Ordinary Time

In the Christian church year, the period between Pentecost Sunday (sometime in May) and Christ the King Sunday (late in November) is known as Ordinary Time. The Sundays are counted as Sundays following Pentecost, for example, this Sunday is the Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost. This time is also known informally as "the long green season," for the appointed liturgical color is green.

Unlike the other liturgical hangings I made for my home, this one is not the proper color for the season. The design was made as part of a quilt block challenge we had some years back -- two people each picked a fabric (the orange and the blue) and all challenge participants were given a piece of each. The instructions included the size the block was to be, how many additional fabrics one might add, and the requirement to have the block represent a Bible verse or story.

I had recently acquired a book of Bible story quilt blocks (and I gave it away, or I would tell you which one it was) and had appliqued the Jonah picture on a sweatshirt for a seminary classmate who lived with cystic fibrosis. She said she always could identify with Jonah, and I could readily see that being trapped in a place where it was hard to breathe would bring that identification.

When it was time for the challenge block, I decided to make Jonah again. The fabrics seemed to lend themselves to that picture.

As I worked on the block, I realized that I identify with Jonah, too. There is a stubborn streak that often does not want to go where God wants me to go, to do what God would like me to do. The analogy doesn't carry so far as to my needing to spend time inside a whale in order to come around, but sometimes it almost seems as though that might speed things up!

I'm hoping that clicking on the picture will make it large enough for you to see that the boat is the SS Tarshish, and the mile marker indicates "Nineveh, 3 Days," both interesting details from the story (which you can read here, clicking the arrow to continue to subsequent developments in the narrative).