Dear People of St. David’s,
In his sermon this past Sunday, Thomas reminded us of the beautiful reality that we experience the kingdom of God when we take small moments of quietness, stillness, and reflection. If you haven’t listened to his sermon, I encourage you to do so here. It’s a great reminder that God is found in the so-called mundane and ordinary. As I reflected on Thomas’ sermon, I kept coming back to that seemingly simple yet subversive word, ordinary.
In our tradition, the liturgical church year can broadly be broken up into six seasons: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent (including Holy Week), Easter, and the season after Pentecost—colloquially known as “Ordinary Time.” We’re familiar with many of the themes and stories, the high points and big moments that these seasons bring. The rich blues and purples of Advent and Lent, the joyful white of Christmas and Easter, the burning red of Pentecost Sunday. Movements from longing and expectation to joy and fulfillment. The rich liturgy of Holy Week, filled with all kinds of embodied pageantry. What about “the season after Pentecost?” The fiery red of Pentecost comes out for a Sunday, we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the early church, and then…we return to ordinary life. “The season after Pentecost”—even the name doesn’t have much ring to it!
I think Thomas was on to something about finding God in the ordinary and mundane, the stillness and the quiet. In fact, when we look at the readings for this coming Sunday, we find a template for two of the most powerful ways we can encounter God in the season of Ordinary Time: wrestling and withdrawing.
In the famous story of Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles with God. All night long he contends with God declaring, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.” While wrestling with God might seem out of place in our ordinary routines, what strikes me about this story is that it happens unexpectedly as Jacob is travelling with family! God breaks in right when Jacob least expected it! It doesn’t happen at a temple or religious site, during prayer or ritual. Likewise, we often forget that the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 happens unexpectedly, amid ordinary life and travels just like Jacob’s wrestling. In an incredibly human moment, Matthew tells us that Jesus withdrew to a deserted solitary place. Jesus is exhausted from teaching, healing, and traveling. His work has really caught up with him (in fact, the attentive reader will notice that Jesus often withdraws to quiet places throughout the Gospels…)! Yet, it is precisely when he withdraws for a quiet moment that one of the most famous moments of compassion and provision occurs, the feeding of the 5000.
These stories remind us that it’s ok to wrestle with God in our ordinary lives and it’s ok to withdraw when life gets busy and we feel overwhelmed. These stories remind us that the Ordinary Time of our lives and liturgy is not a leftover of Easter and Pentecost or a passing season on the way to Advent and Christmas. Instead, Ordinary Time reminds us that God is found precisely in the ongoing routines and humdrum activities of our daily lives.
My encouragement this Ordinary Time is that you join me in wrestling and withdrawing. Maybe find a moment to wrestle with God through a passage of scripture, a good book, or a podcast (I hear St. David’s has a rather good one!). Perhaps find a moment to withdraw for prayer, a walk, or a simple moment paying attention to your breath. Whatever it might be for you, be open to a new experience and encounter with God this season. Perhaps we might find that this Ordinary Time is not so ordinary after all.
Amen.
Elliot VanHoy
Pastoral Associate
Published on Thursday, July 30, 2026.
Editor’s Note: Some lectionary calendars may mark the season after the Epiphany as also part of “Ordinary Time.” The seasons after Epiphany and Pentecost both share the liturgical color green. All the same, the seasons have distinctive characteristics and The Episcopal Church separates them. Learn more about the seasons of The Episcopal Church year here.