The Times of the Church Year
Pastoral Desk Diary 2021, Concordia Publishing House, St Louis MO
The Time of Easter
 Lent
 
Begins on Ash Wednesday and
ends with midday prayer on Holy Saturday.
 
     The time of Easter invites us into the story of Jesus’ sacrificial death and His glorious resurrection.  The resurrection of Jesus gives proof that our salvation has been completed and that our hope for eternal life with God is secure. 
     
     Easter was the major celebration of the Early Church, which also set aside a period of preparation to celebrate the feast of the Resurrection of Our LORD (Easter).  Lent was a period of preparation first presceibed for baptismal candidates.  During this period, the candidates were exameined with preparation for Baptism at the Easter (or Paschal) Vigil.  Later, these forty days were associated with Jesus’ forty days in the desert prior to His temptation (Matthew 4: 1 – 11) and with the forty years the children of Israel spent in the wilderness (Numbers 14: 34), becoming a period of preparation for every Christian.
     
     The Sundays during this season are not “of Lent” but “in Lent.”  Thus the Sundays retain an Easter tone and may be less solemn than the midweek services that congregations typically offer.  The observations of Lent are concreate reminders of the greater solemnity of this season, yet Lutherans emphasize the Gospel of Christ as central even in thei penitential season.
     
In Lent, we prepare our hearts to receive our crucified and risen LORD.
Psalm 51     Isaiah 58: 6 – 12       Joel 2: 12 – 13
Matthew 4: 1 – 11    Matthew 6: 1 – 18    Romans 6: 1 – 4
 
 
Lenten Practices and Practices :
* The church is decorated in violet, the color or royalty and repentance.  This period of repentance is marked by a purposeful turning away from our sin and turning toward Christ for His mercy and forgiveness.
* Ash Wednesday begins the observance of Lent.  Ashes on the
forehead is a sign of penitence and a reminder that we, too, shall die
and therefore need forgiveness from Jesus.  Black may be used to
decorate the church on Ash Wednesday.
*Alleluia is the Hebrew word for “Praise the LORD.”  It is a joyous 
expression of faith in God.  During Lent, we forgo using this joyous
response in order to focus on our need for repentance and faith.
*As in Advent, so in Lent, we do not sign the Gloria in Excelsis in the
Divine Service.  We do this to focus our worship on repentance.
*Fasting is giving up eating at a particular meal or time in order to
devote that time to prayer and meditation on the Word of God.
*Many churches observe Lent by gathering for midweek services. 
These additional times of worship and gathering around God’s Word
help us prepare to observe Holy Week and celebrate Easter.
     
      
     

The Time of Christmas

Advent

 

     Begins the fourth Sunday before December 25th, or the Sunday closest to St. Andrew (November 30th), and ends with midday prayer on December 24.

 

     The Savior’s birth is second in importance only to His resurrection on Resurrection Sunday.  During the Time of Christmas, Christians reflect on God’s gracious gift of Himself.

 

     The Church Year begins with Advent (from Latin adventus, which means “coming into”), a four-week period of preparation before Christmas.  The story of Jesus during Advent is the story of hope coming into the world.  When the time was just right, God sent His Son, Jesus, into the world.  The Advent season teaches us to prepare to receive Jesus, the hope of the world.
    
In Advent, we wait for our coming King
  
Isaiah 7: 14; 9: 6; 11: 1 – 2    Micah 5: 2
Matthew 1: 18 – 25     Luke 1: 26 – 38, 46 – 55

 

Advent Practices and Traditions:

– The color for Advent is blue, which symbolizes anticipation and hope in our coming King.  Violet can also be used during Advent as a symbol of our repentance in preparation for our coming King.

– We do not sing the Gloria in Excelsis in the Divine Service during Advent.  This is the angels’ song at Christmas, so during Advent, we pass over this traditional Hymn of Praise in silent anticipation.

-It has become common to use an Advent wreath to mark the season.  This wreath has four candles – one for each week in Advent.  As these candles are lit each week, our anticipation mounts as we look forward to Jesus’ coming.

-We gather for midweek services.  These services heighten our awareness and anticipation for the celebration of Christ’s coming in the flesh.
     
     
     

The Time of Christmas

Christmas and its season

 

     Begins with evening prayer on Christmas Eve and ends with midday prayer on January 5th.

 

     Christmas tells the story of Jesus as the long-awaited King who has finally come to save us.  Jesus, God’s Son, the King of heaven and earth, is born in Bethlehem-the Son of God is a baby laying in a manger.

 

     The evening services of Christmas Eve mark the beginning of the Church’s celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord.  The season continues after December 25th over a period traditionally known as the twelve days of Christmas.  This season includes a number of festivals:

– December 26th:  St. Stephen, the first Martyr.

– December 27th:  St John, apostle and evangelist.

– December 28th:  the Holy Innocents, the death of the babies in Bethlehem.

-January 1st:  The circumcision and naming of Jesus on the eighth day of His birth.
 
At Christmas, we worship our God made flesh
 
Luke 2: 1 – 24     John 1: 1 – 18    Galatians 4: 4 – 5

 

Christmas practices and traditions:

– We sing the Gloria in Excelsis and join the angels at Christmas in their Hymn of Praise: “Glory be to God on high, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men.”

– The color for Christmas and its season is white, symbolizing the divinity, eternity, purity, light, and joy of Jesus Christ.

– Many Christians celebrate with special services during the Christmas season

— A special Divine Service late on Christmas Eve reminds us how the angels announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds who were “keeping watch over their flocks by night.”

— On Christmas Day we celebrate the Word of God made flesh and receive Him in the Means of Grace (Holy Scripture and the Holy Sacraments of Baptism and Communion).

— January 1st, eight days after His birth, we gather in worship to begin the year in His name.  Jesus, which means “the Lord saves,” for He has come to save His people from their sins. 

     

     

     

The Time of Christmas

Epiphany and its season

 

     Begins with evening prayer on January 5th and the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.

   

     Epiphany is one of the oldest seasons in the Christian Church Year, second only to the Easter Season.  This season of lights emphasizes Jesus’ manifestation (or epiphany, from the Greek epiphaneia) as God and man.  The earliest Christians called the feast ofr the Epiphany the Theophany (“revelation of God”).  When the Gentile Magi come to worship Jesus, they show that everyone now has access to God.  Now all people, Jew and Gentile, can come to God’s temple and worship, because Jesus is the new temple: God in the flesh.  The Epiphany of our LORD (January 6th) marks the celebration of the visit of the Magi.

   

     Epiphany may include as many as nine Sundays, depending ont he date of Easter.  The season is marked at its beginning and at its end by two important feasts of Christ.
  
During Epiphany, we worship Jesus, who has given all
mankind access to God through Himself.
 
Matthew 1: 1 – 12     Matthew 3: 13 – 17     John 2: 1 – 11

 

Epiphany practices and traditions:
-Like Christmas, the Epiphany of our LORD, the Baptism of our LORD, and the Transfiguration of our LORD are feast days of Jesus.  The color for feast days is white, the color of divinity, purity, and joy.  The Sundays after the Epiphany focus on the growth of Jesus, and the color green is used to symbolize that growth.
-On the First Sunday after the Epiphany, the Church celebrates the Baptism of our LORD.  The Father had sent Jesus to bear the sins of the world.  So Jesus steps down into baptismal waters so that He can soak up the sins of the world.  He is baptized into our sins so that our Baptism might be into His death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins.
-The Feast of the Transfiguration, celebrated on the last Sunday in the Epiphany season, is a significant and uniquely Lutheran contribution to the Christian calendar.  This festival commemorates the moment on the Mount of Transfiguration when three of Jesus’ disciples glimpsed their LORD in divine splendor, seeing Him as the center of the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah).  Jesus proclaimed to His disciples, then and now, that He was the long-awaited onw who had come to die for the sins of the world and be raised again in glory.
-The Transfiguration of our LORD is the last Sunday before Lent.  Because we give up singing Alleluia during Lent, at the close of the service on Transfiguration we say farewell to Alleluia with the hymn, “Song of Gladness”  (Lutheran Service Book # 417).
     
     
     
The Time of Easter
 Lent
 
Begins on Ash Wednesday and
ends with midday prayer on Holy Saturday.
 
     The time of Easter invites us into the story of Jesus’ sacrificial death and His glorious resurrection.  The resurrection of Jesus gives proof that our salvation has been completed and that our hope for eternal life with God is secure. 
     
     Easter was the major celebration of the Early Church, which also set aside a period of preparation to celebrate the feast of the Resurrection of Our LORD (Easter).  Lent was a period of preparation first presceibed for baptismal candidates.  During this period, the candidates were exameined with preparation for Baptism at the Easter (or Paschal) Vigil.  Later, these forty days were associated with Jesus’ forty days in the desert prior to His temptation (Matthew 4: 1 – 11) and with the forty years the children of Israel spent in the wilderness (Numbers 14: 34), becoming a period of preparation for every Christian.
     
     The Sundays during this season are not “of Lent” but “in Lent.”  Thus the Sundays retain an Easter tone and may be less solemn than the midweek services that congregations typically offer.  The observations of Lent are concreate reminders of the greater solemnity of this season, yet Lutherans emphasize the Gospel of Christ as central even in thei penitential season.
     
In Lent, we prepare our hearts to receive our crucified and risen LORD.
Psalm 51     Isaiah 58: 6 – 12       Joel 2: 12 – 13
Matthew 4: 1 – 11    Matthew 6: 1 – 18    Romans 6: 1 – 4
 
 
Lenten Practices and Practices :
* The church is decorated in violet, the color or royalty and repentance.  This period of repentance is marked by a purposeful turning away from our sin and turning toward Christ for His mercy and forgiveness.
* Ash Wednesday begins the observance of Lent.  Ashes on the
forehead is a sign of penitence and a reminder that we, too, shall die
and therefore need forgiveness from Jesus.  Black may be used to
decorate the church on Ash Wednesday.
*Alleluia is the Hebrew word for “Praise the LORD.”  It is a joyous 
expression of faith in God.  During Lent, we forgo using this joyous
response in order to focus on our need for repentance and faith.
*As in Advent, so in Lent, we do not sign the Gloria in Excelsis in the
Divine Service.  We do this to focus our worship on repentance.
*Fasting is giving up eating at a particular meal or time in order to
devote that time to prayer and meditation on the Word of God.
*Many churches observe Lent by gathering for midweek services. 
These additional times of worship and gathering around God’s Word
help us prepare to observe Holy Week and celebrate Easter.
     
      
     
The Time of Easter
 Easter and its season
 
Begins with evening prayer on Holy Saturday and
ends with midday prayer on Pentecost.
   
     Easter is not merely a one-day celebration; it is a fifty-day season from the Day of the Resurrection of Our LORD to the Day of Pentecost.  This is extended season – one seventh of the year – is a victory celebration, a time for all Christians to proclaim boldly their faith in a risen and victorious Savior.
   
     The first celebration of Easter is the Easter Vigil, the evening of Holy Saturday.  The Vigil includes a service of light, in which fore symbolizes Jesus as the light of the world.  The service is designed to take the Christian from the solemnity of Good Friday to the predawn joy of Easter.
   
     Easter is teh richest and most lavishly celebrated festival of the Church Year.  Congregations may hold a sunrise service, commemorating the surprise of the women visiting the empty tomb of Christ, as well as services that celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  While not as lavish, this joyous and celebratory tone echoes down through the Sundays of the Easter Season.
   
     Forty days after Easter, the Church celebrates the Ascension of Our LORD, who ascended into heaven not only as God but also as man.  The final Sunday of the Easter season, celebrated as Pentecost, was adopted by early Christians to commemorate the first great harvest of believes for Christ.  Thus, Pentecost is the birthday of the Christian Church, as the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and they gave their compelling witness about the resurrected LORD.  The color of the Day of Pentecost is red, representing fire and blood.  Red recalls the tongues of fire received on the first Pentecost and the martyrs who shed their blood for the faith.
   
During Easter, we rejoice in our salvation.
Matthew 28     Luke 24
 
John 12: 24 – 25; 20: 1 – 29; 21: 1 – 14
 
Acts 1: 6 – 11; 2: 1 – 4
 
 
Easter Practices and Traditions
*The colors of Easter are white and gold.  White, the color of our LORDS holiness, is everywhere on Easter, from the paraments and vestments to the traditional Easter lilies.
*After a long absence in Lent, Alleluia returns at Easter and is heard everywhere in the propers appointed for the weeks of Easter.  Also, the joyous Hymn of Praise and the Gloria Patri return and are sung as part of the liturgy once again.
*During the Easter season, we greet one another with a special Easter greeting and response: “Alleluia! Christ is risen!” “He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!”
   
   
   
The Time of the Church
The Season After Pentecost
 
Begins the day after Pentecost and ends with midday prayer on the Saturday before the First Sunday in Advent.
   
     The Sundays after Pentecost make up the longest portion of the Church Year.  This is the Time of the Church – the time we focus on growing together in the life of the Holy Trinity.
     
      On the first Sunday after Pentecost, the Church celebrates Holy Trinity Sunday.  We are baptized into only one name, but that name is “of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  There is only one name, only one God – but there are three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  On this Sunday, we confess the great mystery of the Holy Trinity.
     
     The Sundays of this time of the Church Year are known as Sundays after Pentecost (or Sundays after Trinity).  Picking up on Pentecost as the season of growth, they are often referred to as the Green Sundays.  The readings focus on the life of Christ in His Church.  We hear Jesus teaching His disciples and healing the faithful.
   
     Because the Pentecost season is part of “ordinary” time, congregations may choose to observe some of the lesser festivals of the season.  When saints days or commemorations fall on Sundays, worship leaders could highlight these to offer teaching moments about the breadth of the Church’s life and work.  These noteworthy days enable Christians to reflect on how we worship “with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven.”
   
     On the Last Sunday after Pentecost, the Churchgives voice to the joyful hope of the second coming of Jesus for the resurrection of the dead and the last judgment.  The end-times focus of the Last Sunday of the Church Year bears themes of hope and parparation that are similar to those of Advent, which soon follows.
   
During the Time of the Church, we focus on growing
together in the life of the Holy Trinity.
  Acts 2: 41 – 47     Ephesians 1: 15 – 23     Ephesians 3: 14 – 19
Colossians 3: 12 – 17
  
Practices and Traditions
*The church is decorated in green, the color of growing plants.  This marks the season of growth in living in our Baptism and receiving the LORD’s Word and Sacraments
*On Trinity Sunday, we confess the Athanasian Creed, which goes into great detail to confess the catholic (universal) faith taht must be faithfully and firmly believed to be saved: “that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity.”