As the  wheel of the year rolls pas the winter solstice we thing about our church calendar: How does it relate to our lives? How does it mesh with our secular calendar? What are its seasons and what is their meaning? With this article the Adult Education Team begins a detailed explanation of the calendar. Further descriptions of the season will follow as each season begins. Look for them in The Banner, the service bulletins, and on our website.

Calendars are based on recurring events in nature: spring, summer, fall, and winter (solar calendars of 365 days) or on the phases of the moon (lunar calendars, 12 months of 28 days). The calendar of the Christian church year makes use of both kinds. It developed over many centuries, sometimes appropriating rituals common to many cultures, to tell the story of Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection as an expression of Christian the theology.

The central event of Christianity is the Resurrection. An annual remembrance of Christ’s passion is therefore the central event of the Christian year, so it was the first event to be placed in the calendar. But the events of Holy Week took place at the Jewish Passover, and cannot be remembered without reference to it. Passover occurs in the lunar month Nisan. Because the lunar year is 29 days shorter than the solar year, an adjustment was necessary if Easter and Passover were roughly to coincide.

So Easter Day was made what is called a movable feast, falling on the Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox (March 21). The full story of the Passion is commemorated in the days of Holy Week, leading up to Easter Day. The Easter season was established as lasting seven weeks, ending on the Day of Pentecost (a word that

Dates

2009

2010

2011