WHAT IS THE CHURCH YEAR? PART TWO

Original artwork by Tommi Tucker.

Key seasons and their descriptions

Below are simple descriptions of the main seasons of the church year, noting especially how they relate to Jesus’s own story. This list represents the church year tradition in the West.

Advent. As the first season of the church year, Advent places Jesus’s earthly life in its cosmic context. It does so by focusing Christians on both Jesus’s first and final “coming” (in Latin, adventus). We read from prophets like Isaiah and John the Baptist, both of whom foretold Jesus’s first coming; we also hear Jesus speak about his coming again to make all things new. As such, Advent is a season of expectation and anticipation. Traditionally, Christians light candles throughout Advent, a sign of the hope, peace, joy, and love that Christ has brought and will bring.

Christmas. Christmas celebrates Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem. As a prayer commonly heard during Christmas Eve worship services puts it, Jesus's birth marks a significant installment in “the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience.” This part of the tale is one of the most surprising, for in it God becomes human and brings, as the prayer continues, “glorious redemption” to all humankind. Jesus is God become human—fully God and fully human—so “that human beings might be adopted as children of God” and that the world God so loved might be saved (3). No wonder choirs of angels gathered to sing (Luke 2:8-20)!

Every year, for the Western church, Christmas begins on December 25th and lasts for twelve days. The time is marked by festivities, gift giving, and acts of generosity. 

Epiphany. Following Christ’s birth, Epiphany highlights stories from Christ's life which uncover his divine identity. During this season we read the story of his baptism (when God calls him his “well beloved son”) and the story of Jesus turning water into wine. The primary story, however, is the wise men visiting Jesus as a child, which shows that Jesus’s divine mission reaches out from the Jewish people to all the world.

Lent. Based on Jesus’s time of temptation in the wilderness (which itself echoes the Israelites’ forty years of wandering in the wilderness after God frees them from slavery in Egypt), Lent is a season of forty days. Traditionally, converts to Christianity spent this time preparing for baptism by studying the faith, confessing their sins, and fasting. Now, Christians often prepare throughout the season by fasting or practicing some spiritual discipline, with an emphasis on repenting from sins.

Holy Week. Christians set apart a full week to remember the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), washing his disciples’ feet and breaking bread with them (Maundy Thursday), being betrayed by Judas, crucified by Pontius Pilate (Good Friday), lying dead in a borrowed tomb (Holy Saturday), and being raised from the dead (Easter Sunday). Lent ends on Holy Saturday.

This is the central week of the entire church year. For Christians, Christ's death and resurrection mark the victory of God over sin and death, inaugurate God’s new creation, and make possible total reconciliation between the Holy Lord and sinful humanity. In fact, the centrality of this week reverberates throughout the whole church year. Many Christians keep a habit of praying in the evening and the morning, a pattern that echoes Christ’s sleeping in death and awakening to resurrection life.

Though not as well known as Good Friday or Easter Sunday, Maundy Thursday is deeply significant, because it is the day that Jesus instituted the communion meal (also known as Eucharist or The Lord’s Supper). On the first Maundy Thursday, just before he was betrayed, Jesus shared bread and wine with his disciples and indicated that they were to continue this tradition (see Luke 22). While Christians disagree in their understanding of the meal, its clear that the church, from its earliest days, shared communion regularly. Apparently, Jesus intended this meal to both help us remember his death and resurrection as well as draw us into deeper fellowship with God and fellow believers (see 1 Corinthians 10-11). For many Christians, communion is a fundamental part of Sunday worship.

Easter. Easter Day is the beginning of Eastertide (sometimes called The Great Fifty Days). The church determined Easter should always fall on the Sunday after the first full moon of spring, which means its date changes year to year.(4) Sunday is significant because Jesus was raised from the dead on a Sunday and early Christian communities adopted Sunday as “the Lord’s Day.” Sundays are sometimes referred “little Easters.” Eastertide is a season of celebration and excitement, a season to dwell in the wonder of God’s saving love. Also included in this season is the day of Christ’s ascension to God’s right hand in heaven. In the Ascension, Christ reigns from heaven as head of the church and intercedes on our behalf to the Father. These two roles make the church and Christian life possible.

Pentecost. After ascending to heaven, Christ sent his Holy Spirit on a day called Pentecost (see Acts 1-2). The Spirit coming upon the disciples fulfilled Christ’s promise that He would be with the disciples to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). More than just making Jesus present to the disciples, the Holy Spirit frees and enables people to become the body of Christ in the world. In other words, Jesus sends the Spirit to the disciples so that his story might continue in a unique way through them.

In a sense, Acts is like a forward to the unfolding story of Pentecost. Reading through the book, we see the Spirit empowering humans to do supernatural things: speaking in foreign languages unwittingly, healing sick people, and casting out demonic spirits. But more often we see the Spirit empowering people to nurture community through deeply relational acts: teaching, listening, praying together, giving generously, resolving conflict, and sharing the good news. In both wonderfully surprising and wonderfully ordinary ways, the Spirit continues to give the body of Christ gifts fitting for their mission in the world.

Ordinary Time. Sometimes called the season after Pentecost, Ordinary Time is a time of growth, focusing on how Christ is working in the world through his body, the church. Ordinary time occurs mostly throughout the summer and autumn. “Ordinary” here does not mean “plain” or “normal.” Rather, it means something like “numbered” time. The weeks of Ordinary Time are numbered according to their relationship to Pentecost. So, you will hear people say, “It’s the Second Sunday after Pentecost.” In this way, Ordinary Time does not lose its connection to Christ's story but reminds us that the Spirit of Christ is making us holy and leading us into the world to share the good news of salvation.