The color for this church calendar season is green. The word green comes from an Old English word with the same root as the words “grass” and “grow.” Twelfth century theologian, composer, and artist Hildegard von Bingen wrote of the “greening power of God”— the power of God to create new life and cause that life to grow and flourish. She associated the Spirit with the work of planting, watering, and blooming new life.

A “green soul” is one who is growing and looking more and more like Jesus. Like the Father sent Jesus as the “greenness of God’s finger” on earth, Hildegard invites Christians to imagine Jesus sending them out to be green thumbs touching everyone and everything with God’s light and life by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ordinary time invites us to note, to notice, to number our days. In Everyday God: The Spirit of the Ordinary, Paula Gooder writes:

“A commitment to Ordinary Time, is a commitment to time itself, to the marking of days and weeks, not so that we can wish them away but so that we can savor them. Ordinary Time challenges us to become a measured people, people who commit themselves to greater spaciousness of living and to a less frenetic mode of being. It invites us to be more generous to ourselves and to re-interrogate the rhythms of our life to ensure that our ordinary lives contain enough space within them for us to flourish.”

During this season of Ordinary time, here are some ways we as a community grow in our attentiveness to the work of God in daily life:

• Jot down something you noticed every day
• Read (or listen to) the book Liturgy of the Ordinary
• Allow Sundays to mark your week.

Share a need or request with our Pastoral Care Team, who is listed below. Their emails are all @allsoulsseattle.org and your request will be treated confidentially. If you are new to the area, new to church, or simply new to All Souls, please also feel free to reach out and we'd love to connect with you.