Seasons of the Church Year
All Christians are part of the Christian story. The seasons of the church year help give us a way to experience how this is so.
Seasons provide opportunities to observe, commemorate, and celebrate certain events or occasions. The Christian church, following earlier Jewish tradition, has long used the seasons of the year as an opportunity for festivals (i.e., feasts, celebrations) and sacred time set aside to worship God as the Lord of life.
While Jewish celebrations revolve around the Exodus from Egypt, Christians focus on the life and ministry of Jesus. The sequence of festivals from Advent to Resurrection Sunday becomes an annual spiritual journey for worshippers as they kneel at the manger, listen on a hillside, walk the streets of Jerusalem, hear the roar of the mob, stand beneath the cross, and witness the resurrection!
The rest of the church year provides time to reflect on the meaning of the coming of Jesus and his commission to his people to be a light to the world.
Advent Is The First Season Of The Church Year
The word "advent" is derived from the Latin adventus, which means "coming" or "arrival." In the societies of the Roman empire, the word adventus referred to the arrival of a person of dignity and great power -- a king, emperor, or even one of the gods. For Christians, Advent is the time when the church patiently prepares for the coming of Jesus Christ.
Advent's four Sundays concentrate on different aspects of Christ's coming. The first Sunday in Advent deals with Christ's triumphant arrival in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the event that marked the beginning of His passion (Mark 11:1-10).
The second Sunday introduces the message of John the Baptist, the one who urged Israel to prepare for the coming of the long-awaited Messiah (Luke 3:1-6).
The third Sunday continues the focus on John's preaching, this time with the emphasis on the Messiah as the One who will baptize "with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Luke 3:7-18).
The final Sunday in Advent is the bridge to Christmas with the its attention to the miracle of Christ's conception in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38).
As we celebrate Advent we renew our commitments to "love the Lord your God with all our hearts" and to "love our neighbors as ourselves."
Christmas Is The Second Season Of The Church Year
Christmas refers both to the day celebrating the birth, as well as to the season which that day inaugurates. The Christmas Season, or the Twelve Days of Christmas, begin on Christmas Day and go through the day before Epiphany on January 6. The date for Christmas is traditional, and is not considered to be the actual day of Jesus birth.
It is unknown exactly when or why December 25 became associated with Christ's birth. The New Testament does not give a specific date. Sextus Julius Africanus popularized the idea that Christ was born on December 25 in his Chronographiai, a reference book for Christians written in AD 221. This date is nine months after the traditional date of the Incarnation (March 25), now celebrated as the Feast of the Annunciation. March 25 was considered to be the date of the vernal equinox and early Christians believed this was also the date Christ was crucified.
The Christian idea that Christ was conceived on the same date that he died on the cross is consistent with a Jewish belief that a prophet lived an integral number of years.
The earliest reference to the celebration of the nativity on December 25 is found in the Chronography of 354, an illuminated manuscript compiled in Rome in 354. In the East, early Christians celebrated the birth of Christ as part of Epiphany (January 6), although this festival focused on the baptism of Jesus.
The word Christmas originated as a contraction of "Christ's mass". It is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes mæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038, compounded from Old English derivatives of the Greek christos and the Latin missa.
In early Greek versions of the New Testament, the letter Χ (chi), is the first letter of Christ. Since the mid-16th century Χ, or the similar Roman letter X, was used as an abbreviation for Christ. Hence, Xmas is often used as an abbreviation for Christmas.
Ephinany Is The Third Season Of The Church Year
Ephinany is the celebration of Jesus revealing Himself to the whole world. Like the three magi with the Christ child, we too are amazed at what God has done, and we realize it was not just for us, but for all.
Epiphany is Greek for "appearance" or "revelation" and is the day we celebrate the "shining forth" or revelation of God in human form in the person of Jesus.
We commemorate the visitation of the Magi to the Christ child, that is; his manifestation to the Gentiles, on January 6 (the 12th day of Christmas) each year.
Lent Is The Fourth Season Of The Church Year
Lent is the forty days set aside before Easter for fasting and prayer. The forty days represent the time Jesus spent in the desert where He endured Satan’s temptations. The purpose of Lent is to prepare ourselves through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial for the remembrance during Holy Week of the events leading to the Death and entombment of Jesus.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes with Holy Week, which begins on the sixth Sunday of Lent, Palm Sunday. The six Sundays in Lent are not counted among the forty days because each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter", a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death.
Holy Week Marks The End Of Lent, during which we relive:
Ø Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday
Ø Jesus’ last commands on Maundy Thursday
Ø Jesus’ abandonment and execution on Good Friday
Ø The stillness of Jesus’ tomb on Holy Saturday
Ø Palm Sunday Is The Sixth Sunday In Lent and the beginning of Holy Week. It commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
The palm branch was a symbol of triumph and victory in pre-Christian times. The Romans rewarded champions of the games and celebrated military successes with palm branches. Jews followed a similar tradition of carrying palm branches during festive times (e.g. Leviticus 23:40 and Revelation 7:9).
It was a common custom in many lands in the ancient Near East to cover, in some way, the path of someone thought worthy of the highest honor. Both the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John report that people gave Jesus this form of honor.
Because of this, the scene of the crowd greeting Jesus by waving palms and carpeting his path with them has given the Christian festival its name. It also shows the freedom wanted by the Jews, and their desperation to have political freedom.
On Palm Sunday, palm fronds are blessed outside the church building then distributed to the congregation gathered there. They form a procession that enters the building in a reenactment of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem.
Parishioners make palm crosses that are worn on Palm Sunday. These crosses, along with the fronds are saved to be burned the following year as the source of ashes used in Ash Wednesday services.
Ø Maundy Thursday Is The Thursday Before Easter and commemorates the evening Jesus gave a “new commandment” to his disciples at the Last Supper. Maundy Thursday is one of the most powerful services of the year at Grace for helping us understand Christ’s unbounded love for us. Feet are washed, the altar is stripped and washed, all decorations are removed, the lights are turned out and the congregation leaves in silent introspection.
The word Maundy is derived through Middle English, and Old French mandé, from the Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos," or "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you." This statement by Jesus is in the Gospel of John (13:34) by which Jesus explained to the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet.
On Maundy Thursday four events are commemorated:
1. The washing of the Disciples' Feet by Jesus Christ
2. The institution of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper
3. The agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane
4. The betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot.
The commemoration of these events marks the beginning of what is called the Easter Triduum or Sacred Triduum. The Latin word triduum means a three-day period, and the triduum in question is that of the three days from the death to the resurrection of Jesus. It should be noted that for Jesus and his followers a day ended, and a new day began, at sunset, not at midnight, as it still does today in the modern Jewish calendar.
The Last Supper was held at what present-day Western civilization considers to be the evening of Holy Thursday but what was then considered to be the first hours of Friday. Its annual commemoration thus begins the three-day period or triduum of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, days of special devotion that celebrate as a single action the death and resurrection of Christ, the central events of Christianity.
Ø Good Friday Is The Friday Before Easter and is the day we commemorate the passion, or suffering and death, of Jesus on the cross.
Parishioners gather at Grace on this Friday evening to walk the Stations of the Cross to take a spiritual pilgrimage stopping to remember the chief scenes of Christ's sufferings and death.
The Stations themselves are 14 plaques mounted on the walls of the nave. As the congregation stops at each, they hear a description of the actions and conversations taking place in that picture. A prayer follows and the congregation moves to the next station where the sequence is repeated.
In order, the following scenes are remembered:
1. Jesus is condemned to death
2. Jesus receives the cross
3. Jesus falls the first time
4. Jesus meets His Mother
5. Simon of Cyrene carries the cross
6. Veronica wipes Jesus' face with her veil
7. Jesus falls the second time
8. Jesus meets the daughters of Jerusalem
9. Jesus falls the third time
10. Jesus is stripped of His garments
11. Jesus is nailed to the cross
12. Jesus dies on the cross
13. Jesus' body is removed from the cross
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb and covered in incense.
Ø Holy Saturday Is The Day Before Easter and the last day of the Holy Week.
On this day we commemorate the time Jesus Christ lay in the tomb and descended into hell. Holy Saturday lasts until dusk, after which the Easter Vigil is celebrated, marking the official start of the Easter season.
We recall the Apostle's Creed which says "He descended unto the dead." It is a day of suspense between two worlds, that of darkness, sin and death, and that of the Resurrection and the restoration of the Light of the World. This day between Good Friday and Easter makes present to us the end of one world and the complete newness of the era of salvation inaugurated by the Resurrection of Christ.
Holy Saturday should be the quietest day of the year. However, once evening falls it is time for joy and greatest expectation because that is when Easter begins! The beautiful liturgy of the Easter Vigil, or the Great Service of Light is celebrated with great fanfare this night. The sanctuary is once again brightly lit, candles, flags, banners, beautiful crosses and other symbols of our love for God and each other are dramatically returned to their normal places. It’s contrast with the Maundy Thursday service is stark and exciting!
Easter Is The Fifth Season Of The Church Year
Easter is the most important celebration in the church’s year. This day is the observance of Jesus rising from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion, which is estimated to have taken place between the years AD 26 and AD 36.
Easter also refers to the season of the church year called Eastertide or the Easter Season. Traditionally the Easter Season lasted for the forty days from Easter Day until Ascension Day but now officially lasts for the fifty days until Pentecost. The first week of the Easter Season is known as Easter Week or the Octave of Easter. Easter also marks the end of Lent, a season of prayer and penance.
Easter is termed a moveable feast because it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. After several centuries of disagreement, all churches now accept the computation of the Alexandrian Church (now the Coptic Church) that Easter is the first Sunday after the first fourteenth day of the moon (the Paschal Full Moon) that is on or after the ecclesiastical vernal equinox.
Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover not only for much of its symbolism but also for its position in the calendar. The Last Supper shared by Jesus and his disciples before his crucifixion is generally thought of as a Passover meal, based on the chronology in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7).
The Gospel of John, however, speaks of the Jewish elders not wanting to enter the hall of Pilate in order "that they might eat the Passover," implying that the Passover meal had not yet occurred (John 18:28; John 19:14). Thus, John places Christ's death at the time of the slaughter of the Passover lamb, which would put the Last Supper slightly before Passover.
Pentecost Is The Sixth Season Of The Church Year
Pentecost means "fiftieth day" in Ancient Greek and is celebrated fifty days after Easter. It is the great celebration that marks the birth of the Christian church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is historically and symbolically related to the Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot.
While the disciples were inside praying, a sound like that of a rushing wind filled the house and tongues of fire descended and rested over each of their heads. They were suddenly empowered to proclaim the gospel of the risen Christ. They went out into the streets of Jerusalem and began preaching to the crowds gathered for the harvest festival of Shavout.
Not only did the disciples preach with boldness and vigor, but by a miracle of the Holy Spirit they spoke in the native languages of the people present, many who had come from all corners of the Roman Empire.
Ordinary Time Is The Seventh Season Of The Church Year
The term "Ordinary Time" may be misleading. In the context of the liturgical or church year the term "ordinary" does not mean "usual or average." Ordinary here means "not seasonal." Ordinary Time is that part of the Liturgical Year that lies outside the seasons of Lent-Easter and Advent-Christmas.
In Ordinary Time, the Church celebrates the mystery of Christ not in one specific aspect but in all its aspects. The readings during the liturgies of Ordinary Time help to instruct us on how to live out our Christian faith in our daily lives. We celebrate the Holy Spirit that Jesus sent in His stead, and use the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives us in order to build up each other, the church as a whole, and the society as a whole.
References:
http://www.crivoice.org/cyadvent.html, Dennis Bratcher;
www.stpaulskingsville.org/litcal1.htm;
www.wikipedia.org,
http://www.cyberfaith.com/calendar/ordinary.html
