At the bottom of our Home page, is the announcement that the current Liturgical Season is Ordinary Time - Now I along with many thought this just meant that it was a time of no special season happening within the Church - but having been asked about this one of the clergy in the local parish have commented anonomously in our local Church newsletter. Everyday that you learn something new is a day not wasted, so since I learned something new - I am passing this on:

What is Ordinary Time?

A few people have asked me this recently, so I looked it up. It is the long period of time in the church year between the Easter cycle, ending with Pentecost, and the Christmas cycle, beginning with Advent. It starts with Trinity Sunday and ends with Christ the King Sunday near the end of November. This year it is 34 weeks long.

The name ‘Ordinary’ is not how it sounds, but is linked to the ‘ordinal’ numbers, in this case 34. However it can seem ordinary, with few feast days to celebrate in this period, after five months of many. The plus side is it can be a time of focus, with fewer distractions, and has become a time to focus on our relationship with God in the present time, both as individuals and as His body, the church.

It is a time where the readings encourage us to build up rhythms to contribute to our spiritual growth. The liturgical colour through this season is green, representing growth (in spite of the fact it happens in our winter). This is the long green stretch of days where our faith takes root and begins to grow. We can work to develop spiritual habits and disciplines in our daily lives to encourage a deeper walk with God.

The goal, toward which all of history is directed, is represented by the final Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ as King. “Ordinary” Time might well refer to living out our “ordinary” lives as Christians. But, since we follow the risen Lord our lives are often far from what the world would consider "ordinary".

The gospel readings proclaimed in "Ordinary time" reveal the teaching and healing and mission of Christ, allowing us to better understand God who became human. We learn that Christ is about humility rather than pride, vulnerability rather than power. We learn that Christ is about including the excluded, eating with social and religious outcasts, and dismantling structures of sin and injustice. We learn that Christ is about self-giving love that is only possible through authentic relationship.

This website is a good base for the discipline of spiritual growth mentioned with mini-prayer and worship for every day, mostly taken from the NZ Prayer Book. We are trying to instill a habit of regular prayer and worship. I see ahead a rewrite of the seasonal explanation of Ordinary Time on our Index page.

Please pray for Venezuela who 4 days ago sustained a pair of massive earthquakes....as I write this the UN is arranging search and rescue teams from other countries and the first tragic reports are being heard on the News. By the time you read this the death toll will likely be much higher and the devastation more known. Please pray for the people of Venezuela, whose lives currently are far from ordinary.