I Desire Mercy, Not Sacrifice
Second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 5A)
Matthew 9.9-13, 18-26
St. Gregory’s, Long Beach
With our commemoration of Trinity Sunday behind us, we begin a new liturgical season and, along with it, we experience a shift in the focus of our Gospel readings. The Christian Year is divided roughly in half. For the first six months of the liturgical year, beginning with the First Sunday of Advent in late November or early December, we have a string of high holy days focusing on key events in the life of Christ and the accompanying time for us to prepare for those events. In the first half of the liturgical year, we move in rapid succession from Advent to Christmas to Epiphany to Lent to Holy Week to Easter to Pentecost. For good measure, we throw in Trinity Sunday, providing our transition to the Season after Pentecost. Also referred to as Ordinary Time.
Now, just to be clear—and lest you think Ordinary Time sounds boring—Ordinary Time is not “ordinary” as in the sense of commonplace. Rather “ordinary” refers to the mathematical term “ordinal”: to the sequential ordering in a series. In this case, referring to the sequential numbering of the Sundays in this season. Trinity Sunday is technically the First Sunday after Pentecost. Therefore, today is the Second Sunday after Pentecost, with next Sunday being the Third Sunday after Pentecost, and so on, until we reach the 783rd Sunday after Pentecost sometime later in the year. Not really. Sometimes it may seem like it in what we fondly refer to as the “long green season”—referring to the six months of green, which is the color for the Season after Pentecost, for Ordinary Time.
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