Ordinary Time - Counted Time of the Church Year

 

Most of the Seasons of the Christian Church Year are organized around the two major festivals that mark sacred time, Christmas and Easter. The Christmas Season encompasses the time of preparation during Advent and the celebration of the Twelve Days of Christmas and Epiphany in early January (the 6th). The Easter Season encompasses the time of preparation during the 40 weekdays of Lent and Holy Week, and is linked with Pentecost Sunday 50 days later. While there are other individual holy days within the church year, these seasons mark the movement of sacred time within the church calendar.

The rest of the year following Epiphany and Pentecost is known as Ordinary Time. Rather than meaning "common" or "mundane," this term comes from the word "ordinal," which simply means counted time (First Sunday after Pentecost, etc.), which is probably a better way to think of this time of the year.  Counted time after Pentecost always begins with Trinity Sunday (the first Sunday after Pentecost) and ends with Christ the King Sunday or the Reign of Christ the King (last Sunday before the beginning of Advent).

The 33 or 34 Sundays of Ordinary Time after Pentecost (23 to 28 Sundays after Pentecost) are used to focus on various aspects of the Faith, especially the mission of the church in the world.

Some church traditions observe a Pentecost Season extending for the eleven to sixteen Sundays (depending on the date of Easter) beginning with Pentecost Sunday and running through the next to last Sunday of August. Then beginning with the last Sunday of August, they count the remaining thirteen or fourteen Sundays until the beginning of Advent as Kingdomtide (in the Methodist tradition), climaxing with the Christ the King Sunday. This serves to break up the long stretch of Ordinary Time following Pentecost into two seasons that can carry different emphases.