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We’ve just had Trinity Sunday – the Sunday which is the summit of all we’ve celebrated from Advent to Pentecost, the Sunday which celebrates how awesome our God is, the Sunday which says “Wow! This is our God, Father, Son, and Spirit.” So what now?

The Christian Church year doesn’t end with Trinity Sunday. It continues to the Sunday before the beginning of Advent – the Sunday called “Christ the King Sunday.” Between Trinity Sunday and Advent we enter the season called “Ordinary Time”.

This does not mean we have nothing to celebrate! No! “Ordinary Time” means that Christians live in their daily lives the truths they’ve celebrated since Advent. “Ordinary Time” is the time when we grow, mature, and witness to the glory of our God. No surprise then that “Ordinary Time” is represented by the colour green – green symbolizes growth.

The first Christians, of course, didn’t have a formal Christian calendar to follow. But they understood why it was important to grow. Paul writes to the Thessalonians words that encourage and challenge us to grow – to live the truth of the Gospel in ordinary time. Listen to 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3:

We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today, let everything we do, say, and think be grounded in our Christian faith, expressed in Christ-like love, and guided by our confident hope in Jesus.

We enter “Ordinary Time”. It’s not “boring time”. It’s time to grow – grow in our prayer, grow in our understanding of Scripture, grow in our devotion, grow in our fellowship, grow in our trust, grow in our witness, and grow in our love for one another, for this broken world, and for our Lord Jesus.

Like the green we see around us, it’s time to grow and flourish.

視頻大意翻譯 (video Chinese translation):

嗨!

我們剛過了聖三一主日-這是我們從待降節到五旬節所有慶祝活動的高峰。這是慶祝我們的神是多麼了不起的一個主日，這是宣告『哇！這就是我們的神，聖父、聖子、聖靈。』的主日。那，現在呢？

教會的年曆不是在聖三一主日就停下來了，它繼續一直到待降節的開始 -“基督君王主日”。在聖三一主日和待降節中間我們進入一段稱為「平常期」的季節。這並不是說我們沒有甚麼好慶祝的! 不! 「平常期」意思是基督徒每日活出他們自待降節以來所相信的真理。「平常期」是我們成長、成熟、和見證我們神榮耀的時候。所以「平常期」以綠色代表並不奇怪 - 綠色象徵著成長。

早期的基督徒，當然，沒有正式的基督教年曆來跟隨。但他們知道為何成長很重要。保羅謝信給帖撒羅尼迦教會人的話鼓勵並挑戰我們成長-在「平常期」活出福音的真理。聽帖撒羅尼迦前書 1:2-3:

我們為你們眾人常常感謝　神、禱告的時候提到你們．在　神我們的父面前、不住的記念你們因信心所作的工夫、因愛心所受的勞苦、因盼望我們主耶穌基督所存的忍耐。

今天，讓我們所做、所言、所思，都以我們的基督信仰為基礎，以基督般的愛表達出來，以我們對耶穌充滿盼望為指引。

我們進入「平常期」。並非說這是個「無聊期」。這是個成長的時刻-在禱告裡成長，對經文理解的成長，在我們靈修上成長，在團契上成長，在我們信任和見證上成長，在我們對彼此的愛上成長，為了這個破碎的世界和為了主耶穌。

就如在我們周圍看見的綠色，現在是成長和繁盛的時候了。

讓我們禱告。

Grace and peace

Pastor Callum