Edmund Steimle, a great radio preacher in the 1950’s and 60’s, once preached a sermon he entitled, “The Peril of Ordinary Days.” He began it by observing that peak days like a graduation, a wedding, or a great vacation are inevitably followed by what many people feel as the “letdown” of humdrum ordinary days.

The liturgical season we enter after the celebration of Pentecost is called “Ordinary Time.” But it is not a season of humdrum days, but represents days of spiritual growth not marked by any other specific season in the church year. Hence, the liturgical color of “Ordinary Time” is green, matching the growth of vegetation and crops between springtime and harvest.

The lectionary texts between July and mid-October focus on stories in the books of Genesis and Exodus which illumine the lives of the patriarchs and matriarchs with whom God began the entire history of the spiritual growth of the nation of ancient Israel. In July, we are engaged with the stories of Abraham’s and Sarah’s miracle son, Isaac, and his search for a wife; Isaac’s and Rebekah’s bickering twins, Jacob and Esau; Jacob’s dream of a ladder reaching to heaven; his search for a wife, ending up with his cousins Leah and Rachel; and his midnight wrestle with God which resulted in his name being changed to “Israel” (which means “God strives).

It is surprising how much we are like these ancestors of ours— ordinary people living ordinary days. But we see in our forebears’ stories how the extraordinary God enters human life to transform it into the stuff of holy history. Rather than living in “the peril of ordinary days,” the Bible invites us to open ourselves to the extraordinary opportunities in every day to see the wonder of God at work among us. May we look forward to the summer days ahead with hope and expectation.