Sunday is the key and the center to the whole Church Year - 1 Corinthians 16:2; Acts 20:7. It moves up to the status of the Lord's Day very quickly - Revelation 1:10. Originally it was observed as was the Sabbath, from evening to evening - Leviticus 23:32. This gives us an understanding of the primitive Christian worship recorded in Acts 20:7-11. Every Lord's Day was in a real sense a little Easter. On Sunday God the Father began the creation of the world - on Sunday our Lord rose from the dead to give us the assurance that we too shall rise - on Sunday the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples at Pentecost. It was natural, then that the first Christian Creed should be based on the thought that Jesus is Lord - Romans 10:9; Philippians 2:9-11.
First traces of the Church Year show that it began with Easter and ended with the Passion of our Lord. Later developments showed a beginning at Christmas or Epiphany. Still later it took the form which we have today, beginning with four Sundays of preparation, called Advent.
Advent has the dual purpose of reminding us of our
Lord's first Coming into the world at Bethlehem, and also of our Lord's second
Coming to Judgment.
Colors: Blue and Violet
- Signifies repentance
Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem - Luke 2:1-20.
Colors: White - The color of purity - of God and of the
Holy Angles
Epiphany (Jan. 6) now celebrates the coming of the Magi - Matthew
2:1-12. The earlier emphasis for the Epiphany of our Lord was on the
Baptism of Jesus. Saint Chrysostom says: "Why then is this day called
Epiphany? Because was not known when He was born that He became manifest
to all but when he was baptized, for up to this day He was unknown to the
majority" - Matthew 3:13-17.
Colors: White - The color of purity - of God and of the
Holy Angles
Lent is a period of forty days of preparation leading up to the Feast of the
Resurrection of our Lord. (Sundays are excluded in this counting.) The word
"Lent" is actually the old Anglo-Saxon word for
"Spring." The forty days of preparation came from the forty days
of fasting by which our Lord prepared Himself for His ministry - Matthew 4:1-11.
Colors: Blue and Violet
- Signifies repentance
The Holy Week brings the Christian nearer than ever to the
death of the Savior and the wonder of the events on Holy Thursday and Good
Friday. Holy Thursday is sometimes called Maundy Thursday from the Old
Latin name for this day, "Dies Manda-tum," i.e., "the day of the
new commandment." The largest part of the world still calls Friday of
Holy Week "Black Friday." Easter Eve was reserved for the
baptism of adults and new convents to the faith who had been prepared during the
Lenten and Pre-Lenten Season. Their baptism at the time of the
Resurrection signified their "rising to new life."
Colors: Blue and Violet
- Signifies repentance
Easter is the great high point of the entire Church Year. The preaching of the Resurrection won the world for Christ. As the Passover commemorates the central event of the Old Testament, the deliverance from Egypt, so Jesus with the Resurrction accomplished a new supreme deliverance for all mankind, the redemption from sin and death.
The Ascension of our Lord is celebrated forty days after the
Resurrection. He now sits at the right hand of power until He comes again
to judge the living and the dead.
Colors: White - The color of purity - of God and of the
Holy Angles
The Feast of Pentecost is celebrated fifty days after the Resurrection.
It commemorates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles according to
the promise of Christ - John 14:16-17 and John 16:13. Here the chosen messengers
received the gift of tongues - Acts 2:1-13.
Colors: White - The color of purity - of God and of the
Holy Angles
The Festival of the Holy Blessed Trinity comes on the Sunday after
Pentecost. It begins a long season of instruction which is filled up with
the teaching of Christ and His apostles. Into this season fall a great
many of the Church Festivals, such as Reformation Day, Anniversaries,
Dedications, etc. National observances such as Thanksgiving Say, Memorial
Day, Labor Day Sunday, etc. may also be found in this cycle.
Colors: Green - symbolizes
the color of living, growing things, in plants and trees, is used as the symbol
for the growth of the Church through the lessons of the Word in the Trinity
Season.