What if the most spiritually formative season of the Christian year isn’t Advent or Lent—but the long stretch of ordinary time in between?

In this episode of the Thinking Christian Podcast, Dr. James Spencer is joined by Dr. Amy Peeler, Kenneth T. Wessner Chair of Biblical Studies at Wheaton College, to discuss her book Ordinary Time: The Season of Growth, part of the Fullness of Time series from IVP. Together, they explore how the church’s longest season—often overlooked or misunderstood—shapes Christian maturity, patience, and attentiveness to God’s work in everyday life.

Amy shares her own journey from a free-church background into the Anglican tradition, where the church calendarprovides a shared rhythm for worship, discipleship, and formation. Ordinary time, she explains, is neither feast nor fast. Marked by the color green, it reflects growth—slow, patient, often unseen—rather than dramatic spiritual highs. This season mirrors how most of life is actually lived: meals, conversations, work, rest, and faithful obedience in the ordinary.

James and Amy discuss how modern Christians—both liturgical and non-liturgical—often struggle with cadence, reflection, and rest. Without intentional rhythms, churches can become overly programmatic, while individuals drift into distraction, passivity, or burnout. Ordinary time offers a corrective: a space to reflect on God’s work, attend carefully to Scripture, and allow spiritual growth to “catch up” after seasons of intense focus.

The conversation also explores how ordinary time functions formatively:

• As a season of growth rather than spectacle

• As an extended invitation to rest and receptivity, not spiritual laziness

• As a reminder that God is present in the mundane—not just in mountaintop moments

Amy draws on biblical texts (especially Genesis 18) to show how God often appears not in dramatic events, but in ordinary hospitality, conversation, and faithfulness. She also reflects on Trinity Sunday, explaining how ordinary time helps Christians attend more deeply to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—not as abstract doctrine, but as lived worship shaped by prayer, posture, and participation.

Throughout the episode, James and Amy examine how formation happens over time, why Christians need both structure and reflection, and how ordinary time can function almost like an extended Sabbath—a season where believers learn to cease striving and trust God’s work in them.

You can get Ordinary Time at ivpress.com (use code IVPPOD20 for a 20% discount) 

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To read James's article on this topic, check out his author page on Christianity.com.

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Topics include:

• What “ordinary time” is—and why it matters

• The church calendar and Christian formation

• Growth, patience, and rest in discipleship

• Green as the color of spiritual formation

• Ordinary practices as places of divine presence

• Genesis 18 and encountering God in the everyday

• Trinity Sunday and worshiping the triune God

• Liturgical vs. free-church approaches to time and rhythm

• Why reflection is essential in a distracted age

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