Time.

This year it was Advent and Christmas and, quickly; Lent and then Easter. But now it is Ordinary Time. Green stoles on the choir robes. For 33 or 34 weeks of the year, it is Ordinary Time. Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter, are past – and things are just, well, ordinary., I guess. No preparation for big holidays – just the regular, the ordinary; the counted (or ordinal) days. Well, we knew what to do in Advent and in Lent. What does one do to prepare for the Ordinary days? We worship and serve. It just may not seem as special.

I am beginning to think these may be the most important of days of them all! On Christmas and Easter, we see ourselves as Christians and we fill the sanctuaries. But, in Ordinary Time, there are many days on which others judge us as Christians. These are the days on which we truly must feed the hungry, whom we fed during Advent and Lent. We fed them then because it was just (and seen and expected); let us feed them (and each other) now, because it is right, and our call, to do so. It may not be seen, and it may not be expected; but it will be right.

Ordinary time – a most sacred time! Ordinary days – let us celebrate them with great thanksgiving! Ordinary days – those in which we serve our Lord with much rejoicing! Happy Ordinary, my friends! This is when we truly count. Love ya’, Sally P.S. According to Wikipedia, “The sanctuary color for Ordinary Time is dark green, although other shades of green are commonly used. Green has traditionally been associated with new life and growth. Even in Hebrew in the Old Testament, the same word for the color ‘green’ also means ‘young.’ In Christian tradition, green came to symbolize the life of the church following Pentecost, as well as symbolizing the hope of new life in the resurrection.”

Love ya',
Sally

Circle Column Archives

Back to current "What's in the Circle?"