Ordinary Experiments

This is “ordinary time,” the time between Pentecost and Advent. It is a wide open time in the Liturgical Year when many Churches feel free to get creative. For the past year or so, Missio Dei has followed the Lectionary. It wasn’t an easy choice. I have some real concerns with how the Lectionary is structured, what Scriptures it excludes, and the sort of sacramentalism it assumes. However, I feel like it is a useful tool, if used properly. I decided to introduce it to Missio Dei with the hope that we’d use it for one cycle (three years) and then discern together whether or not it is a practice we’d like to continue.

Anyways, this year for Ordinary Time, we’re trying a series of experiments. We’ve divided Ordinary Time into 7 three-week chunks. Each three-week “chunk” will focus on a theme. Our Sunday gatherings for those three weeks will flow like this: Scriptural Exploration –> Experiment –> Reflection.

Right now, we’re focusing on the rhythms of prayer. A few days ago at our Sunday gathering, we explore the sorts of prayer rhythms we find in Scripture–focusing on Jesus and his teachings regarding regular prayer. Out of that, we developed an experiment. For the next two weeks, we’re going to be diligent in our use of our breviary. During our lunch period every day, we’re going to take about an hour for silent reflection.  Next Sunday we’ll focus almost all of our time on prayer. For week three, we’ll gather together to discuss what we learned from this ordinary experiment. What did we hear from the Spirit? What did we learn about ourselves? About God? About the world around us?

Here are our 7 focus areas for Ordinary Time. In parenthesis, I’ve included examples of the sort of experiment we might do, though we will choose our official experiments for each area as Ordinary Time progresses:

I.  The Rhythmic Way (special attention to the breviary with an hour of reflective silence each day)

II. The Simple Way (inspired by SEVEN in San Francisco, we might sell half of our possessions and give the money to global poverty)

III. The Creative Way (one experiment may be to spend several hours silently walking through our neighborhood, and then write poetry or music expressing God’s hopes and dreams for the neighborhood…and then for one of our gatherings, have a poetry jam or singing circle)

IV: The Hospitable Way (since we already have lots of regular rhythms of extending hospitality, one experiment would be for us to each receive hospitality from someone we hardly know…staying on their couch for a couple days…or some of us might spend several days on the street with a homeless friend)

V: The Marginal Way (spend an entire day in a place where we don’t feel welcome…where we feel like outsiders)

VI: The Subversive Way (one option would be to stage some sort of performance protest…in the vein of the Church of Stop Shopping…I’ve seriously considered writing 10 minute beat-poem sermons that I could perform in public places…with a hand drummer and a bass player, I’d be set)

VII: The Peaceful Way (During this part of Ordinary Time, I’m hoping to do a delegation with the Christian Peacemaker Teams. As a community, we might decide to take turns walking the more dangerous parts of the neighborhood at the most problematic times of night to foster peace)

At MIssio Dei, we’ve already lived into each of these areas. The goal of these experiments is to stretch ourselves further into areas with which we’re already committed.  Discipleship needs to have a hands-on dynamic. By doing things outside of the norm, we’ll grow in our capacity to live simply, prayerfully, peacefully, etc.

Any suggestions for some “Ordinary Experiments” into these themes? What would work well for your own communities?