Pastor's Corner

Back to ordinary time

Well, it’s back to ordinary time. The penitence of Lent, the joy of Easter, and the celebration of Pentecost are over for another year. The exciting colors of purple, white and red are folded up and put away. We return to ordinary life, represented by ordinary green, to symbolize ordinary time. No more fasts or feasts for a while. No more need to plan something extra-special for a while. Advent and Christmas are a long time off. No more Christian education for the summer, no more choir for the summer. We worked hard to make the special days special, and we deserve a break. God will understand.

Outside of church, summer vacation is beginning, family vacations are being planned, kids are preparing for a variety of camps and fun activities, and on top of that harvest comes around August, and life gets exceptionally busy around here. Good thing it’s ordinary time, and we don’t really have to be in church on Sunday. God will understand.

Yes, God will understand, but God doesn’t need us to be in church at any time of the year. We can worship God as an individual anywhere. But part of being a Christian is community, sharing our worship of God with others. This is one of the differences between spirituality and religion. Spirituality is something we share primarily with God. Religion, in its most positive sense, is sharing that connection with God with others. Our family, friends, and neighbors need us to be in church. We rely on one another for support, companionship, and learning. We teach one another and learn from one another by coming together on Sunday mornings to worship God as a community of faith.

In church we take a break from the business of our lives to remember that there is nothing we have that does not come from God. Sometimes we seem to think that we deserve to take the summer off from church as though it were school. We can’t take the whole summer off from our work; we can’t take the summer off from responsibilities to family; we can’t simply decide not to make mortgage or credit card payments just because it’s summer. Why then do we think we can take the whole summer off from going to church? What about our obligations to the others in our community of faith?

By all means, take a vacation, sleep in once in awhile, make sure the harvest gets in, but as often as possible, take time to remember those who have been there for you in times of need, and join them in worshiping God, and fellowship with them for a while. You will be amazed at how much worshiping with your friends and family and maybe even a few strangers will do for you.

Rev. Jeannette Solimine

United Church of Christ

Colfax, WA