Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you." ~John 14:2

During Advent, we prepare for His coming.

The word Advent means "coming" or "arrival." The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent.

Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God.

-- FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT

-- SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT

-- THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT

-- FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT

-- FIRST SUNDAY OF CHRISTMAS- white

-- SECOND SUNDAY OF CHRISTMAS- white

January 1 -- The Name of Jesus

January 6
-- THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD
"...and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh." Matthew 2:9-11

-- THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD -- First Sunday after the Epiphany

-- SEPTUAGESIMA:
SECOND SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

-- The Conversion of St. Paul

-- SEXAGESIMA:
THIRD SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
"The LORD is my light and my salvation." (Ps. 27:1)

-- The Presentation of Our Lord
"Lift up your heads, O gates, and the King of glory shall come in." (Ps. 24:7)

FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

-- SHROVE TUESDAY

-- ASH WEDNESDAY
"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your lovingkindness." (Ps. 51:1)

-- FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT

-- SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT

-- THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT

-- FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT

-- FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT

-- MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK

-- TUESDAY IN HOLY WEEK

-- WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK

-- MAUNDY THURSDAY
"I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD." (Ps. 116:11)

-- GOOD FRIDAY
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Ps. 22:1)

-- THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD -- Vigil of Easter
"The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold." (Ps. 46:4)
"Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord." (Ps. 114:7)

--EASTER DAY:
THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD --
"On this day the LORD has acted; we will rejoice and be glad in it." (Ps. 118:24)

-- The Annunciation of Our Lord --

-- SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

-- THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

- FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

-- St. Mark, Evangelist

- FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

-- SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

-- THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD
"God has gone up with a shout." (Ps. 47:5)
"Ever since the world began, your throne has been established." (Ps. 93:3)

-- SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

-- THE DAY OF PENTECOST
"Send forth your Spirit and renew the face of the earth." (Ps. 104:31)

-- THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- The Nativity of St. John the Baptist

-- SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- TENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- Reformation Sunday

-- TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

October 31 -- Reformation Day
"The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold." (Ps. 46:4)

November 1-- All Saints Day

"Fear the LORD, you saints of the LORD." (Ps. 34:9)

-- TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

-- CHRIST THE KING
"We are the people of God's pasture and the sheep of God's hand." (Ps. 95:7)

-- Day of Thanksgiving
"You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths overflow with plenty." (Ps. 65:12)

  +++++++++++++++++++++++++

* bibliography:
The KJV Bible
The RSV Bible
The NIV Study Bible
Calendar of the ELCA
The Liturgical Year
Christian Resource Institute
A Harmony of the Gospels for Historical Study
by Stevens & Burton, 1904
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ADVENT     CHRISTMAS     EPIPHANY  
 
  LENT     EASTER     PENTECOST

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The Church Year in Brief

The colors of the liturgical year for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, are blue, purple, white, gold, green, black, scarlet and red. They relate to seasons of the church year or festival days.

The Lutheran Church observes the traditional Christian calendar. The liturgical year begins with Advent, which starts four Sundays before Christmas (December 25) or the Sunday closest to November 30.

Advent is a season of anticipation and preparation awaiting the coming of the Savior.

Christmas lasts for twelve days, after which we celebrate Epiphany (January 6).

Lent, the forty days of preparation for Easter, begins on Ash Wednesday. Easter season lasts fifty days, concluding on the feast of Pentecost.

ADVENT

Advent is first season of the Church Year. It begins four Sundays before Christmas.

The color of Advent is blue to symbolize the night sky, the anticipation of the impending announcement of the King's coming; or to symbolize the waters of Genesis 1, the beginning of a new creation.

"Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. Every valley will be filled. Every mountain and hill will be brought low. The crooked will become straight, And the rough ways shall be made smooth. All flesh shall see the salvation of God."    ~Isaiah 40:3-5,  Luke 3:4-6

CHRISTMAS: The Birth of Our Lord

Read the Chriistmas story in Luke.

On this day we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. God, the creator of all things, sent Jesus to earth. He is the Son of God.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life."    ~John 3:16

The church did not observe a celebration of Christmas until the 4th century. The date was chosen to counter the pagan festivities connected with the winter solstice.

The sanctuary color is white, a symbol of Christ's purity. Secular colors of red and green for Christmas derive from older European practices of using evergreens and holly to symbolize ongoing life and the hope that Christ's birth brings into a cold world.

"In the beginning was the Word, and thw Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn't overcome it."    ~John 1:1, 3-5

EPIPHANY    

January 6 is known in Western Christian tradition as Epiphany. The sanctuary color is white. Epiphany is the climax of the Christmas Season and the Twelve Days of Christmas, which are counted from December 25th until January 5th. The day before Epiphany is the twelfth day of Christmas, and is sometimes called Twelfth Night.

The term epiphany means "to show" or "to make known" or even "to reveal." It celebrates the coming of the wise men bringing gifts to visit the Christ child, who by so doing "reveal" Jesus to the world as Lord and King.

The Sundays after the Epiphany are the weeks of growing, and thus the sanctuary color is green.

Shrovetide

ASH WEDNESDAY

The colors are purple for royalty or black in anticipation of the suffering and death of Christ on the cross.

Ash Wednesday, the seventh Wednesday before Easter Sunday, is the first day of Lent. Its name comes from the ancient practice of placing ashes on heads or foreheads of worshipers as a sign of humility before God, a symbol of mourning and sorrow at the death that sin brings into the world. It not only prefigures the mourning at the death of Jesus, but also places the worshiper in a position to realize the consequences of sin.
 

The JOURNEY of LENT        

Originating in the fourth century of the church, the season of Lent spans 40 weekdays beginning on Ash Wednesday and climaxing during Holy Week with Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday), Good Friday, and concluding Saturday before Easter. Originally, Lent was the time of preparation for those who were to be baptized, a time of concentrated study and prayer before their baptism at the Easter Vigil, the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord early on Easter Sunday. Since these new members were to be received into a living community of faith, the entire community was called to preparation. Also, this was the time when those who had been separated from the Church would prepare to rejoin the community.

Today, Lent is marked by a time of prayer and preparation to celebrate Easter. Since Sundays celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, the six Sundays that occur during Lent are not counted as part of the 40 days of Lent, and are referred to as the Sundays in Lent. The number 40 is connected with the forty days Jesus spent in the desert fasting and overcoming the devil's temptations while preparing for His ministry. Christians today use this period of time for introspection, self examination, and repentance. This season is equal in importance to the Season of Advent.

Lent has traditionally been marked by penitential prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It is a time of prayer, especially penance, repenting for failures and sin as a way to focus on the need for the grace of God.

The sanctuary color for most of Lent is purple. This is the color of royalty, and so anticipates through the suffering and death of Jesus, the coming resurrection and hope of newness that will be celebrated on Easter Sunday.

Maundy Thursday

Some church traditions change the sanctuary colors to red for Maundy Thursday, a symbol of the disciples and through them the community of the church.

Remembered is The Last Supper or The Lord's Supper. In an upper room Jesus prepared both himself and the disciples for his death. He gave the Passover meal a new meaning. The loaf of bread and the cup of wine was His body and His blood, soon to be sacrificed for our sins. And so He instituted The Lord's Supper. After singing a hymn they went to the Garden Of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed in agony, knowing what lay ahead for Him.

Since Eucharist or communion is observed on Maundy Thursday in the context of Passover, the emphasis is on the gathered community in the presence of Jesus the Christ. The stripping and washing of altars on Maundy Thursday can be traced back to the seventh century as part of the general cleansing of the church before Easter.

Good Friday

Following betrayal, arrest, desertion, false trials, denial, condemnation, beatings and mockery, Jesus was required to carry His cross to Golgotha "The Place of the Skull," where He was crucified with two other prisoners. Jesus's body was placed in the tomb before 6 P.M. Friday, when the Sabbath began and all work stopped. It lay in the tomb throughout the Sabbath.

Traditionally, the sanctuary colors of Good Friday are black, symbolizing the darkness brought into the world by sin. It also symbolizes death, not only the death of Jesus but the death of the whole world under the burden of sin. In this sense, it also represents the hopelessness and the endings that come as human beings try to make their own way in the world without God. Black is used through Holy Saturday, although it is always replaced by white before sunrise of Easter Sunday.

Early in the morning, women went to Jesus' tomb and found that the stone closing the tomb's entrance had been rolled back. An angel told them that Jesus was alive, and that they should go tell the disciples.

Jesus then appeared to Mary Magdalene in the garden, to Peter, to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and later that day to all of the disciples but Thomas. A week later He appeared to Thomas with the other disciples. One day at daybreak, He appeared to seven disciples fishing on the Sea of Galilee. Some time later He appeared to the eleven disciples on the mountain in Galilee. Forty days after His resurrection, He appeared on the Mount of Olives where He then ascended into heaven. Through these many appearances, His resurrection was established as a fact.

Easter colors are white or gold. This is a time to celebrate the marvelous redemption of God and the resurrected life that we have through Christ our Lord and Saviour.

"I will sing to the Lord who has triumphed gloriously." ~Exodus 15:1

PENTECOST

In the Christian calendar, it falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter. We celebrate the descending of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and the beginning of the Christian Church. Originally, this was an Old Testament festival, since the time of Josephus calculated as beginning on the fiftieth day after the beginning of Passover. We celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit as the "priesthood of all believers."

The sanctuary colors for Pentecost are red, the color of the church. The red symbolizes both the fire of Pentecost as well as the apostles and early followers of Jesus who were gathered in the Upper Room for the empowerment from God to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world.

Pentecost Sunday, also known as Whitsunday, is a day to celebrate hope, a hope evoked by the knowledge that God through His Holy Spirit is at work among His people. It is a celebration of newness, of recreation, of renewal of purpose, mission, and calling as people of God. It is a celebration of ongoing work of God in the world. It is also a recognition that His work is done through His people as He pours out His presence upon them.

The time after Pentecost is the longest liturgical season, lasting until Advent. The sanctuary color for the Sundays after Pentecost is green.

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