Category: Church Calendar

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Q&A on the Church Calendar (Ash Wednesday, Christmas in June, etc.)

calendar dates paper schedule

See this article for context.

Let me try to answer all three of these questions by killing all these birds at once. Scott, I believe that these seasons ought to be experienced fully as a whole before we begin to delve into the specifics. So, I am more interested in a BIG Lent than focusing on particularities of Lent. And I share quite a bit of skepticism that takes over the Lententide.

But within each of these big categories, there are focused elements. Since I am a Reformed Evangelical, I am more interested in the five evangelical feasts as a whole. I am also deeply worried that these elements become fads and Ash Wednesday–as Carl Trueman noticed–can easily become that way. So, principally, I do not favor its practice, and we should also note that while the Lententide has a long history tracing back to Athanasius and is rooted in several patterns in the Scriptures, Ash Wednesday is fundamentally recent, though there is also a rich theology of ashes in the Bible. See our commentary on Jonah in Athanasius Press.

That said, I have dear brothers who practice Ash Wednesday within a full Reformed liturgy. My own perspective is that a richer theology of baptism accomplishes what Ash Wednesday wishes to accomplish. While he’s not arguing against Ash Wednesday, Peter Leithart’s little book on baptism does that exceedingly well by providing a rich imagery of baptism throughout. argue we need to wear our baptisms more gloriously: https://lexhampress.com/…/baptism-a-guide-to-life-from…

Sam Nelson argues for more Christmas singing out of season. I don’t have a problem with that, as long as it is outside the Church. Still, I find the practice of singing “Let All Mortal Flesh Be Silent” in mid-July a bit strange, especially since the church has a deficit of hymnody in so many areas. Christmas music has become comfort food, and we need to take our inner N.T. Wright and move that to healthy Easter and healthy Lent music and others as well.

But I also think the Church has a responsibility to educate the flock in the entire life of Jesus. And, I think due to modern commercialization, we have made Christmas music the sine qua non of church hymnody. It is distressing to me why we don’t have 500 Easter hymns available yet. We’re working on it! It’s distressing that we don’t have 250 Ascension hymns easily at our disposal. We’re working on it! The church only has so much time, and we need to carefully cover the entirety of Christ’s life through the 52 weeks. The Calendar does it textually and musically. Sam’s desire for hearty singing should fit all categories. I salute his aim.

Phil Walters makes the point that singing “Happy Birthday” at times that are not precisely THE time to be too emphatic.

I don’t have a problem with that. Singing “Happy Birthday” in the month of such a birthday is still a form of singing something in the same season. I am not arguing for technical precision, but general precision. Seasons of the Church may last for quite some time. Why is no one arguing for singing Pentecost hymns for all six months of Pentecost? Should the Spirit not get his due? It’s because we have made music preferential. So, make the birthday a season of song and parties for a week or a month, but if you extend that too far it becomes bizarre.

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Why the Liturgical Calendar?

body of water between green leaf trees

Dear friend,

You expressed so much joy in coming into a liturgical understanding of time. As you and I have experienced growing up in non-liturgical traditions, the Church Calendar is a tough sell in our evangelical culture. You inquired further, about where should you begin in communicating these thoughts with family and friends.

The first point to consider is that a lack of calendar knowledge is not a lack of godliness. So, you should avoid chronological snobbery when considering these issues and you should remember just long it took you to get here.

I don’t think the denial of a church calendar stems primarily from historical illiteracy, though it may at times. In my estimation, most in our culture have chosen calendars of their own making. They have a fondness for national, localized, athletic festivities over and above other ecclesiastical intrusions. As I’ve said, it’s not a poor keeping of time; it’s a selected keeping of time. I want to argue that there is a time that supersedes civic time and that is the Church time. Of course, there are those who take strict positions based on confessional commitments. I have little beef with them, and they are not my audience.

Now, I am aware that once we begin this conversation, there will be all sorts of fears about celebrating days for saints, angels, and other such things. But I am simply arguing for a celebration of the basic church calendar, namely the five evangelical feast days (Advent) Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost). If most churches cherished and celebrated a general outline for the calendar, we could begin to see a greater harmonization of themes, topics, and vision for the church universal.

If some were to say, “Why can’t we sing Christmas carols whenever we want to; after all, every Sunday is Christmas?” The answer is: “For the same reason you don’t sing “Happy Birthday” to your child whenever you want to. It’s true that every Sunday is Christmas, but every Sunday is also Easter and Pentecost and Trinity Sunday, etc.”

You can do those things, but it takes away from the appointed observance of such a time. If some were to say: “Why am I bound to observe this church calendar?” Answer: “You are not bound to. Your church is not bound to; simply, history has shown its wisdom and its longevity has shown its importance.” But most importantly, the Bible offers a rich theology of time and God’s people throughout sacred history have followed such patterns in remembering and commemorating defining moments in the lives of our forefathers.

There is a historical harmony established on these general feast days that all churches of all ages share. This alone should be a persuasive argument.

In sum, my simple point is that patterns and rhythms, and feasts play a role in the rationale of the Scriptures and this is a good place to begin these dialogues with those who do not come from a background that intentionally celebrates the life of our Lord throughout the year.

Pastor Uriesou Brito

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Gregg Strawbridge Quotes on the Church Calendar

“We must see creation as good and the goal of consummation as the restoration of a new heavens and earth which is no less physical and material. Thus, spirituality should not be reductionistic, seeing man at base as a nonphysical, non-material being. Rather, spirituality consistent with the creational aspect of our faith sees “spiritual” as an integrated whole of non-material and material. It is personal and relational, not metaphysically non-material. Creation is not static but temporal and the cosmos cannot be without time. Our world specifically is punctuated in time with seasonal variation.”

“The historic Calendar gives us celebrations of redemptive significance. It organizes our worship around biblical themes and events rather than the whims of church staff. By this we enjoy a redemptive calendar which marks time under the Lordship of Christ. Jesus is Lord of Time!”

“The historic Calendar gives us celebrations of redemptive significance. It organizes our worship around biblical themes and events rather than the whims of church staff. By this we enjoy a redemptive calendar which marks time under the Lordship of Christ. Jesus is Lord of Time!”

“By this, we enjoy a Church Year which marks time under the Lordship of Christ precisely because Jesus is Lord of Time.”

“Therefore, for the purposes of spiritual growth, congregationally, the use of the Calendar provides a rich biblical framework to organize the public services of worship. This has a very useful function in terms of biblical literacy. It guards against a kind of hobby-horse approach to the themes of Christian worship.”

“Using the Calendar provides for a recognition of creational patterns of seasons integrated with liturgy and a sense that the faith we confess includes days and seasons and time. It is embodied in the life of the Church.”

“The Calendar provides in the cycle of Advent to Christmas or Lent to Easter a means of practicing an “eschatological skill” by dramatic process of anticipation in terms. Therefore the use of the Calendar adds a needed incarnational dimension to spiritual formation and it does so within the experience of a shared community.”

~Gregg Strawbridge, The Church Calendar and Spiritual Formation

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All Saints Day as the Death of Death

We celebrate —together with a vast majority of Christian Churches in the world–the feast of All Saints. On this day we honor and remember the saints gone before us. Traditionally, All Saints Day is the day after All Hallowed Eve on October 31st, and the Church celebrates it on the closest Sunday to the first of November.

All Saints Day is also known as the day where we celebrate the hallowed ones; those who have been honored by God because of their faithful lives. The Bible does this frequently when it says that we must give honor to whom honor is due (Prov. 3:27) and when it lists the great heroes of the faith and praises them for their mighty actions in the face of grave danger (Heb. 11).

By celebrating the life of the saints, ultimately, we are celebrating the death of death. We celebrate that in the death of the faithful ones, Satan has been mocked. In fact, All Saints testifies to the humiliation of the devil and evil throughout history. The Christian Church rejoices over evil by mocking death. The third-century theologian Athanasius gives a good example of the early church’s attitude towards death:

“Death has become like a tyrant who has been completely conquered by the legitimate monarch; bound hand and foot the passers-by jeer at him, hitting him and abusing him, no longer afraid of his cruelty and rage, because of the king who has conquered him. So has death been conquered and branded for what it is by the Saviour on the cross. It is bound hand and foot, all who are in Christ trample it as they pass and as witnesses to Him deride it, scoffing and saying, “O Death, where is thy victory? O Grave, where is thy sting?” (1 Cor. 15: 55).”

Only the Gospel gave people hope that death could be defeated and reversed. Only the Gospel promised people glory at death and even more glorious resurrection life at the end of history. The reality is paganism cannot compete with All Saints’ Day, because paganism cannot offer hope after death. The Christian message can offer a definitive answer to death. Jesus is the answer to death’s grip because Jesus overcame the grip of death.

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The Case Against Fauci’s Prophecies

Antonio Fauci, the Italian prophet whose hotline 123-BOO-STER is intolerably busy, has cautioned us with the Christmas trigger warnings of yesteryear. He is not sure whether we should celebrate Christmas. He encourages booster shots and then more booster shots. This, he knows. What he doesn’t know is whether the buffet of boosters will be sufficient rationale for a Christmas party. We will have to wait and see.

Fauci, of course, must persist in skepticism. In fact, the Fauci currency only has value if the stock market of fear and uncertainty is high. Currently, it’s keeping up with Bitcoin’s best days.

But this entire scabrous affair opens up the lovely opportunity to indoctrinate my dozens of readers in things to come. See what I did there? I took the whole Fauci moment and turned it into an opportunity for doing the thing the Left hates Christians do: speak objectively. And here is the whole shebang in a nutshell: the eschatology is upon us!

You heard me right. For those of you outsiders, I refer to the end of things and the beginnings of new things in Church life. Advent is coming in a few weeks, and there are lots of things prior to it (Reformation, Make-Fun-Of-The-Devil-Day, All Saints, etc.). But if Fauci is going all eschatology on us–talking of things to come, then, so can I. And the things to come are full of meaning for the life of the church. We may even say that the things to come give life to the church because all the things to come find fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth.

I don’t want to restate the hundreds of articles I wrote on this topic in the last two years, but I do want to state the inevitable dilemma some of you will face as you approach the new season. The dilemma will take on different facets, but as I see it, you will be debating whether certain conversations should be a part of the life-stream of family life. The question is quite simple: will Fauci control the vocabulary of the new creation starting on November 28th? Or, will we let the church set the stage for all doings and happenings? If we are unsure how to answer this question, Fauci wins automatically.

As Advent approaches, we are approaching the dawning of prophecies and promises. For the Christian, Advent signals an expectation for a new language to enter into the eco-system of church life. My encouragement is to begin thinking through the rituals and rites of life through the lens of the calendar. Necessarily, this means that we avoid the temptation to relish in the land of Fauci-like hypothesis. While we don’t–most of us–subscribe to the prophecies of Fauci, we need to also avoid the apocalyptic speech that embroiders the other side of the debate. We need to avoid the other extreme of allowing the anti-Fauci lexicon to shape us when we should allow ourselves to be shaped by the lexicon of the church. In sum, what I am arguing is that we don’t meander from Fauci to Focault. We do not need to quarantine forever and we don’t need to believe that Nietzschean doom comes upon us unless we isolate ourselves in some Benedictine island.

No, in fact, the best answer to Fauci is the Church Calendar. Let me say that again to my evangelical friends who are somewhat skeptical of my clerical collar: the best answer to Fauci, and Focault, for that matter, is the Church Calendar. We must live these remaining weeks of Pentecost/Trinity with the full expectation that no matter who our modern prophets may be, we follow another prophetic line that builds our longing for a final prophet who brings blessings far as the curse is found.

So, dads and moms, get ready for Advent, Christmas, and all the other goodies. Don’t let the false grammarians dictate your festivities. Do life with church and folk; with saint and paint; with prayer and cake layer; with singing and ringing; with smells and bells. Stay even closer to church life in sorrow and cheer. In fact, if I had a t-shirt campaign, it would read, “Calendar much, Fauci less!”

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On Evangelical Youth Leaving the Church

I would like to add some general conversation starters to the observations that many are making in our day, most notably, Russell Moore, concerning the loss of the evangelical youth.

Moore’s argument is that young evangelicals are “leaving the church because they believe that the church itself does not believe what it teaches.” The argument used by Moore is a bit of a switch from the previous assertions that evangelical support of dogmatic theological positions and the brashness of a Trump presidency have driven the youth away from the tradition of Billy Graham. So, which is it: is it our dogma concerning creational ordinances like “no sex before marriage,” or “prohibition of same/sex union,” or “deep commitment to Nicene Religion”? Or, is it that we don’t believe any of it, after all?

Set aside the ongoing contradiction of prevailing voices in our culture, there are deeper questions to consider beyond the statistical evidence-whatever the ultimate cause may be.

For instance, under what theological framework did these children grow up throughout their lives? Was it a theology of fear or one that pressed the claims of King Jesus? Are we merely seeing the results of faulty theological paradigms coming home to roost like dispensationalism, public education, civic-calendar-driven church life, female-led congregations, invitationism/revivalism/Finneyism?

What I am seeing on the ground is that the youth are leaving because they have been catechized in particular trendy hashtags. They are not leaving because their pastor supported Republican figures explicitly, but because they supported Biden’s policies implicitly.

I would be curious to analyze these youths straying from conservative churches to find out whether they affirm basic Christian doctrines on sexuality and classic economic policies. My suspicion is that when orthodox Christendom is practiced it serves as a marker to determine inclinations, and what we have discovered is that many were headed towards Leftism all along and that the Trump presidency–for instance– was ultimately an easy rationale used to protect what was clearly in their hearts and also the obvious trajectories of their minds.

On the other hand, we do need to analyze carefully from whence these youth are coming. My small denomination has grown these past 18 months, and there are always cases of apostasy, but it is nowhere close to what evangelicalism is experiencing broadly. I suspect other biblically saturated denominations are experiencing similar trends.

The response–as I have argued for a long time–must be grounded in allegiance and rituals. Allegiances to the good and formational rituals keep first things first with the youth. Conservative politics is the result, in my estimation. But it is a consequence of a beautiful life lived and a joyful liturgy practiced. When the youth ground themselves in the Creeds and Classical Theology, there is no reason to pursue leftists ideologies afterward; at least not naturally.

There are always exceptions, but I suspect the real reason for the youth leaving was not Trump, or that churches do not believe their own dogma, but ultimately, history provides big episodes that mark eras, and our era is marked by a trivialization of the holy. We have allowed our causes and hobbies to keep us from growing up into maturity and Christ-likeness. We have given our children a pass from liturgical education and we formulated liturgies of our own divorced from the holy city and added to that, our sense of selectivity when it comes to friends and spouses has derailed us from the covenant vision. We have allowed convenience to challenge our convictions.

I don’t find any joy in the loss of the evangelical youth, but I do find renewed opportunities for the liturgical education: a ritualized worship that draws the child and then the youth, and then the married man and woman into the gates of Jerusalem for generations to come. 

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Why We Hate Advent

No one likes to long for things. No one likes to wait. We are consumerist beings expecting everything to be hand-delivered not one second too late; preferably, one second earlier. It’s for these and other reasons that we hate Advent! It’s perhaps for this reason also that we join together Advent and Christmas conceptually. We don’t grasp what Schmemann called the “bright sadness,” of this Season, so we rather incorporate it with a happier season.

But we usually don’t hate Advent intentionally; we hate it emotionally–almost like a visceral reaction. We hate it because words like longing, waiting, expecting, hoping don’t find a comfortable home in our hearts or vocabulary. So, I propose we begin the process of un-hating Advent. But we can’t simply un-hate something we have long hated. It takes time to undo our habits. We must try to see Advent for what it really is; a season of practice. It’s a season to warm up our vocal cords for the joys to the world, to strengthen our faith for the adoration of the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Few of us treasure the practice time, rehearsal, the conductor’s corrections to our singing, the coach’s repetitive exercises before the big game. So, there we have it. We hate Advent because we don’t like to practice. Sometimes, however, the solution to stop hating something is to reframe the way you think about that something. Imagine you sit under a tedious professor who reads from his notes with no modulation in his voice. To make matters worse, he rarely if ever looks up to engage your eyes, but buries himself in his manuscript. While the material is wonderful, you long for that intimate connection between the content and the character. The next class comes along and suddenly you have an engaging lecturer who is interested in connecting with you. He will add a couple of funny lines to ensure you are awake. Those professors almost always make a greater emotional impact than the tedious lecturer.

Advent is like longing with an engaging professor who not only enjoys teaching but looks up to you and seeks to connect with your eyes and heart. If adventing (waiting) was only a process of listening without engaging, it would be a duty without pleasure. But Advent is being guided by someone who looks into the eyes of affliction and who talks out of experience. So, yes, it’s about perspective. To Advent is to wait actively, to long hopefully and to engage the dynamic prophets who prophesy and proclaim Messiah Jesus.

If we begin to see Advent as an engaging practice for Christmas, suddenly our distaste for the season before Christmas will decrease and our longing will be more meaningful. Perhaps we won’t hate Advent after all. We will long together with the prophets and those first-century saints who practiced well and embraced Christmas with sounding joy.

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The New Church Year

Today marks the first Sunday of Advent. It is the beginning of a rich season of anticipation and preparation. 

For centuries Christians have used the month prior to the celebration of Christ’s incarnation to ready their hearts and their homes for the great festival.

Advent is a time to consider our lives in light of our calling. We will be busy with many things in the weeks ahead, but let us not be too busy to consider the magnificent descent of God for us in human flesh. Let’s place ourselves in the story of our forefathers and walk with them as they sang and hoped for their redeemer.

This is the beginning of a new year; a time to re-consider our walk. If Christ did become man for us have we become man and woman as he expects of us? This is a season of examination, and it will not take long to realize that we have failed to live as we should.

In this season, we will sing great hymns of expectations; great hymns pertaining to Christ’s coming for us. This will cause us to anticipate even more the season ahead. The best way to prepare for the coming of the Lord is to make straight His pathway in our hearts.