Calendars influence the rhythm, routines and cycles of our lives.
It would be wrong to assume that the January through December annual
calendar exerts the greatest influence on all people.
An Example:
Educators and students live by the academic calendar. The "New Year"
begins in August (some may remember when schools started after
Labor Day!). Many educators and their students make "resolutions"
for the coming year. Many parents have reasons to rejoice. All too
soon Christmas and New Year's holidays mark the semester, the school
year is about half over. Then comes Spring Break, that glorious
"advent" of the "Last Day" and the start of Summer Vacation!
Families who have children in school plan their activities and
their vacations around the school calendar.
Individuals in business and industry focus on the fiscal calendar,
that may begin July 1st and end June 30th. Agribusiness, tourism,
real estate, and construction have their routines and cycles
established by their calendar.
Calendars help establish an order, a sense of predictability and
balance in what can be a chaotic existence in an unpredictable
world. The seasonal rhythms and patterns assure us that whatever
else may happen, at least we are able to count on this or that to
occur at its appointed time.
To me, the most influential calendar is the liturgical calendar
used for centuries by main line Christian churches. Its rhythms,
patterns and cycles are rich with spiritual meaning that helps keep
my worldly existence focused on God. The liturgical calendar annually
retells the "Old, Old Story" of God entering human history.
The Christian New Year begins Advent 1 proclaiming "Prepare..."
The Sundays of "Love", "Hope", "Joy" and "Peace" begin a spiritual
journey culminating when "O Come, Emmanuel" is fulfilled in Bethlehem
by the Nativity of Our Lord.
Christmastide (the 12 Days) begins just as the Christmas Carols cease and
the decorations are packed away. The cultures that celebrate Christmas
during the twelve days remember when the Wise Men came: Epiphany,
a major liturgical feast day every January 6th.
The Epiphany season is the season we see how Jesus is "God in man
made manifest". Jesus is more than a great rabbi, a great teacher, a great
healer, or the greatest man in history. The voice from above announces
on the first Sunday after Epiphany and again on the last Sunday after the
Epiphany that "This is my beloved Son..." Jesus is the Son of God.
Ash Wednesday begins the 40 day season of Lent, a time for self-examination
and repentance; for prayer, fasting and self-denial; for reading and
meditating upon God's Holy Word. Observing a Holy Lent prepares
us for a spiritual journey through the Sunday of the Passion (Palm Sunday),
Holy Week, Maundy Thursday (foot washing) and Good Friday.
The Sunday of the Resurrection (Easter Sunday) bursts forth with the dawn
of the greatest hope and the greatest promise ever made: eternal life through
Jesus Christ who conquered death and the grave! Alleluia! The 50 days of
Easter proclaim the resurrection of our Lord and our new life in Christ.
Easter leads to Pentecost (Whitsunday) when God's Holy Spirit empowered
the apostles and empowers us to be disciples. Trinity Sunday and the
long "green season" of teaching (Pentecost Season) leads us to Thanksgiving
time which culminates at year's end with Christ the King Sunday!
I find that the liturgical calendar is the most rational calendar upon which
to center my spiritual life. The rhythms and cycles within the liturgical calendar
invite patterns and themes of study, prayer, devotion, worship and encounters
that can influence our experience of the "chances and changes" of this worldly
existence. There is an order and progression that the secular calendar does not
have. The liturgical calendar is the basic road map of my spiritual journey
that helps me experience and comprehend a revelation of the divine.
Rev. Steve Holcomb, Pastor & Priest-in-Charge
