The Seasons of the Church
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Within Christianity, the year is broken into distinct seasons. These seasons fall into what is known as the liturgical year or the church year. The seasons within the church year each emphasize different themes and practices, but they also highlight different aspects of Jesus’ life and the life of faith that we are all living into.
Like any calendar, the church calendar shows important days and events that the church celebrates. Some seasons are short, like Christmas, which is only twelve days. Other seasons are longer, lasting around twenty-five weeks.
Each season has its own colour, and we use those colours in our worship spaces and on the paraments and vestments (altar cloths and clothes that the worship leaders wear during worship services) to add symbolism to each season.
People naturally order their lives in various ways. We measure our work days, the week follows a certain order, we mark special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, the school year, etc. The church uses the liturgical calendar to give shape and direction to the life of faith. It sets a rhythm that helps to tell the story of God, who acts in our lives in different ways at different times.
The seasons of the church year are:
Advent - (begins between Nov. 27 and Dec. 3 each year)
Christmas - (Dec. 25 to Jan. 5)
The Season After Epiphany - (Jan. 6 until the Sunday before Ash Wednesday)
Lent - (begins between Feb. 4 and Mar. 10 each year)
Holy Week - (the week before Easter)
Easter - (between Mar. 22 and Apr. 25 each year)
The Time of the Church - (begins between May 10 and June 13 each year)
Information on Vicar Philip Supeck
to Come
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Lent
season color:
Violet
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The traditions of Lent are derived from the season's origin as a time when the church prepared candidates, or "catechumens," for their baptism into the Body of Christ. It eventually became a season of preparation not only for catechumens but also for the whole congregation. Self-examination, study, fasting, prayer and works of love are disciplines historically associated with Lent. Conversion—literally, the "turning around" or reorientation of our lives towards God—is the theme of Lent. Both as individuals and as a community, we look inward and reflect on our readiness to follow Jesus in his journey towards the cross. The forty days of Lent correspond to the forty-day temptation of Jesus in the wilderness and the forty-year journey of Israel from slavery to a new community.
On Ash Wednesday, ashes are placed on the foreheads of the congregation as a symbol that we have come from dust and one day will return to dust. It is one of many Lenten and Easter customs that remind us of our historical connection with Jewish tradition. With this sobering reminder of life's fragility, we begin a spiritual quest that continues until the Easter Vigil, when new members of the church are often baptised and the entire congregation joins in a reaffirmation of baptismal vows. Most of this time of preparation is symbolized by the color Violet, though the season is bracketed by the mourning Black of Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. As an alternative to Violet, some churches have begun to use brown, beige or gray (the colors of rough unbleached cloth like burlap) to reflect the season's mood of penitence and simplicity. The somber colors are a reminder of the unbleached "sackcloth" worn by mourners and penitents in the Jewish tradition.
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Holy Week
season color:
Red
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During Holy Week, the congregation follows the footsteps of Jesus from his entry into Jerusalem (Palm/Passion Sunday) through the Last Supper (Maundy Thursday) to his death on the Cross (Good Friday). Red, the color of blood and therefore of martyrs, is the traditional color for Palm/Passion Sunday and the next three days of Holy Week. On Maundy Thursday, White or Gold symbolizes the church's rejoicing in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. But at the end of the Maundy Thursday celebration, the mood changes abruptly: all decorations are removed and the Holy Table is stripped bare. The church becomes as empty as a tomb. On Good Friday, either Black or Red is customary—although the use of no color at all is also appropriate. The Red of Holy Week is sometimes a deeper red than the brighter scarlet color associated with Pentecost.
Easter and Pentecost
season color:
White or Gold
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Instead of finding a sealed tomb, the women who had come at dawn on Sunday are surprised by an angel who announces astonishing news: "Jesus has been raised from the dead" (Matt. 28:7). The heavenly messenger invites the mourners to see the empty tomb and then go and tell the disciples that the Crucified One is alive!
The season from Easter to Pentecost is also called the Great Fifty Days, a tradition inspired by the Jewish season of fifty days between Passover and Shavuot—the feast celebrating the giving of the Torah to Moses.
The liturgical color for this season is celebratory White or Gold. When the season ends on Pentecost Sunday, White is replaced with Red. This color reminds the congregation of fire—the symbol of the Holy Spirit. On Pentecost the Holy Spirit overpowered the barriers of culture and race. The first Sunday after Pentecost celebrates the Trinity, and the color again is White or Gold.
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