Mid Week Reflection – Ordinary Time

A Sunday ordinary at Highgate
“Men and women seated on benches on each side of a dinner-table” British Cartoon Prints Collection Public domain

We moved through Advent in preparation for the celebration of Christmas and then onto Epiphany celebrating the showing of the Christ child to the world. Now we are in what some Christians refer to as Ordinary Time, the Sundays before Lent.

What is Ordinary Time? Its roots are found in the Latin word ‘ordinalis’, numbers in a series, which stems from another Latin word ‘ordo’ from which we get the English word ‘order’. Ordinary Time, in fact, occupies most of the Church Year and represents the ordered life of the Church and is far from mundane or uninteresting.

But perhaps after Advent, Christmas and Epiphany it is good to stop and have a few weeks that are ‘ordinary’ before we enter the season of Lent. A time to find our Lord in the ordinary or as the poet John Keble puts it ‘the Trivial Round’.

O could we learn true sacrifice,
What lights would all around us rise!
How would our hearts with wisdom talk
Along life’s dullest, dreariest walk!

The trivial round, the common task,
Would furnish all we ought to ask,—
Room to deny ourselves; a road
To bring us daily nearer God.

Seek we no more: content with these,
Let present comfort, rapture, ease,
As heaven shall bid them, come and go;—
The secret this of rest below.

Only, O Lord, in thy dear love
Fit us for nobler tasks above;
And help us, this and every day,
To live more nearly as we pray!

(from ‘HUES OF THE RICH UNFOLDING MORN’ by John Keble 1792-1866)

Now let us have a time of prayerful reflection:

Most powerful Holy Spirit
Come down upon us and subdue us

From heaven where the ordinary is made glorious,
and glory seems but ordinary,

bathe us with brilliance of Your light like dew.
(The Northumbria Community Trust)

 

 

Just an ordinary muddy field with sheep

 

 

Psalm 138
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart; •
before the gods will I sing praise to you.

I will bow down towards your holy temple and praise your name,
because of your love and faithfulness; •
for you have glorified your name and your word above all things.

In the day that I called to you, you answered me; •
you put new strength in my soul.

All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord, •
for they have heard the words of your mouth.

They shall sing of the ways of the Lord, •
that great is the glory of the Lord.

Though the Lord be high, he watches over the lowly; •
as for the proud, he regards them from afar.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will preserve me; •
you will stretch forth your hand against the fury of my enemies;
your right hand will save me.

The Lord shall make good his purpose for me; •
your loving-kindness, O Lord, endures for ever; forsake not the work of your hands.

Lord of the hosts of heaven,
our salvation and our strength,
without you we are lost:
guard us from all that harms or hurts
and raise us when we fall;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Pause

Matthew 5.14
‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Pause

1 New every morning is the love
our wakening and uprising prove;
through sleep and darkness safely brought,
restored to life and power and thought.

2 New mercies, each returning day,
hover around us while we pray;
new perils past, new sins forgiven,
new thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven.

3 If on our daily course our mind
be set to hallow all we find,
new treasures still, of countless price,
God will provide for sacrifice.

4 The trivial round, the common task,
will furnish all we need to ask,
room to deny ourselves, a road
to bring us daily nearer God.

5 Only, O Lord, in thy dear love
fit us for perfect rest above;
and help us, this and every day,
to live more nearly as we pray.

Let us draw into our circle of prayer our:
Family
Friends
Local church and its leaders
wider community

widening our circle to include:
those in government and positions of authority
those who are oppressed
those who are hungry and homeless
those who are ill
those facing death
Merciful Father, accept these prayers
for the sake of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The Lords Prayer

Go before us, Lord, in all we do
with your most gracious favour,
and guide us with your continual help,
that in all our works
begun, continued and ended in you,
we may glorify your holy name,
and finally, by your mercy receive everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

_________________________

You will have read and or perhaps sung along the words of John Keble, below is the longer version of the poem. I only knew the shorter poem and the hymn version up until recently but then I can across this 16 verse poem version. It is worth the read.

HUES OF THE RICH UNFOLDING MORN

Hues of the rich unfolding morn,
That ere the glorious sun be born,
By some soft touch invisible
Around his path are taught to swell!

Thou rustling breeze, so fresh and gay,
That dancest forth at opening day,
And brushing by with joyous wing,
Wakenest each little leaf to sing.

Ye fragrant clouds of dewy steam,
By which deep grove and tangled stream
Pay, for soft rains in seasons given,
Their tribute to the genial heaven.

Why waste your treasures of delight
Upon our thankless, joyous sight,
Who day by day to sin awake,
Seldom of Heaven and you partake?

Oh! timely happy, timely wise,
Hearts that with rising morn arise!
Eyes that the beam celestial view,
Which evermore makes all things new!

New every morning is the love
Our wakening and uprising prove;
Through sleep and darkness safely brought,
Restored to life and power and thought.

New mercies, each returning day,
Hover around us while we pray;
New perils past, new sins forgiven,
New thoughts of God, new hopes of Heaven.

If, on our daily course, our mind
Be set to hallow all we find,
New treasures still, of countless price,
God will provide for sacrifice.

Old friends, old scenes, will lovelier be,
As more of Heaven in each we see;
Some softening gleam of love and prayer
Shall dawn on every cross and care.

As for some dear familiar strain
Untired we ask, and ask again,
Ever, in its melodious store,
Finding a spell unheard before;

Such is the bliss of souls serene,
When they have sworn, and steadfast mean,
Counting the cost, in all t’espy
Their God, in all themselves deny.

Oh could we learn that sacrifice,
What lights would all around us rise!
How would our hearts with wisdom talk
Along life’s dullest, dreariest walk!

We need not bid, for cloistered cell,
Our neighbour and our work farewell,
Nor strive to find ourselves too high
For sinful man beneath the sky.

The trivial round, the common task,
Will furnish all we ought to ask;
Room to deny ourselves, a road
To bring us daily nearer God.

Seek we no more; content with these,
Let present rapture, comfort, ease—
As Heaven shall bid them, come and go:
The secret this of rest below.

Only, O Lord, in Thy dear love,
Fit us for perfect rest above,
And help us, this and every day,
To live more nearly as we pray.
(John Keble (1792-1866)

Embrace the trivial round, the common task for it will provide all we ought to ask. Amen

Derek Akker
(Derek is a retired Anglican Parish Priest and a member of the congregations of All Saints & St James)

Some material is from – Liturgy © Common Worship, The Archbishops Council, 2000

Parish of Kirklees Valley, Bury, (All Saints, Elton & St James, Woolfold)
In the Diocese of Manchester
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