I find it interesting that the longest season in the Revised Common Lectionary is “Ordinary Time,” or the time that comes after Pentecost. It fits in this sense: a lot of life is quite ordinary… We go about our days, one after the other, until all of a sudden, it’s August!

How did this happen? There is, of course, another name for Ordinary Time, however. It is the Season after Pentecost.

That is the season in which the church recognizes the dynamism and the power of the Holy Spirit to shape and reshape our lives according to Christ’s image. In that sense, it’s always “ordinary time,” though perhaps “extraordinary time” would be a more fitting title. What happens when the same Spirit that launched the church into existence in Acts 2 gets ahold of us today? How will God move through you as we explore the variegated beauty of the Gospel of Matthew this summer?

Stuart R. Strachan Jr.

• Summary of the Text
• Key Quote
• Key Illustration
• More Illustration and Quote Themes
• Liturgical Elements

Season After Pentecost

• June 4: Trinity Sunday, Matthew 28:16-20
• June 11: Second Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
• June 18: Third Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 9:35-10:8
• June 25: Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 10:24-39
• July 2: Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 10:40-42
• July 9: Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
• July 16: Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
• July 23: Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
• July 30: Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
• August 6: Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 14:13-21
• August 13: Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 14:22-33
• August 20: Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28
• August 27: Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 16:13-20
• September 3: Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 16:21-28
• September 10: Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 18:15-20
• September 17: Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 18:21-35
• September 24: Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 20:1-16
• October 1: Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 21:23-32
• October 8: Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 21:33-46
• October 15: Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 22:1-14
• October 22: Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 22:15-22
• October 29: Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 22:34-46
• November 5: Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 23:1-12
• November 12: Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 25:1-13
• November 19: Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 25:14-30
• November 26: Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 25:31-46