A Cycle of Light, A
Cycle of Life: The Christian Calendar

Dr Alex Tang

Summary

We all mark time in various ways: birthdays,
anniversaries or cultural festivals. The Old Testament Israelites have their
religious festivals. Christians too have a way to mark time: the Christian
calendar. We should return to our roots and use the Christian calendar to mark
time with Jesus.

1.      Introduction: Marking Time

Do you get the feeling that time is
moving faster and faster? Didn’t we just finish Christmas? And now it is
coming to the end of January. How do we mark time? We all mark time with the
minutes and hours by our watch, and the days by our calendars. Our calendars
show us the months. We used to have paper calendars but now they are electronic
on our PDA and computers. They even beep to remind us of important
appointments. What other ways do we mark time?

Birthdays

Anniversaries

School days and school holidays especially the exam
period

Festivals: Chinese New Year

Payday

Annual and performance bonus days

Family events: birth, death, children graduating

Vacation time

We often mark time in relation to
what is important to us. How many days to our payday? How many days until
school ends and the holidays begin? How many days to the examinations? We
normally mark time to something that is coming than time for something
happening. We normally mark time around events. If we examine the way we mark
time we will discover what is really important to us (not what we say is
important) and what our lives revolve around.

2.      The Jewish Way of Keeping Time: Religious
Festivals

God knows how important marking
time is. So he gave the Old Testament Israelites a way to mark time –
religious festivals. These religious festivals were related to Temple worship. And temple worship reminded
the people of Yahweh, their God. Hence their whole year revolved round their
religious festivals. There were daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly festivals,
and great stress was laid on the regular observance of them in every particular
one. During three major festivals or feasts, every male in the family have to
go to Jerusalem.
This meant planning for the journey. So the ancient Israelites mark time by
remembering how many days to the Feast of the Tabernacles or how long were
after Pentecost.

(1.) The regular festivals were,

(a) The weekly Sabbath (Lev.
23:1–3; Ex. 16:23–29; 20:8–11; 31:12, etc.).

(b) The seventh new moon, or the
feast of Trumpets (Num. 28:11–15; 29:1–6).

(c) The Sabbatical year (Ex.
23:10, 11; Lev. 25:2–7).

(d) The year of jubilee (Lev.
25:8–16; 27:16–25).

(2.) The great feasts were,

(a) The Passover.

(b) The feast of Pentecost (of weeks).

(c) The feast of Tabernacles  (of ingathering).

On each of these occasions every
male Israelite was commanded “to appear before the Lord” (Deut.
27:7; Neh. 8:9–12). The promise that God would protect their homes (Ex.
34:23, 24) while all the males were absent in Jerusalem at these feasts was always
fulfilled.

“During the whole period
between Moses and Christ we never read of an enemy invading the land at the
time of the three festivals. The first instance on record is thirty-three years
after they had withdrawn from themselves the divine protection by imbruing
their hands in the Saviour’s blood, when Cestius, the Roman general, slew
fifty of the people of Lydda while all the rest had gone up to the feast of
Tabernacles, A.D. 66.”

These festivals, besides their
religious purpose, had an important bearing on the maintenance among the people
of the feeling of a national unity. The times fixed for their observance were
arranged so as to interfere as little as possible with the industry of the
people.

(a)The Passover
was kept just before the harvest commenced,

(b)Pentecost at
the conclusion of the corn harvest and before the vintage,

(c)the feast of
Tabernacles after all the fruits of the ground had been gathered in.

(3.) The Day of Atonement

The tenth day of the seventh month
(Lev. 16:1, 34; 23:26–32; Num. 29:7–11). The great annual day of
humiliation and expiation for the sins of the nation, “the fast”
(Acts 27:9), and the only one commanded in the law of Moses. It was kept on the
tenth day of the month Tisri, i.e., five days before the feast of Tabernacles,
and lasted from sunset to sunset.

In the Old Testament, the concept
of sacred time became a vehicle for teaching the faith (for example, Exodus
12-13).

3.      The Christian Way of Keeping Time: The
Christian Calendar

When we think of the Christian
church year, most of us think only of Christmas and Easter. We joke about some
Christians as CEO Christians. They attend church on Christmas and Easter Only.
The observance of the seasons of the church year has a long history in the life
of the Christian Faith. When most of the people in the church were poor and had
no access to education, the church festivals and the cycle of the church year
provided a vehicle for teaching the story of God and his actions in human
history. Planned and purposeful observance of the Christian seasons and
festivals can become an important tool for education and discipleship in the
Faith, as well as a vehicle for spiritual growth and vitality. Now, before you
shut your mind and think of the Christian calendar as only a Catholic calendar,
let me introduce you to some protestant churches that follow the calendar:

Anglican/Episcopal

Lutheran

Methodism

Anabaptism

Presbyterians

As a congregation moves through the
church calendar, they are presented in an organized way with the opportunity to
talk about, reflect upon, and respond to the entire range of faith confessions
that lie at the heart of the Christian Faith. This is important, not only for
the vitality of the whole community, but especially for children to become
aware in the context of community celebration those things that are important
to their Faith (Deut 6:20-25).

The Christian calendar is organized
around two major centers of Sacred Time: A cycle of Light: Advent, Christmas,
and Epiphany; and a cycle of life: Lent, Holy Week, and Easter, concluding at
Pentecost. The rest of the year following Pentecost is known as Ordinary Time,
from the word "ordinal," which simply means counted time (First
Sunday after Pentecost, etc.).
Ordinary Time is used to focus on various aspects of the Faith,
especially the mission of the church in the world.

(1)   A Cycle of Light (Advent, Christmas,
Epiphany)

Season/Celebration

Period/Date

Purpose Theme

Season of Advent (Dec
3 - Dec 24, 2006)

Advent (coming)

4 Sundays.

Christ's first and second coming- thanksgiving and
anticipation.

[Repent and be ready for the second coming of the Lord. Allow
for the Messiah to be birthed in your heart.]

Season of Christmas
(Dec 25, 2006 - Jan 5, 2007)

Nativity of the Lord

Christmas day

25th December

The Twelve Days of Christmas (Dec 25, 2006 - Jan 5, 2007)

Celebration of Christ's birth

The Incarnation

[Embrace the incarnation. Let Christ be born within you in
a new way]

The Eastern Orthodox Church
celebrates Epiphany on January 6th rather than Christmas. Historically, the
celebration of Christ's birth on December 25th started after the conversion of
the Roman emperor Constantine at the beginning of the 4th century AD. During
his reign, the traditional pagan festival which took place at the winter
equinox in celebration of the sun god was replaced by the commemoration of the
birth of Christ. Christmas is not a pagan festival but the Christian festival
that replaced it. It is unlikely that December 25th accurately reflects the
birth of Christ which is generally thought to be around springtime in the
Western hemisphere (March-April). Practically it would be difficult to
celebrate both Christ's birth and death at the same time.

Season of Epiphany
(Ordinary Time) (Jan 6 - Feb 20, 2007)

Epiphany of the Lord

After Epiphany

(Jan 6 2007)

(Jan 7- Feb 20) About 8 weeks

God manifest in Christ. The manifestation of Christ as a
savior, not only to the Jews but to all of mankind.

[make commitment for Christ to be manifested in your life]

Baptism of the Lord

Signs and wonders

Transfiguration: The glory of the Lord revealed.

Christ in his ministry as he manifest to all that he is
the Son of God.

[learn to manifest Christ through the witness of life and
deeds]

(2)   A Cycle of Life (Lent, Holy Week, Easter,
Pentecost)

Season of Lent (Feb
21 - April 7, 2007)

Lent (spring)

Ash Wednesday

Passion Week/Holy Week

Palm Sunday

Maundy Thursday

Good Friday

40 weekdays

First day of Lent (Feb 21, 2007

(April 1 – 6 , 2007)

The Sunday before Easter

Thursday before Easter

(April 5, 2007)

Friday before Easter (April 6, 2007)

A time to travel with Jesus toward his death. Although
under constant attacks, he ministers to the crowd.

[Time for Repentance]

The suffering of Christ

[Lent is a time for repentance through self-examination
and renewal through identification with the journey of Jesus. A time for
prayer, fasting and almsgiving]

Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem

The Last Supper, Gethsemane,
betrayal, arrest and trial

The Crucifixion-death of Christ

Season of Easter
(April 9-May 27, 2007)

Easter Virgil

Easter Day

Ascension Day

Day of Pentecost

(April 8, 2007)

Sixth Sunday of Easter

(May 27, 2007)

Resurrection of the Lord

The ascension of Christ

The coming of the Holy Spirit

Season After Pentecost
(Ordinary Times) (May 28 - December 1, 2007)

After Pentecost

Trinity Sunday

Reign of Christ or Christ the King

About 25 weeks

First Sunday after Pentecost

Last Sunday after Pentecost

Celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit/Birth of the
Church. Time to embrace the teaching of the church.

Celebration of the Trinity

Celebrating Christ the King

The importance of the Church calendar
is that it provides a coherent way of telling the Christian story throughout
the year in a way that reinforces what we believes and provides opportunity to
proclaiming these truths to others.

4.      Lessons for us

(1)   Remembering the Life of Christ our Lord

Col. 2:6

So
then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7
rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and
overflowing with thankfulness.

How do we know God?

·
Creation

·
Word

·
Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is the incarnate God.
What this means is that God became a human being. We cannot see God who is
spirit and invisible. We can see his handiwork which is creation. For God
himself, we can look at Jesus and see him. That is why the gospels are so
precious because the gospels gave us a lot of details about the life of Jesus
Christ. As we study the life of Christ, we come to know God himself. And what
is more wonderful is that as we immerse ourselves in the life of Christ, we
become one with him, being given a taste of his divine name.

Have you ever being so engrossed in
a movie, so identified with the main character that you flinch when he or she
get hurt and feel pain when his or her heart was broken?

That is what entering into the life
of Christ entails. It is being identified with Christ in his life and death.

Martin Luther wrote,

“In his life Christ is an
example, showing us how to live;

In his death he is sacrifice,
satisfying our sins;

In his resurrection, a conqueror;

In his ascension, a king;

In his
intercession, a high priest.”

The Christian calendar takes us
through the life of Christ once a year. You know what they say about acquiring
a skill? Repetition, repetition, repetition. So being repetitively involved in
the life of Christ makes us Christlike.

(2)   Refocusing on the Work of Christ our Lord
(The Eighth Day)

How many days are there in a week?
7 days or 8 days? God created the work in six days and he rested on the
seventh. Then on Sunday, on the eighth day, Jesus was resurrected and God began
his work of re-creation. So there are 8 days in a week and we are in the 8th
day. The Christian calendar reminds us that we are working together with God in
a mission to redeem creation. That is our calling and purpose. There is a six
month period after Pentecost called ordinary times. This is the period to
remind us of the work of the church. This is the period of our work with God.

2 Cor. 4: 4-6

4 The
god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see
the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For
we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your
servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of
darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Being focused on the life reminds
us of his mission. Christ is here on the eighth day to redeem a fallen
creation. There is a new word being used nowadays- MISSIONAL. What is means is
to align your mind, your heart and your life to God’s purpose.
God’s purpose is to redeem his fallen creation. The word comes out of the
emergent/emerging church movement. This is a group of Christians who is
reexamining how to ‘do church’ and ‘be church’ in the
21st century in the midst of iPod, Internet, mp3, post modern and
interconnected digital world.

(3)   Recentering the Worship of Christ our Lord

Phil 3:8-11

8 What
is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider
them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a
righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through
faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I
want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of
sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to
attain to the resurrection from the dead.

We need to be reminded again and
again that Christ is our center. Christ is our center because he is the
fulfillment of all the promises made to us by God. He is the head of the
church. Another metaphor is that the church is the body of Christ. As such, we
need to continually refocus on him who deserves to be worshipped. We have a
tendency to stray, to follow after false gods.

Conclusion

We all mark time in various ways:
birthdays, anniversaries or cultural festivals. The Old Testament Israelites
have their religious festivals. Christians too have a way to mark time: the
Christian calendar. We should return to our roots and use the Christian
calendar to mark time with Jesus. This will continuously help us to

·
Remember
the Life of Christ our Lord

·
Refocus
on the Work of Christ our Lord

·
Recenter
our Worship of Christ our Lord

Soli Deo Gloria