Thursday, January 25, 2007

11 Months 'til Christmas


Or, maybe we could say, "1 month since Christmas."

I am always surprised how fast Christmas goes away. A month before Christmas I had my tree up already. Now, the tree is wrapped in a sheet and waits in the basement. But is it possible to keep that level of expectation, life, for more than a month or so?

We love the special days and seasons, but we need to have the down times. In the Roman Catholic church, they referred to the time as "Ordinary Time." In the Lutheran church, the time was either "Epiphany" or "Pentecost." Now granted, it helps us to know what was happening in the church year, but I still wonder if the RC folks have it right.

I think we need "Ordinary Time." We need to have time when nothing special happens. It is the times like the "Ordinary Times" that actually make up what is life. It is an interesting paradox; the "Ordinary Times" are the times that really are life. But we cannot just exist in "Ordinary Times." We need the special times to make life worth living. But we also need more than just the special. We need the "Ordinary Time" to recharge and regroup.

Sometimes I feel like life has not been "Ordinary Time" since I have started to come out. I would say especially since I came out to the senior pastor. There hasn't been a time when I could just kick back and relax.

Nick and I did take some time when I left the church, we spent some time at a cabin on "the lake," but it was not enough. Now, things are still going nuts and I feel constantly tired. I know it has got to get better, but for now, it seems long in coming.

Hope you are having an ordinary day!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm with you in yearning for "ordinary time". It seems that I rarely have days in which there is "nothing to do" and during which I can do those things that I've put off until I "have time".

On another matter though, I used to find the "green" time almost wearisome. It wasn't that there was "nothing to do", it was just that I did not find it very motivating.

Ur-spo said...

i see 'ordinary' time not as ordinary but the lack of the usual special times, like advent/christmas etc.
Most people can recall ordinary time - in hindsight. If they went back in time and asked themselves then "how are you?" the past self would be surprised "what are you talking about? I am busy doing xyz. this isn't anything ordinary".