“Ordinary” in the usual sense of the word? Not hardly. But we enter “ordinary time” this week, for those traditions that follow the liturgical calendar. Some might call it “Sundays after Pentecost,” but it’s the long (at least it seems long by the end) season in which we count Sundays after Pentecost and before Christ the King and Advent. Green, lots of green. It’s a time for spiritual growth and renewal, a deepening of our understanding of what it means to be a disciple. May this be our prayer for us and for our congregations.
Revised Common Lectionary post is available for your perusal. Share queries and ideas, conundrums and thoughts that need to be typed out to be coherent. We’re here to help!
Monica Thompson Smith is a Presbyterian Church (USA) minister, serving as stated supply pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Luling, TX. She is a contributor to There’s a Woman in the Pulpit.
RevGalBlogPals encourages you to share our blog posts via email or social media. We do not grant permission to cut-and-paste prayers and articles without a link back to the specific post. For permission to use material in paper publications, please email revgalblogpals at gmail dot com.
RevGalBlogPals 
We would ordinarily be Ordinary Time, but one worship committee member and I put up Pentecost visuals, and we refused to go back a week later and change them all, so we are doing Sundays after Pentecost at least for awhile this year. We’ve been recording on Tuesdays at 10:00, and I ended up offering to do the sermon at about 3:00 Monday afternoon. We are beginning an older series from the Sanctified Arts Folks called Faces of Our Faith, highlighting lesser known biblical stories. My colleague was going to skip Adam and Eve and begin with Shiphrah and Puah, but when it became clear she needed a break, I offered to pick up Adam and Eve. My other job is teaching British Literature, and I teach Paradise Lost every year, so I’ve spent a fair amount of time thinking about Adam and Eve. My sermon was about the idea that it matters “How We Tell the Story,” and I talked about the way the Adam and Eve story has been misused toward both women and the idea that marriage is the ultimate human connection. It was stressful and difficult, but I managed to say a few things I’ve been thinking about for 20+ years. My colleagues who were recording the service with me gave really positive feedback. –Wendy
LikeLike
Wow! Go, Wendy! That little time to prepare and recording on a Tuesday and …. I’m kind of hyperventilating just thinking about it. I know your colleague is grateful for your quick pinch hitting.
LikeLiked by 1 person