(Extra)ordinary Time
Author: Andrew Comiskey
June 19, 2023
‘I shall lose none of
those who the Father has given Me’ (Jn 6:39).
I am welling up with joy. Still
savoring the Living Waters intensive in Czestochowa Poland, I departed porous in
the Spirit of Pentecost. At every turn, the Father opened doors of ‘naturally
supernatural’ exchanges about how Jesus transforms lives.
I mused on these weeks
after Pentecost leading to Advent: though the Church calls them ‘ordinary’
(Latin for ordered or numbered), they can also be referred to as the ‘Sundays
after Pentecost.’ I prefer that! Pentecost catapults us into living our own
book of Acts—extending the Father’s Kingdom as the Spirit leads.
Timely. We need Pentecost
to free us from Pride Month’s bombardment of false images, fake mercies and
cruel justice. ‘The wicked freely strut about when humanity glorifies what is
shameful’ (Ps 12:8).
In her new bio ‘Pageboy’,
Ellen Page woos the sexually vulnerable with her celebrity-privileged impersonation
of an 11-year-old boy named Elliot; Jill Biden welcomed a host of rainbow
activists on the White House Lawn, in her words, to ‘celebrate’ coming out as
‘acts of daring and defiance’ (then promptly banned a male activist with new breasts
for baring them on the lawn—apparently ‘daring’ has its
political limits); and Broadway’s Tony Awards (best musical actor and featured
musical actor) went to two men dolled up like Jessica Rabbit who claim to be
‘they’ and brushed aside questions of competing as female impersonators in a
male category as ‘acting isn’t a gendered profession.’
So be it. Where sin and
disorder abound, grace abounds more. I relished time with a couple of friends
in Poland who, as SSA strugglers, are impacted by this Kingdom clash. The
battle is intense for them both. Yet in catching up on their conflicts and progress,
I observed how the Body of Christ has surrounded them in such a beautiful way—championing
their true selves and making a generous space for them to bring their doubts, wounds
and gifts into His Body.
They are radiant witnesses
whose shame has become something glorious. I am overjoyed, welling up, made
stronger by these icons of Divine Mercy.
During one ministry time
in which we extended covering to the most vulnerable, I could see participants with
skin burns, as if seared in body by abuses, addictions and sexual identity
conflicts. Their wounds were open yet clean. We who surrounded them guarded these
uncovered areas. We stood together in the Spirit of Ezekiel 37, a healing army made
mighty by each member being known and joined together. God breathed on the dry
bones.
Holy and happy are we
‘whose weaknesses were turned to strengths, who are becoming powerful in battle,
capable of routing foreign armies’ (Heb. 11:34). Extraordinary times indeed!
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