I decided to do my best to return to the Songs for the Journey series I began during Lent. Unfortunately, I was unable to prepare anything for the Easter season, but now that we have returned to Ordinary Time, I feel like I can again talk about the songs that speak to me along the way.
While the Church year is divided into several special seasons (Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter), the bulk of the year is given over to Ordinary Time. Now this does not mean "ordinary" the way we typically understand it. Rather, the word ordinary comes from the word ordinal, meaning numbered or counted. (Ironically our current understanding of the word "ordinary" comes from peoples' experience of Ordinary Time in the Church.) So Ordinary Time begins with the first Sunday following the Epiphany until the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, then the counting picks up again the Sunday after Pentecost going through the Sunday before Advent begins. Included in this time of the year are numerous feasts and holy days. In particular, the Sundays immediately following and preceding the other seasons are Baptism of Christ (First Sunday of Ordinary Time), Transfiguration Sunday (Sunday before Ash Wednesday), Trinity Sunday (First Sunday after Pentecost), and Reign of Christ Sunday (Final Sunday of Ordinary Time).
On Trinity Sunday, we celebrate the fullness of the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This understanding of God is meant to be relational and not prescriptive. In other words, the reference to the Father and the Son is about their relationship to one another and not a reference to gender or inherent maleness. In the Revised Common Lectionary this year the gospel reading is of the "Great Commission" from Matthew. In this text, we hear again about Jesus final appearance to the disciples before the Ascension, his return to heaven. He tells them to "go forth and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28.19-20b).
Now, this text has been horribly misused in the past to justify everything from holy war to forced baptism. But if we ourselves are truly following all that Jesus has taught and commanded us, how can we show others anything but love? We have been blessed by our relationship with Christ. If we want others to become followers of all that Christ taught, we must meet them where they are with the same open arms that Jesus greeted others, not by grabbing them but by loving them. Teaching them to love others the way that Christ loves others is the key. This is what it means to be a disciple of Christ.
The first song that came to mind when I read this passage was Blessed to Be a Witness by Ben Harper. Over and over in this song, Ben repeats how blessed he is. He ends with how he is blessed to be a witness(to the things he has seen and experienced). And I realize that I, too, have been blessed. I don't always think about all the ways in which I have been blessed in my life, but this song makes me slow down and think of that. When I think about the ways that I am blessed in my relationships with others, when I think about the ways love changes the world around me, I know that I am also blessed to be a witness - a witness to the love and grace that God in Christ has offered to me.
Glory to the holy and blessed Trinity, one God, now and forever!
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