We have come to the green season! Trees are full of leaves, lawns are growing, and all around we can see full the vast variety of green splendor. The color green reminds us of vibrant life and growth. This year the beginning of June also marks the beginning of a green season of the church, the season after Pentecost. Half of the church year is full of festivals and special seasons where we move through different colors to adorn our worship space. After Pentecost and Holy Trinity Sunday, we move out of the festival season of the church and into a season that lasts half of the year, all the way to the beginning of the new church year with Advent at the end of November. This season is sometimes called the “season after Pentecost”, or it is also called “ordinary time.” The color of the season is green. The green represents the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and a time to focus on our growth as disciples. While the Gospel readings that we hear in worship during the festival parts of the year tend to focus on the events of Jesus’ life, during this green season the readings turn their attention more frequently towards Jesus’ teachings. It is a time to immerse our- selves in the ways in which the Holy Spirit moves in us, transforming us into disciples of Jesus who live our lives shaped by those teachings.
One of the interesting things I learned is that many indigenous languages from peoples based in rainforest regions do not have a word for “green.” It is not recognized as a color. The world around them has a thousand shades of what I call green, but it is not a concept present to those shaped by those languages. The green that I see is simply part of what is in that worldview. I think there is something powerful in that for us in thinking of what it means to be disciples of Jesus and grow deeper in that discipleship. It is not that there are lists of do’s and don’ts that we must memorize in order to grow in being disciples. Rather, Jesus’ way of life becomes part of what is in our lives. It becomes the way that we approach the world. We never reach the point where we are fully grown into being perfect disciples. We are always a bit “green,” a bit new at following Christ and still growing in our faith. Yet that growth can become so much a part of our everyday life that it no longer becomes noticeable to us because we are so enveloped by this life in the Spirit. May we both take joy in this green season and be completely surrounded by it.
—Pastor Eric Trozzo