{"id":3254,"date":"2012-04-02T07:03:50","date_gmt":"2012-04-02T12:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joeljmiller.com\/?p=3254"},"modified":"2012-11-22T20:44:05","modified_gmt":"2012-11-23T02:44:05","slug":"what-the-church-calendar-is-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2012\/04\/what-the-church-calendar-is-for\/","title":{"rendered":"What the church calendar is for"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"calendar<\/a>
Calendar illustration, Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In these final days before Easter, it\u2019s worth contemplating the church year. Why do Christians follow a liturgical calendar? People cannot help but follow some sort of calendar. The question is whether we do it consciously or unconsciously. Our spiritual health can depend on how we answer that question.<\/p>\n

Consider the various schedules and agendas set for us; there\u2019s an election calendar, an agricultural calendar, a sports calendar, a work calendar, a commercial calendar, etc. <\/p>\n

Focus on the just the last of those. Drive past a shopping mall a week after Halloween. Everything is red and green, peppermint and fake snow. Kids are still working on their haul from Halloween, and we haven\u2019t even experienced Thanksgiving, yet stores are hyping the so-called Holiday-shopping season. Who\u2019s agenda drives that calendar \u2014 and how does that affect us?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about priorities and values<\/h2>\n

We mark time with our priorities. Our calendars represent our values, and we conform our lives to our calendars. That\u2019s why Jesus, as a Jew, celebrated all the Jewish feasts, Holy Days like Passover and Hanukkah. They were integral to the Jewish experience and identity, marking God\u2019s saving activity on behalf of his people. To be Jewish was (and is) to celebrate Passover.<\/p>\n

Events of the past compose our present. So to value and honor those events \u2014 and to allow them to more consciously shape our present \u2014 we make them present to us through observance. When it comes to God\u2019s saving activity in human history, observance is all the more meaningful and spiritually transformative. <\/p>\n

We are marked by how we mark time. Celebrating Easter makes present the power of the Resurrection and all of its transformative power in our lives. That\u2019s why the early Christians observed Easter each year, and other Holy Days as well. They were identifying with those events, making them present, and transforming their lives in light of their significance. <\/p>\n

Some Christians are unsure what to do with saints\u2019 days on the calendar, days that commemorate the lives of people like Patrick of Ireland or the first Christian martyr Stephen. The key is to look at their lives and examples<\/a>, the power of God\u2019s grace manifest in their lives, and inventory our own lives. We can use their example as a prod. Am I sharing the faith like Patrick? Am I laying down my life like Stephen?<\/em><\/p>\n

Redeeming the time<\/h2>\n

This calendar dynamic works unconsciously as well as consciously \u2014 and the results can vary significantly. The agendas that drive our commercial, corporate, or entertainment calendars are not bad in themselves. Neither are they good in themselves. Our priorities must be reordered so they serve our sanctification instead of becoming accidental obstacles to it. If we are not consciously doing that, we often react to the prompts and signals of the world\u2019s many calendars with little awareness of how we are conforming our efforts and energies to their agendas.<\/p>\n

I think of two verses when I consider this issue: \u201cteach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom\u201d from Psalm 90, and \u201cmak[e] the most of the time, because the days are evil\u201d from Ephesians 5. The first tells me that we can number our days poorly or well, foolishly or wisely, by our standards or by God\u2019s, and that our hearts are transformed by numbering our days well. <\/p>\n

The second tells me that there\u2019s something at stake here. If we do not redeem the time we\u2019re given, we will suffer the consequences. The evil of our times will get a leg up on us. The church offers us seasons like Advent and Lent<\/a>, days like Easter and Pentecost, Annunciation<\/a> and Christmas<\/a> to help us redeem the time and transform our hearts. That\u2019s what calendars can do.<\/p>\n

Calendars not only direct our time, they tell us what our time means. So the vital question for us is: Which calendar do we put first?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In these final days before Easter, it\u2019s worth contemplating the church year. Why do Christians follow a liturgical calendar? People cannot help but follow some sort of calendar. The question is whether we do it consciously or unconsciously. Our spiritual health can depend on how we answer that question. Consider the various schedules and agendas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1270,"featured_media":3255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[122,412],"class_list":["post-3254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-life","tag-church-year","tag-liturgical-calendar"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat the church calendar is for<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In these final days before Easter, it's worth contemplating the church year. Why do Christians follow a liturgical calendar? 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