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Lent
Liturgical Notes on Lent
Theme: Retreating into the Wilderness with Jesus
Dates: Lent is a forty day period before Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday. We skip Sundays when we count the forty days, because Sundays commemorate the Resurrection.
Colors: In most churches, the decorations are purple, the royal color, to prepare for the King. Red may be used during the Holy Week from Palm Sunday through Monday, to denote the Lord’s passion. Focus: Lent is a season of soul searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days.
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Pentecost
Pentecost is the great festival that marks the birth of the Christian church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost means "fiftieth day" and is celebrated fifty days after Easter.
Ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, the twelve apostles, Jesus' mother and family, and many other of His disciples gathered together in Jerusalem for the Jewish harvest festival that was celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover. While they were indoors praying, a sound like that of a rushing wind filled the house and tongues of fire descended and rested over each of their heads. The disciples were suddenly empowered to proclaim the gospel of the risen Christ. Not only did the disciples preach with boldness and vigor, but by a miracle of the Holy Spirit they spoke in the native languages of the people present, many who had come from all corners of the Roman Empire. This created a sensation. The apostle Peter seized the moment and addressed the crowd, preaching to them about Jesus' death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins. The result was that about three thousand converts were baptized that day. (You can read the Biblical account of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-41).
Red is the liturgical color for this day. Red recalls the tongues of flame in which the Holy Spirit descended on the first Pentecost. The color red also reminds us of the blood of the martyrs. These are the believers of every generation who by the power of the Holy Spirit hold firm to the true faith even at the cost of their lives.
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Ascension Sunday
Significance of Ascension Sunday
Ascension Day is one of the great celebrations in the Christian liturgical calendar, and commemorates the bodily ascension of Jesus into heaven. Ascension Day traditionally falls on a Thursday, the fortieth day from Easter day. However, it is celebrated by many in the Christian tradition on the following Sunday.
The Ascension of Jesus is the Christian teaching found in the New Testament when the resurrected Jesus was taken up to heaven in His resurrected body, in the presence of eleven of His Apostles, occurring 40 days after the resurrection. Jesus ascended to His Father and His heavenly throne, and now sits at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. An angel told the watching disciples that Jesus’ second coming would take place in the same manner as His ascension, that is, He would descent in bodily form. The familiar account of Jesus ascending bodily into the clouds is given fully only in the Acts of the Apostles, but implied also in Luke’s Gospel (by the same author).
The liturgical color for Ascension Day is white, the color of the season of Easter.
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Trinity Sunday
Trinity Sunday is one of the few feasts of the Christian Year that celebrates a reality and doctrine rather than an event or person. On Trinity Sunday we remember and honor the eternal God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Trinity Sunday is celebrated the Sunday after Pentecost, and lasts only one day, which is symbolic of the unity of the Trinity.
The Trinity is one of the most fascinating - and controversial - Christian dogmas. The Trinity is a mystery. By mystery the Church does not mean a riddle, but rather the Trinity is a reality above our human comprehension that we may begin to grasp, but ultimately must know through worship, symbol, and faith. It has been said that mystery is not a wall to run up against, but an ocean in which to swim. Essentially the Trinity is the belief that God is one in essence (Greek ousia), but distinct in person (Greek hypostasis). Don't let the word "person" fool you. The Greek word for person means "that which stands on its own," or "individual reality," and does not mean the persons of the Trinity are three human persons. Therefore we believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are somehow distinct from one another (not divided though), yet completely united in will and essence.
White is the liturgical color for Trinity Sunday.
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The Easter Season
Dennis Bratcher
http://www.cresourcei.org/cyeaster. html
Easter or Resurrection Sunday is the day Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus the Christ from the dead. Even before theologians explained the death of Jesus in terms of various atonement theories, the early church saw his resurrection as the central witness to a new act of God in history and the victory of God in vindicating Jesus as the Messiah. This event marks the central faith confession of the early church and was the focal point for Christian worship, observed on the first day of each week since the first century (Acts 20:7;). Easter as an annual celebration of the Resurrection that lies at the center of a liturgical year has been observed at least since the fourth century. Even in churches that traditionally do not observe the other historic seasons of the church year, Easter has occupied a central place as the
high point
of Christian worship.
The date of Easter is not fixed but is determined by a system based on a lunar calendar adapted from a formula decided by the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. In this system, Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring equinox (the day when the sun’s ecliptic or apparent path in the sky crosses the equator, thus making days and nights of equal length). This usually occurs on March 21, which means the date of Easter can range between March 22 and April 25 depending on the lunar cycle.
In the Christian church year, the two major cycles of seasons, Christmas and Easter, are far more than a single day of observance. Like Christmas, Easter itself is a period of time rather than just a day. It is actually a seven-week season of the church year called Eastertide, the Great Fifty Days that begins at sundown the evening before Easter Sunday (the Easter Vigil) and lasts for six more Sundays until Pentecost Sunday (some traditions use the term Pentecost to include these Fifty Days between Easter and Pentecost Sunday). These seven Sundays are called the Sundays of Easter, climaxing on the seventh Sunday, the Sunday before Pentecost Sunday. This is often celebrated as Ascension Day (actually the 40th day after Easter Sunday, which always falls on Thursday, but in churches that do not have daily services it is usually observed the following Sunday). Ascension Day marks not only the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, but his exaltation from servant hood to Ruler and Lord as the fitting climax of Resurrection Day (Eph 1:20-22).
Color used in worship is especially important during the season of Easter (see Colors of the Church Year and The Meaning of Church Colors). The changing colors of the sanctuary from the purple of Lent to the black of Good Friday provide graphic visual symbols for the Lenten journey. The change of colors for Easter and the following Sundays helps communicate the movement of sacred time as well as personal faith journeys.
The Sanctuary colors for Easter Sunday and Ascension Day are white and gold, the colors of sacred days throughout the church year. For the Easter season, white symbolizes the hope of the resurrection, as well as the purity and newness that comes from victory over sin and death. The gold (or yellow) symbolizes the light of the world brought by the risen Christ that enlightens the world, as well as the exaltation of Jesus as Lord and King. The sanctuary color for the other five Sundays of Easter is usually also white and gold, although some churches use Red, the color of the Church, for these Sundays as well as for Pentocost Sunday. During this time worshippers are called to celebrate God's ongoing work in the world through his people, and to acknowledge and reflect upon their purpose, mission, and calling as God’s people, which makes Red an appropriate color for this season.
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Epiphany
In western Christian tradition, January 6 is celebrated as Epiphany.
Epiphany is the climax of the Advent/Christmas Season and the Twelve Days of Christmas, which are usually counted from the evening of December 25th until the morning of January 6th, which is the Twelfth Day. In following this older custom of counting the days beginning at sundown, the evening of January 5th is the Twelfth Night.
The term epiphany means “to show” or “to make known” or even “to reveal.” In Western churches, it remembers the coming of the wise men bringing gifts to visit the Christ child, who by so doing “reveal” Jesus to the world as Lord and King.
The colors of Epiphany are usually the colors of Christmas, white and gold, the colors of celebration, newness, and hope that mark the most sacred days of the church year.
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Baptism of the Lord
The Sunday of the Baptism of the Lord (Sunday after January 6 – liturgical color: White) commemorates the baptism of Jesus, and brings to end the celebration of Christmas. Originally, the Baptism of the Lord was celebrated on Epiphany, which commemorates the coming of the Magi. Over time in the West, however, the celebration came to be commemorated as a distinct observance from Epiphany. The event itself marks the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus.
On this occasion, the Church recalls Our Lord’s second manifestation or epiphany which occurred at His baptism in the Jordan. Jesus descended into the River to sanctify its water and to give them the power to beget sons of God. The event takes on the importance of a second creation in which the entire Trinity intervenes. The commemoration of our Lord’s Baptism provides an opportunity for the entire church to discuss the significance of this Holy Ordinance. For it was in Baptism that we all received that all important call to be disciples of the Lord.
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Ordinary Time
In the context of the liturgical year the term “ordinary” does not mean “usual or average;” it means “not seasonal.” Ordinary Time is that part of the Liturgical Year that lies outside the seasons of Lent-Easter and Advent-Christmas. In Ordinary Time, the Church celebrates the mystery of Christ not in one specific aspect but in all its aspects.
Ordinary Time in the Church’s year occurs in two sections. The first part begins on the Monday following the Christmas season, which ends with the Baptism of the Lord on the Sunday following January 6. It lasts through the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season. Ordinary Time resumes after the Easter Season, on the Monday after Pentecost, and continues until the Saturday before the First Sunday of Advent.
The Sunday that follows the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. The remaining Sundays are numbered consecutively up to the Sunday preceding the beginning of Lent and after Pentecost.
The liturgical color normally assigned to Ordinary Time is green.
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