Rambling for Kirwan Uniting Church Keep in Touch pew sheet 19 January 2020

Almost a couple of weeks ago, Leisa packed away our Christmas decorations (because she knows where they’re stored, and she can pack ten times the stuff which I can in the same space). Then this week, I changed the lectern frontal from Christmas white to Ordinary Time green. That’s a silly name for the seasons of the Church liturgical year which are marked by the colour green. I mean, on the one hand we say that we’re expecting God to work great things at KUC, extraordinary things, and then we say “We’re in Ordinary Time”. OK, you might not, but liturgy groupies like me do.
It’s easy to fall into the notion that we’re just ordinary folk, getting out of bed and going along to church Sunday by Sunday is ordinary, for an ordinary service.  Setting a budget is just ordinary, leading musical worship is just ordinary, praying for our sisters and brothers who are ill or sad or at their wits’ end is ordinary.  Weekday and weeknight activities in the church are just ordinary.
The reality is that we couldn’t do any of these, or even open the church doors, without resting in the promise of the God who does more than we can ask or imagine. Perhaps you haven’t seen your faithfulness in that light.  All of those offerings are extraordinary, and so are you who offer them.  You see, if you’re honest, however routine is your, er, routine for KUC, at least a bit of you is on the lookout for something for which you can hardly dare hope. It might be growth in numbers, although that should be well down your wish list compared to other blessings from your faithfulness. It might be for more young people. It might be beyond the church for glimmers of faith among your unchurched loved ones. It might be for healing for yourself or someone for whom you’ve been praying.  These are all, as Shakespeare puts it, “a consummation devoutly to be wished”.
Keep on praying and doing your part as God empowers you for all of those outcomes, but when God acts it’s in unexpected ways.  Be ready to expect that unexpected. In this “Ordinary Time” keep your spiritual eyes peeled for the extraordinary.

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