Greetings Church,

On this extraordinary day in the United States, Americans remember the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., witness the inauguration of President Donald Trump for a non-consecutive second term, and gather to watch the first 12-team playoff College Football Championship game between Notre Dame and Ohio State. But for most of the global Church, today is what is known as ordinary time. That is to say, the Christmas season has passed and the Lenten season is not yet upon us. We inhabit the in-between.

Ordinary time, far from being mundane, is a time for the mystery of Christ’s love to press deeper into our daily lives. It is a time for us to simultaneously kindle gratitude for the goodness of God while also imagining with Him how this world might better reflect the promise of a New Creation. We are in between the much needed civil rights work of the 20th century and the far greater heights of heaven’s call to love one another as Christ has loved us. We are in between the governments of this world (which, at best, are only weak shadows of heaven’s justice) and the future return of King Jesus to bend every knee and put the world to rights. We are in between the fun but fading loyalties of sports fandom and the blinding glory of one day receiving honor and praise from our Heavenly Father for a life of faith.

What if we take this day to imagine our own part to play in the re-making of this world to better reflect the reign of Christ? That would, indeed, make this an extraordinary day.

With you,

Kyle Chase, on Behalf of the Elder and Minister Team