Message from Team Curate, Revd Holly Newton

hello well here we are entering into June Goodness Me doesn't it feel like the year is going quickly this year because Easter was early it felt like we went quite quickly from Christmas into starting to think about lent and then preparing to celebrate Easter and of course we've had the celebrations of Easter and we have celebrated Pentecost the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the early church and then we've thought about God as Trinity Father Son and Holy Spirit on Trinity Sunday and now as we enter into June we're entering into a season of the year which is known as ordinary time now why do we have ordinary time in the church's year Well in one way it's quite obvious isn't it that we can't have special festivals and special events and special seasons and celebrations if we don't have downtime in between the special events aren't special unless they're different to the ordinary also we need quiet time in between so that we have time to rest and recover from one busy season before we enter into another but I also think there's a little bit more to it than that the church year the lurgical calendar of the year um the church's seasons and festivals and events they're sometimes described as a cork screw the church year goes round and round in in a circle each year we celebrate the same seasons the same festivals and events as we think about the pattern of the year and think about the life and death and resurrection of Jesus and all that it means for us but it doesn't just stay in one place that Circle moves it moves outwards upwards and forwards like a cork screw it moves us onwards Through The Years through our life through our journey of Faith as we grow and change in our relationship with God I like that image I think it's really helpful and I think that the pattern of the church year is a really helpful pattern for us as we enter into June we are past the excitement of Easter and Pentecost in Trinity Sunday and it's not yet time for our summer holidays and uh summer breaks and hopefully the really good weather that we might get over the summer in June we're nearly halfway through the year but nothing very particular happens in June maybe it's a time of year where we start to feel a little bit tired little bit bogged down by the daily routines and the list of jobs and the endless things we have to do day after day maybe a little bit of boredom but actually those order AR times those slightly boring in between times can be incredibly formative I've been reading a book recently and it's called the Liturgy of the ordinary and it's by Tish Harrison Warren it's a really good book and I'd like to just share a little section with you so Tish writes this this morning I wake slowly on an ordinary day I do not know what lies ahead but I wake in a bed I know in a house I live in a routine a particular life the psalmist declares this is the day that the Lord has made this one we wake not to a vague or general Mercy from a far off God God in delight and wisdom has made named and blessed this average day what what I in my weakness see as another monotonous day in a string of days God has given as a singular gift when Jesus died for his people he knew me by name in the particularity of this day Christ didn't redeem my life theoretically or abstractly the life I dreamed of living or the life I think I should be living he knew I'd be in today as it is in my home where it stands in my relationships with their specific Beauty and Brokenness in my particular sins and struggles God is forming us into a new people and the place of that formation is in the small moments of today it's in our small moments it's in our moments of boredom dullness monotony the day-to-day small decisions that don't seem that big in the scale of things where God can really be at work it might seem more obvious more immediate to turn to cod in times of great celebration or in times of great difficulty struggle trauma but do we turn to God in every moment of every day in the small ordinary things do we give thanks for the ordinary things every morning when I wake up I have a cup of coffee and I tell you what I look forward to that cup of coffee very much if I'm feeling really tired when I go to bed and thinking I've got to get up and get out of bed I think it's okay I've got my cup of coffee coming in the morning and I really enjoy it I love the taste and smell of it and every morning as I drink that cup of coffee I give thanks to God just for that small ordinary everyday pleasure that helps me to get going in the morning and often I drink it as I say my morning prayers so it's a special time but it's very ordinary moment do you have those ordinary moments in your day where you stop and just spend time with God and give thanks even amidst the dullness the monotony the list of jobs those times are really important Tish goes on to talk about the ordinary and the everyday as a liturgy now liturgy means the work of the people it's not just something we do on a Sunday during a worship service it's something that we can be thinking about every single day how we offer our everyday work and all that we do to God and she says this examining my daily liturgy as a liturgy as something that both revealed and shaped what I love and worship allowed me to realize that my daily practices were Mal forming me making me less alive less human less able to give and receive love throughout my day changing this ritual allowed me to form a new repetitive and contemplative habit that pointed me toward a different way of being in the world so our practices every day become our daily liturgy and they reflect and form where our hearts are so in our everyday are we turning to God is that where our hearts are turning in our small moments I pray that our small moments of every ordinary day will be forming Us in relationship with Christ amen