Ordinary Time, Ordinary Grace

Ordinary Time, Ordinary Grace

Manna House is slowing getting back to the ordinary days of offering hospitality.  For the past three weeks we’ve had the Catholic Heart Work Camp and then two different classes from Memphis Theological Seminary come to help with the offering of hospitality.  Though there is another group here this week from Martin, TN, they are a bit smaller and next week, no groups!

            For those of you who are in a “liturgical church” it just so happens that this past Sunday was the first Sunday in “ordinary time” since Lent began back on March 5^th.   The Sundays of Lent passed into Holy Week and Easter Sunday.  The Easter season passed into the Sundays celebrating Pentecost, Corpus Christi, Trinity Sunday, and finally the Feasts of St. Peter and Paul. 

            So, in both the Church and at Manna House, we’re back to “ordinary time.”  In the Church, liturgists will tell you that “ordinary” does not mean “usual or average” but rather “not seasonal.”  But I think they are kidding.  Instead of the big feasts or seasons we get the ordinary Gospel stories.  I call these stories, “Jesus for the long haul.”  Sure, there’s a miracle or two, but they are pretty much what you’d expect from Jesus.  The emphasis is more on Jesus teaching through his words and deeds what it means to be his disciples.  Nothing too spectacular happens; Jesus and his disciples just go about the ordinary grace of living out the Beloved Community.

            And that’s the kind of ordinary grace surfacing again at Manna House:  practicing hospitality for the long haul.  God’s gracious presence is seen in the ordinary gifts we share with each other day in and day out as we offer each other hospitality.  We experience God in the simple clasp of hands in our opening prayer, the routines of making and serving coffee, offering showers, the usual Mondays and Thursdays of “socks and hygiene” and Tuesday’s “socks and soap,” haircuts on Thursdays (and occasionally Mondays), writing referrals, doing laundry, sweeping floors, cleaning showers and bathrooms, and taking out the trash.  It isn’t flashy; its hospitality.

            I like both ordinary time and the seasons of special celebration.  I like the liturgical rhythm that alternates between special seasons and ordinary time.  There are times of intensity and times to embrace the daily realities of faith.  There are peak experiences and there is the ongoing steady journey.  There’s conversion and then the living out of the commitment.  God is present in both.

            I saw, or rather heard, today’s “ordinary grace” as I was folding laundry.  Tuesday is women’s shower day, and three young female volunteers, the oldest 16 and the youngest 12 were helping a woman get her clothes picked out before she headed into the shower.  I could hear their conversation as I worked in the laundry room.  They went back and forth on both styles and sizes on pants, a shirt, and undergarments, trying to find the right combination.  As I listened, I could hear the guest carefully considering her options and the young women carefully responding.  Both guest and hosts were very patient with each other.  Occasionally they laughed about a size proposed or a style. Really, they seemed to be enjoying the whole process. The guest gave heartfelt thanks as she finished and headed into the shower room.

            I thought about our “word for the day” which I had shared earlier with a few guests who had asked, and it seemed just right for this ordinary grace.  “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.  Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4-7).