Ordinary

The festival of Christmas is over.  For twelve days we've celebrated the birth of Jesus and what an event that happened so many years ago means for us today.  We saw the holy family in a humble stable laying our King down to rest in a simple feeding trough.  We witnessed the journey of the Magi--bearing gifts of precious metal, fragrant incense, and bitter burial perfume--culminating in a wonderful epiphany.

And now it's over.

We now enter into the season of Epiphany, the period of time between Christmas and Lent.  It is a season of Ordinary time.

Ordinary

I don't know about you, but after all of the hustle and bustle of Christmas and New Years, I can use a little bit of ordinary.  After helping plan too many worship services, hosting friends and family, catching up with loved ones, battling various illnesses, and fighting the winter weather, I'm tired.  I can use some rest and relaxation.  And yet...

And yet now is the time when we get to work.

The Christ Child was born to turn the world on its head; to challenge the status quo.  In the Kingdom of God, ordinary isn't sitting back and relaxing until the next big liturgical season.  We are called to make spreading the Gospel and working for radical justice no matter what the cost ordinary.  

The celebration is over, and now the work begins.