The Rev. Paul L. Gaston +
May 31, 2015
Trinity Sunday
“Extraordinary Time”
When Thomas Becket was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury on the Sunday following Pentecost, he
declared that this day would be recognized thereafter as a feast day in honor of the Holy Trinity. Therefore, our
liturgical color is white. This is one of our Church’s seven principal feast days.
Because we follow St. Thomas in honoring this Sunday, we may overlook the fact that we are beginning a
new season in the church year. The longest season in the church year. The season that is as long as all of the
others put together. This is also the First Sunday After Pentecost.
Next Sunday, for the first of many, our liturgical color will be green. And green will remain the color of
our worship for the remainder of our late spring, all through the long summer, through the start of school next
fall, through All Saints Day, well past the first frost, perhaps even well past the first snow, until we celebrate the
beginning of another liturgical year on the first Sunday of Advent. Then we will once again begin our spectrum:
blue for Advent, white for Christmas, purple for Lent, red for Pentecost. But for now and for 26 more Sundays—I
hope you like green.
There is another name often used for the season we begin today—“ordinary time.” You might think this to
be a translation for a richer and more meaningful Latin term. But no. The Latin is no more inspiring: Tempus per
annum. That is, “time through the year.” Now there’s good PR! Imagine saying to a neighbor, “Come with me to
church next Sunday. We’re celebrating ‘ordinary time.’”
Some churches think of the long season we begin today as a time to wind down a bit. Maybe to them it
seems that following the high drama of Ash Wednesday, Lent, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost, we have
earned the right to kick back, to slow down, to take it easy. Some suspend Christian education until the fall.
Some tell their choir to take a hike. They expect Church attendance to fall off a bit. Ordinary time!
The trouble with “ordinary time” is that God’s time—and our brief taste of God’s time in this life—should
never feel ordinary. There’s no reason why the Sundays of the “green season” should become routine. In writing a
note for the next issue of the St. Paul’s Messenger I expressed my delight in being part of a church community that
doesn’t see things this way. Our choirs continue to sing. Christian education arrives in the form of Vacation Bible
School. We raise funds to maintain this building given by God and supported by our generosity. We plan a
weekend dedicated to planning strategies for church growth. Clearly, there’s no reason why this period in the life
of St. Paul’s should not be a period of exploration and growth. No reason why this green season cannot become
extraordinary!
The Anglican poet, George Herbert, speaks of his own spiritual growth in terms that point to our green
season. Feeling that he once again is experiencing God’s favor after a long, dark night of the soul, he exults,
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Who would have thought my shrivel'd heart
Could have recover'd greennesse?
If we are God's flowers, as the Rev. Mr. Herbert says, this is our time to begin bursting into bloom. We
have been preparing for this moment all year. We faced Advent with a renewed spirit of expectation, and we
rejoiced in Christmas. We faced Lent in a spirit of rededication, and we celebrated Easter. We meditated upon
the gift of the Spirit, and we rejoiced in Pentecost. Now we have the opportunity to rejoice in all these gifts and to
build on what we have received. This is our growing season.
Our growth can take many forms.
In practical terms, we can look on these "Green Sundays" as a time for learning. We can pack at least one
good book of devotional reading for our vacation. We can use the lessons printed in our Sunday leaflets as points
of departure for independent study. We can make a commitment to reading the Daily Devotions in our Prayer
Book—by ourselves or with our families.
We can call on our faith by resolving to conquer some weakness, or by coming to church more faithfully,
or by visiting a lonely shut-in neighbor more often, or by spending more time with a grandchild, or by
volunteering our time to Habitat for Humanity. Focusing on the green season as an opportunity for personal
growth makes sense in two ways. This season gives us the time we need to make genuine progress. And it enables
us to focus on priorities that we have developed ourselves.
We can find spiritual advantages in a vacation. As we travel from one place to another, we can give thanks
for the beauties we see, for the food we eat, for the pleasures we find, and for the family squabbles we may manage
to avoid. And the "Green Sundays" offer an ideal opportunity to visit churches in other parts of the country and
to enjoy the reassurance and excitement that can comes with experiencing what a large, diverse, and welcoming
family we belong to. Even if we should be unlucky enough to find ourselves in an Episcopal church that is
unwelcoming or backwards-thinking, we can return to St. Paul’s all the more grateful for our church home.
And we can continue to celebrate. We could even sing the hymns of Christmas and Easter and Pentecost
throughout our green season to remind us and all who visit us of the gifts we celebrate through the course of our
year. "Joy to the World" and "Hail Thee, Festival Day" are as appropriate in mid-summer as they are in winter and
spring. At my Southern Baptist summer camp in the mountains of North Carolina, we would celebrate Christmas
on June 25. No gift giving. No Santa Claus. Just a Christmas dinner and a focus on the gift of the Incarnation.
Maybe, just maybe, the Baptists have something to teach us. And might it not be appropriate to use the Easter
acclamation from time to time? “The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia.” After all, from the first
Sunday of Advent to the last Sunday of the Church Year, Christ the King, we are the people of Easter always.
We have come a long way through out Church year. We have learned to recognize ourselves as sinners, we
have found joy in the faith that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and we are trying to live in ways
that testify to the love we profess to share. As St. Paul says, we have every right to “boast in our hope of sharing
the glory of God.” Thanks to the Holy Spirit, the season of Pentecost that begins now is a time for learning and
doing, for considering priorities and making plans, and, above all, for worshipping together, in spirit and in truth.
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Our song in this green season should not be, "Summertime, when the livin' is easy," but, rather,
Rise up, ye saints of God!
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and soul and mind and strength,
To serve the King of kings.