MenuThe Ordinary and the Extraordinary
When the Day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. – Acts 2:1-4
As we begin the season of Pentecost – after hearing about the mighty rushing wind of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and the miraculous ability of the Apostles to speak all kinds of language on that day… and the miraculous working of faith in the hearts of thousands that day… and the subsequent miracles worked by God through Peter and the other Apostles… we start to feel very ordinary.
Indeed, as we begin summer, the Church Year even calls this time of year the “ORDINARY” Sundays in which the events in the life of Jesus Christ are not celebrated, and the liturgical color is green every Sunday. This is not just a bit of a break for the altar guild from changing the paraments! It’s a time when we focus on Jesus’ teachings. Sometimes we despair that, with all that we’re up against in this world, God isn’t giving us all kinds of miracles and shiny, exciting experiences to keep us fired up. We don’t get to hear a mighty rushing wind, or see tongues of fire on the pastor’s (or each other’s) head on Sunday, or experience speaking in languages without having to study them first. (I remember some school language exams where that would have been handy!)
We “just” have our church building, the altar, the baptismal font, the pulpit… ordinary things. And we don’t necessarily see God’s power in these ordinary things. But God does use ordinary things that become His instruments – instruments of the Spirit of truth – to point us to the salvation won for us through our Lord Jesus Christ. He uses the building as His sanctuary – His holy place – where we hear His forgiveness. He uses a simple lectern where lay people – ordinary people whom we personally know! – actually speak God’s Word to us. He uses a simple wooden pulpit where a very ordinary pastor endeavors to speak God’s Word to us. And He uses ordinary water at the font, and ordinary bread and wine at the altar, combined with His holy promises, to deliver to us forgiveness, eternal life and salvation. God uses ordinary means to deliver His extraordinary, indeed miraculous, gifts.
And God uses us too! Because the Holy Spirit has breathed life into us – new life – He dwells in us. He guides us in our “ordinary” lives. He uses us to do the work of the kingdom – the work to which He calls us. And He imparts a spark of extraordinary strength into the ordinariness of our human weakness so that we may bravely contend with all that the world throws against us in “ordinary” life and death. And that same extraordinary power that raised Christ from the grave will likewise raise all believers (ordinary people) to an extraordinary, eternal life.
Our God is alive and active. Occasionally, we might see His mighty hand in a miraculous healing or some peculiar set of circumstances that others may minimize as “just coincidence.” Praise and thank God when you see Him do the extraordinary.
But also give praise and thanks to God for that which seems ordinary and “everyday” to us. Thank Him for your daily bread – the food you eat, the clothing you wear, the school or job you may have, the car or bus that gets you there – all the ordinary things that you dearly miss when they’re gone – or merely delayed – for a day or even less. All these things God provides to support this body and life.
And remember that God has an extraordinary purpose for you – both in this life and in the next. He has taken care of the next life through the guarantee of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the meantime, in what may seem “ordinary time” for us, He has uniquely placed you in a specific time and specific place to glorify Him in what you do, and to point others – other ordinary people – to the extraordinary riches that we have in Jesus Christ. May God extraordinarily bless you in this “ordinary” time.
~Pastor Nickel
