The Christian year structures worship in the United Church of Christ. Because its themes mirror a full range of human experience, the practice of the Christian year enables worshipers to unite more fully with Christ and the community of faith.
The United Church of Christ stands in the tradition of the apostolic church and the Protestant Reformation. Drawing on these deep historic roots, its congregations practice the Christian year in public worship.
Christmas and Easter are basic to the rhythm of Christian worship each year. But the Christian year is more than these two events—it comprehends the entire calendar year. Each portion of the year, in varying ways, leads us to enter fully the life of Christ and the community of the faithful.
The Half Year of the Lord
The Christian year is divided into two halves. The time from Advent until Pentecost is the half-year of the Lord. The time from Pentecost until Advent is the half-year of the church.
The Christian year begins at Advent, the four-week season which precedes Christmas. Readings that speak that hope and expectation are used in worship. We recall the lives of John the Baptist and Mary, the mother of Jesus. An Advent wreath with four candles is commonly used. Each week the appropriate number of candles are lighted in order to designate how close Christmas has come.
Following Advent, the twelve-day season of Christmas, during which we celebrate the nativity of our Lord, extends from December 25 until January 6. Worship once again includes familiar readings and the singing of Christmas music. It is a time of joy for promises kept and hopes fulfilled.
The season of Epiphany begins on January 6th and runs until the beginning of Lent at Ash Wednesday. The day of Easter, fixed by a lunar formula, determines when Ash Wednesday appears in the calendar. Thus, Epiphany varies in length from year to year but its meaning remains the same—the unfolding to the world of the nature and power of the Christ just born. We hear stories of Simeon and Anna perceiving the true nature of Christ and affirming the testimony of the birth. The season also points to the development of Jesus’ self-awareness, marked by his baptism. Correspondingly, it is a time of reflection on a commitment to Jesus as the one offered to fulfill human needs and longings.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts for forty days, excluding Sundays, until Easter Day. The season begins with the imposition of ashes, a practice reclaimed from the historic church by many in contemporary worship. Lent is marked by additional times of devotion and personal reflection. It is a season to come to terms with ourselves, on the heels of being asked to come to terms with Jesus. It is a time to recognize our culpability in the shortcomings of the world that can deny the one whom Simeon and Anna acknowledged. Lent turns the tables on us.
Holy Week concludes Lent and is marked by the use of palm branches, Maundy Thursday Communion that recalls the Last Supper and the offering of the great commandment, and a Good Friday vigil of penitence.
The season of Easter begins with the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. This can begin on Saturday evening with a service of light or on Easter morning. The theme is always the theme of new life and renewal. The celebration of Holy Communion at Easter commonly takes place as an experience shared with those first disciples for whom the risen Christ was made known in the breaking of the bread and the pouring of the wine. The season lasts for fifty days until the day of Pentecost. The entire season is one of joy and belief in the possibilities of overcoming the barriers imposed by the powers of destruction in our world.
The Half Year of the Church
The day of Pentecost is a celebration of the birth of the church and the coming of the Holy Spirit to our community. It begins the half-year of the church. We call the days of Pentecost “ordinary days”—routine days during which we experience growth and development. These are days of nurturing in the church, the family of God’s people.
The power and presence of the Holy Spirit become the source of faith, comfort, and strength to move forward and engage the world around us in efforts to advance the realm of God. This is a long season as befits a time of pilgrimage and nurturing.
A Mirror of Human Experience
The practice of the Christian year is spiritually powerful because its themes mirror our human experience so completely that we are able to link ourselves with Jesus Christ and the community of faith in ways that endure. As normal human beings, we live our lives with the same dynamics that the Christian year acknowledged. We approach life with hope and expectation (Advent). It is hoped that allows us to set goals, plan, and move forward. It is hoped that enables us to envision new days and make things happen for the good. Life without expectation—Advent—is an empty life.
Personal strength is built upon hopes being realized and promises fulfilled—Christmas. To know that promises can be kept is the basis for trust in all our lives. Christmas assures us that we can live with trust in our world.
Human life is also marked by the process of unfolding wisdom. Epiphany mirrors this human dynamic and helps us make truth our own and formulate our beliefs.
As human beings, we also need to come to terms with our shortcomings. We need to see the part that we contribute to the barriers that exist in human relationships in our world. We need to come to terms with failure. Lent is our time of being honest with ourselves—the spiritual parallel to the watershed experience in human life.
To be alive is to find a new direction and resolve in the aftermath of falling short. To live full lives we need to go forward. Trouble cannot be the final word in our human experience. Easter is the spiritual word for the human experience of new beginnings and opportunities.
Most of life is spent in routine. We do what we have to do. We develop relationships and find moments of peace and joy. Pentecost is the spiritual parallel of this process—the time of growth and maturity in the routine of life.
The Christian year in worship is the portrayal and the ceremonial of what living a fully human existence is all about. It combines the realities of human living with the message of Holy Scripture for personal wholeness.