When We Gather · Stop 6
Why does the church follow its own calendar?
Walk into church at different times of year and the colors change. Blue or purple. Then white. Then green. Then purple, white, red, and a long stretch of green. Nobody is redecorating for fun. The colors are telling a story.
Start this stopSeasons
The church year is a calendar that tells the story of Jesus, season by season, and then starts over. It has two big centers: Christmas and Easter. The other seasons lead up to them or follow them.
Advent comes first, four weeks of waiting and getting ready. Many churches use blue, and some use purple. Christmas lasts twelve days, in white. Epiphany celebrates Jesus as the light for all nations. Lent is forty days of getting ready for Easter, usually in purple. Easter lasts fifty days, in white.
Pentecost remembers the day the Holy Spirit came, usually in red. Then comes the long season after Pentecost, usually in green, the color of growing things. It runs through summer and fall until Advent begins again. Colors can differ a little from church to church.
The church year keeps the story of Jesus in front of you all year long. Your regular calendar has school years and holidays. The church calendar adds a second rhythm, one that keeps walking through Jesus' life again and again.
Read it in your Bible
- Luke 4:16–21. In his hometown synagogue, Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah about good news for the poor and freedom for captives. Then he says: Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
- Ecclesiastes 3:1–4. The teacher says there is a time for everything: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.
The Second Article, from Luther's Small Catechism
I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, in order that I may be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.
Words to know
- Advent. From the Latin for coming; the four weeks of waiting before Christmas. The church waits for Jesus' birth, and for the day he comes again.
- Epiphany. From the Greek for showing; the season when Jesus is shown to be the light for all nations. It starts with the wise men following a star.
- Lent. The forty days of getting ready for Easter, often marked with purple. The forty days echo Jesus' forty days in the wilderness.
- Pentecost. From the Greek for fiftieth; the day the Holy Spirit came, fifty days after Easter. Many call it the birthday of the church.
- Season. A stretch of the church year with its own color and focus. Each season tells a different part of Jesus' story.