Category: Church Calendar

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Season of Epiphany

Jeff Meyers provides a great summary of Epiphany:

What does Epiphany mean? The English word is derived from the Greek epiphainein, which means “to appear” or “manifest.” The Epiphany season has to do with the Lord’s manifestation or appearance to the nations. Epiphany (January 6) and the season called by the same name (from January 6 through February 27) celebrate the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, beginning with the visit of the Eastern Kings (the Magi) in Matthew 2. Of course, the manifestation of the Person and mission of Jesus was only gradually unveiled, so the season focuses on the progressive unveiling of our Lord’s mission to the world in his teaching. The four main events commemorated during Epiphany are the adoration of the Magi, the story of Christ’s visit to the temple as a twelve-year-old boy, our Lord’s baptism in the Jordan, and the miracle of turning water into wine for the marriage feast at Cana in Galilee. All four events served progressively to unveil the Lord Jesus Christ to humanity in significant ways at the beginning of his life and the inauguration of his Gospel ministry. Continue reading “Season of Epiphany”

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Advent and Penitence

A fellow CREC minister Toby Sumpter writes:

Today is the first Sunday in Advent and this season has historically been understood and celebrated as a season of preparation and penitence. And it might seem odd to us as we begin celebrating this season of penitence to start having parties and singing carols and putting up decorations. Isn’t penitence all about sitting quietly, morosely meditating in the dark, all alone? Of course there may always be times for quiet and thoughtful reflection, but one of the most powerful ways the Spirit plows the fields of our lives is through people, through children, through spouses, through parents, through siblings, through other friends and family and even strangers. Continue reading “Advent and Penitence”

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Donkey and Kingship

The Triumphal Entry teaches us quite a bit about Messiah’s kingship:

First, Messiah enters riding a young donkey. Donkeys are kingly animals. David rode on a donkey and his son Solomon also rode on a donkey.

Secondly, the donkey is not a military animal. It is not powerful or war-like. Hence, Messiah comes not as a war-king–though He will come as one in AD 70–but He comes as one bringing peace on earth and good-will toward men. The Romans, and other leaders sought peace, but to no avail, Christ’s coming brings peace without the sword.

Finally, the donkey is the Messianic animal because it is humble and dependable. The Messiah does not come in pomp and glory, but in humility and faithfulness to His Father’s will.

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Pentecost

Since Jim Jordan will be preaching our Ascension Sunday Service, I decided to work ahead on a sermon for Pentecost on May 31st. What appears to be clear in the Acts 2 pericope is that Pentecost is the great Babelic reversal. When the tower of Babel was being built, the languages were confused so they could not continue their work of paganizing the nations through their monumental ladder into the heavens. Pentecost is the exact opposite. The languages are brought into a unifying message so the nations may be evangelized through the monumental fire from the heavens.

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Steve Wilkins on Lent

Fasting and prayer are not to be done because they somehow merit God’s favor. They don’t. Lent, like all the other ritualistic activities we do in life, can be dangerous. And we need to be very careful to avoid the problems we have sometimes seen in others: 1. Remember that though seasons of preparation and fasting are useful, observing Lent is completely a matter of freedom for Christians. Lent doesn’t make the participant automatically more holy or pleasing in God’s sight than the non-participant (nor should the non-participant think himself superior to the participant). The issue is not participation or non-participation, but growing in faithfulness to God. 2. Remember that disciplines like fasting do not subdue the flesh. That which enables us to die to sin and sinful desires is the Word and Spirit of Christ. 3. Remember that the point of Lent is not to give up pleasures, but to give up sin. Some get all caught up in giving up chocolate or steak for Lent. But the point of Lent is to give up idols. Just as it’s easier to write a check than it is to spend time in actually showing mercy, so it’s far easier to give up a steak than it is to avoid sinful anger or to break off your lusts. The point of Lent is not to give up chocolate; the point is to turn away from sin and grow in holiness. 4. As we go through Lent, we need to remember the goal of the season. It is not to be morose and sad or sinfully introspective. Rather, it is to be enabled to see the greatness of God’s grace and mercy toward us so that we are stirred to walk even more faithfully. Just as a time of sickness enables us to appreciate the days of health that we enjoy and just as the loss of a friend or loved one enables us to appreciate our remaining friends and family even more — so, Lent should enable us to rejoice all the more in the work of our Savior in suffering and dying and rising again for our sakes. Lent is like a journey but the end of the journey is not at the cross on Good Friday but at the empty tomb on Easter. Because we are united by the Holy Spirit to the resurrected Jesus, the conqueror of sin and death, we can face our own sins and weaknesses with faith and hope. In Jesus, we know that we are forgiven and accepted by God, and we have hope for real healing and transformation in our lives. And that in the end is the value of having a corporate season of repentance.

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Lent

As the Lenten Season approaches, many will be fasting in preparation for Easter. Fasting is an appropriate way to prepare for the glorious Resurrection of Messiah. From Lent to Easter there are forty days. Matthew Gross writes:

The significance of the number forty in Scripture is hard to overstate.  It was the number of days that…. Moses fasted on Sinai while receiving the Ten Commandments, and of course the number of days Jesus fasted in the wilderness in preparation for His public ministry.  Thus it is an appropriate choice for the number of days of preparation prior to the celebration of Easter.

Lent is not to be for show. We do not put on perpetual sadness. It is as Schmemann writes, ” a bright sadness.” It is as N.T. wright observes, “a present-futurity.” While we mourn the sufferings of Messiah now, we look with anticipation to the triumphs of Messiah in the future.

While the Church encourages us to fast in this Lenten Season, we are called to put all fasting aside on the Lord’s Day  feast.  All Sundays are perpetual easters looking to the future easter of our bodies. Therefore, Lent cannot be continuous fasting. On Sundays, we feast in the goodness of God and in anticipation of the Resurrection of His anointed One.

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Blessed Advent!

Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David... [Luke I, 26-32]