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This Sunday is the second Sunday after Epiphany, but the first in a short season of what we call ordinary time. I always thought of ordinary time as “normal time.” When I think of this time as just “normal,” it could lead to it feeling open, blank or even aimless. It’s biding time until an exciting (if penitent) season will come along in lent. Ordinary time could feel like boring time, if that’s what ordinary time means. However, ordinary time isn’t normal time. Ordinary refers more to the structure of counting the weeks in the season (i.e. second, third, fourth Sunday after…) but should be looked at more as rhythmic time. There is an ongoing rhythmical nature of this season. And, if this season has a rhythm, then what is the tune? What is the pace? How do we move along to it? In general, the pace at the beginning of the year can be fast and furious. It’s a season of newness, and many people take the changing of the year to be an important season of restarting. You or people you know may be setting new personal, physical or spiritual goals for the year. Yet, while many of these goals might be good things in theory, they don’t always consider the rhythms or seasons we are actually in. Creation has just begun the season of winter. While this may feel a little foreign to us Floridians, nature itself doesn’t overproduce or overwork itself. It has rhythmic seasons of rest before seasons of growth and flourishing. As does our spiritual calendar, which invites us into seasons of restoration and growth to propel our mission. Because it is the season after Epiphany, a season where God is speaking to the wise men in their own language (the language of the stars), then perhaps, we should consider the rhythm of this season of ordinary time: the season of listening. God is speaking, and God is speaking in accessible and persistent ways. So, in this season, we might ask ourselves some listening questions. Do we know what God’s voice sounds like? What characteristics and qualities does it have? Do we mistake other voices for Gods voice? Are we open to hearing what God has to say? Have we been asking or seeking guidance in one area so intently that we might have missed another message for us elsewhere? What helps us hear the voice of God? Is there a person who can always bring us back to God’s voice? Is there a spiritual practice? Is there a ritual or rhythm that gives us the time to pause to hear God’s voice?
This is the listening season. I can’t wait to hear what God is saying in the San Marco Church community! Rev. Haley Eccles
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