As I have personally come to genuinely love the traditional Church Year and its seasons, I have also come to appreciate how it complements the natural seasons of the year.
Of course, this observation has been from my Northern Hemisphere (Midwest, United States specially) perspective. I’d be very curious to learn more about how other parts of the world feel the Church Calendar fits (or doesn’t) alongside their annual weather patterns.
The Church Year uniquely starts just before winter with Advent. As the days get quickly shorter, we prepare and wait for the coming of the Messiah with remembrances of those who waited for Christ’s first coming and our communal anticipation for a future arrival.
Right when the days begin to grow longer, we celebrate that Jesus—the Light of the World—has come. The short Christmastide is followed by a season of Epiphany, when we linger in midwinter and reflect on the revelations and wonders of Jesus so many years ago. We ask ourselves how—despite a still cold world—Jesus’ message of good news for all is still playing out in our midst today.
On the heals of Epiphany, when we are yearning for spring to come more quickly, the forty days of Lent pump on the brakes. During this time we draw closer to Jesus and the scriptures, and challenge our faith with a variety of spiritual exercises.
After Lent has broken us down completely with the intensity of Holy Week (Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday), Easter Sunday arrives with fanfare and great joy. This coincides closely with the start of spring, with the date even being determined by the lunar cycle.
We celebrate our Lord Jesus’ conquering of sin and death with seven weeks of springtime happiness during Eastertide. And then, when spring fever is at its height in so many ways, we celebrate the Holy Spirit and the freshness that comes on Pentecost.
Finally, while the summer takes shape we ease into the long stretch of Ordinary Time. We can be out and about in the world and put all the lessons we have learned during the winter and spring into full action. Simultaneously, it is a time for rest and relaxation with friends, family, neighbors, and others as we travel through this life as one humanity.
Through all these different seasons we come to see certain truths. We discover that God is always being revealed in different ways. We learn that all work and pleasure should be grounded in our faith. And we find that the purposes of our lives is constantly changing as we—and our planet—revolve around the sun.
In the fall (which always arrives faster that you’d expect) a few special holy days will close out the Church Calendar and the sacred cycle will start again, with a sense of routine and newness commingled like always.
Relevant Reformation 