{"id":27502,"date":"2025-02-14T10:50:18","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T10:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/?page_id=27502"},"modified":"2025-02-14T11:17:10","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T11:17:10","slug":"ordinary-time-moving-on-from-epiphany","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/?page_id=27502","title":{"rendered":"Ordinary Time: Moving on from Epiphany"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"3rd<\/sup> February – 4th<\/sup> March<\/p>\n

The stories of Epiphany have taken us through the early life of Jesus and his first steps into public ministry at the miracle in Cana (John 2:1-11) and his return to the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:14-21).  The Church has called the weeks that follow Epiphany \u201cOrdinary Time\u201d.  This might suggest that nothing is happening \u2013 life can get back to normal after all the excitement of Christmas and its aftermath.<\/p>\n

Yet, what has been revealed to us through Epiphany is that when Jesus turns up, extraordinary things happen.  And this doesn\u2019t stop in Ordinary Time.  The Gospel stories of Jesus\u2019 earthly life are full of surprises.  And, as Jesus said at the end of his early life, he is with us throughout time \u2013 to the end of the age (Matt 28:20).  So if we have eyes to see the extraordinary in the ordinary we are assured that God is with us here and now, not just then and there.<\/p>\n

Teresa of Avila said \u201cGod walks among the pots and pans\u201d.<\/em>  Brother Lawrence wrote: \u201cFor me, the time of busyness does not differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while everyone is yelling for different things at the same time, I possess God in as great tranquillity as if I were upon my knees\u201d.<\/em>  And Thomas Merton reminds us: \u201cThe gate of heaven is everywhere\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

But seeing the extraordinary presence of God is one thing, acknowledging it is another.  What do we do, or what do we say, when the God of surprises catches our attention?  I was struck recently, in reading a talk given by the American preacher, Barbara Brown Taylor, that most of the modern translations of the Bible have changed the word \u201cBehold\u201d to something else, presumably because we no longer use the word in everyday speech.  \u201cBehold\u201d occurs 1298 times in the Authorized Version published in 1611.  It occurs just 27 times in the New Revised Version, published in 1989, and only once in The New International Bible, first published in 1978.  Instead of \u201cBehold\u201d these translations use words like \u201clook\u201d or \u201csee\u201d.<\/p>\n

The word for \u201cBehold\u201d however has a special meaning in both Hebrew and Greek.  It is a response to something that takes our breath away.  Perhaps a better translation would be\u201cWow!\u201d, \u201cLook at that!\u201d, \u201cAwesome!\u201d, or even, \u201cBlimey\u201d.  I understand that amongst  Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) the term is \u201cBussin\u201d \u2013 a term for anything exceptionally good; or \u201cGoated\u201d, short for \u201cgreatest of all time\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBehold\u201d is what the shepherds did when they were visited by the angels; it was what Moses did when he saw the burning bush, and behold, Jacob saw angels ascending and descending a ladder between earth and heaven.  \u201cBehold\u201d is not just a request to take a look, it is an imperative.  Some have suggested that it is a one word spiritual practice.  When something happens we aren\u2019t expecting, something out of the ordinary, we are be-holden to it.  It is an invitation to stop and pay attention. It may change how we look at the world.  It will require a response.<\/p>\n

So the invitation during this short period of \u201cOrdinary Time\u201d is to expect God to show up amongst the pots and pans, the spreadsheets and lesson plans, when sitting on a bus or in an armchair.  Remember that heaven is everywhere if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.<\/p>\n

And to help us pay attention here is a challenge for this period of Ordinary Time.  In a few weeks we enter Lent and follow Jesus\u2019 path to the cross.  But a lot has happened in his life before this happens.  So the challenge is to remind ourselves of how Jesus showed up in the world by reading through Luke\u2019s Gospel \u2013 the lectionary reading for this year.  There are 24 chapters in Luke so reading a chapter a day will take a little less than 4 weeks.  If you take time to read it slowly you are more likely to notice the unexpected.  Read it in light of the one word spiritual practice \u201cBehold\u201d, noticing what catches your attention and pausing to say the word as if saying it to someone else.<\/p>\n

And then look around you and pay attention to the things that hint at God\u2019s presence in the everyday, and ask yourself what God may be inviting you to do in response.  You may feel the urge to acknowledge who is behind it and offer a word of thanksgiving and praise to God for giving you a glimpse of God\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n

We are in this together,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dave Adams<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

3rd February – 4th March The stories of Epiphany have taken us through the early life of Jesus and his first steps into public ministry at the miracle in Cana (John 2:1-11) and his return to the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:14-21).  The Church has called the weeks that follow Epiphany \u201cOrdinary Time\u201d.  This might suggest that nothing is happening \u2013 life…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":27510,"parent":27043,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-27502","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27502"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27509,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27502\/revisions\/27509"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ducklingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}