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THE CYCLE OF THE LITURGICAL YEAR
The Easter Season isn't just Easter Sunday. It's 50 days long, and the last of those days is Pentecost, marking the birth of the Church and the coming of the Holy Spirit with power. (The whole season is supposed to be one big feast and celebration because of the overflowing of Easter joy. But over the years, the institutional church has been really good at putting a damper on such things.) As the last weeks of the season come, the attitude gets a bit more nervous : What's God going to do next? What are we to do next? Just before Pentecost, Christians mark Ascension Day, when Christ left us after His return, telling us to make disciples, and promising to return again to bring His Kingdom to full fruition. But there's still the nervous questions -- we don't have what it takes, even to know what all this means. The last day of the season is Day 50, or Pentecost (Greek
for 'fiftieth'). In older English traditions, it's called
'White Sunday' because the traditional color for church clothing
and decor on Pentecost is white. On that day the Holy Spirit
arrives to be with us, and that Spirit sends a fresh wave of
joy. On that day, the question of 'what next?' is answered with
power -- prophesy, tell the gospel, heal, teach, serve, love.
The Holy Spirit will bring the results. And they went and did
it. If they didn't, I wouldn't have anything to tell you
about. Seasons of the StoryWhy is it that Christians follow a cycle of seasons and holy days? The main reason is that by following this cycle, called 'the church year' or 'liturgical calendar', we can get into the rhythm and flow of the Christian story, to experience it, to learn it, to relive it through the telling and the doing. In Advent, we prepare for God's coming among us. We get ready for the happy occasion by making our own way straight, hearing John the Baptist's call. In Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, who is God with us, the ultimate Christmas gift. We remember that by that same Jesus and through the Holy Spirit, God is still with us today, and has not abandoned us in the crush of daily life. In Epiphany, we celebrate Jesus' revealing Himself to the whole world. Like the three magi with the Christ child, and those looking on when Jesus was baptized, we too are amazed at what God has done, and we realize it was not just for us, but for all. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (which in 2004 is
on 25 February). In Lent, we take a hard, sober look at our own role in bringing
about Jesus' death. We discover our own sin, and realize how weak and two-faced
we are in facing it. We turn to God, who is the only One with the power to
forgive us and change us. In the Paschal (or 'Holy') Week which ends Lent, we
relive Jesus' entry into Jerusalem ('Palm Sunday'), His last commands and His
being seized ('Maundy Thursday'), then abandoned, and executed ('Good Friday'),
and then the stillness of the tomb. The bleak days of Christ's death are called
by the Latin "Triduum" ('three days'). Yet even so we look toward Easter morning
and the empty tomb, where even death does not stop God's forgiveness, and in
fact helped to put it into effect. In Easter (or 'Resurrection Day', April 11 2004), we celebrate God's answer :
We humans killed Jesus, but He didn't stay dead ! And God has forgiven us! In the season after Pentecost (or for Catholics, 'Ordinary Time'), we follow the life of Jesus through Bible readings (the lectionary) and sermons (homilies) that are usually based on those readings, so we can learn what it is to live as followers of Christ in our own lives. We celebrate the Spirit that Jesus sent in His stead, and use the gifts that this Spirit has given us in order to build up each other, the church as a whole, and the society as a whole. Each Christian is a part of the Christian story. The seasons help give us a way to experience how this can be so. |
