“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
