{"id":1228,"date":"2009-04-23T13:05:55","date_gmt":"2009-04-23T19:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/?p=1228"},"modified":"2009-04-23T13:05:55","modified_gmt":"2009-04-23T19:05:55","slug":"on-the-church-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2009\/04\/on-the-church-year\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Church Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jay Phelan, president of North Park Theological Seminary<\/a>, sends out an electronic newsletter. In his last letter, he reflected on the Church Year, secular holidays and how these days drive our decisions in worship. You might enjoy his reflection, and if you care to comment, please do:<\/p>\n

April 8, 2009<\/p>\n

Dear Colleagues,<\/p>\n

I grew up in congregation that was, shall we say, low church. \u00a0Our big holidays were Easter, Mother’s Day and the Fourth of July. \u00a0Perhaps Mother’s Day was the biggest of all. \u00a0On Mother’s Day if your mother was still alive you would wear a red carnation. \u00a0If she had died you would wear a white carnation. \u00a0As a child that was a source of endless morbid curiosity. \u00a0Whose mother was dead? \u00a0How had they died? \u00a0And what if someone was wearing a pink carnation? \u00a0Was their mother half dead? \u00a0But even more important in my congregation was the contest on Mother’s Day: there was an award for the oldest mother present, the youngest mother present (doesn’t sound like such a good idea today!), the mother with the most children present at worship that morning, and some other categories I have forgotten. \u00a0This meant that Mother’s Day was easily the biggest attendance day of the year for us. \u00a0Every mother wanted to win the “most children present” award.<\/p>\n

We didn’t follow the church year because it was to “churchy”. \u00a0The mainline churches did that. \u00a0\u00a0We were different. \u00a0We went strictly from the Bible and not from “tradition.” \u00a0Even as a child this raised some questions for me. \u00a0Wasn’t the contest on Mothers’ Day a “tradition”? \u00a0Was the July 4th celebration really as important as Pentecost? \u00a0As I got older it troubled me that people were more willing to permit their year to be shaped by months honoring Greek gods and Roman emperors and to permit their week to be shaped by days honoring Norse gods, than they were to let their years and lives be shaped by the story of Jesus Christ. \u00a0I think of this every year during Holy Week. \u00a0After a joyful Christmas, after a somber Lent, time slows down. \u00a0We go through the week with Jesus. \u00a0We anticipate his suffering. \u00a0We go into the darkness with him. \u00a0On Holy Saturday we even enter the quiet of the tomb with him. \u00a0On Sunday the light of resurrection bursts into his, and our, darkness.<\/p>\n

This is our story. \u00a0This is our narrative. \u00a0Living by the narrative of the gospel is more important than living the narrative of national holidays or pagan memories. \u00a0We are a story formed people. \u00a0We must keep hearing and living from that story until it becomes second nature to us-until it becomes us. After all, Paul insisted that we are in Christ; that we died and rose with Christ (Romans 6:3-11). \u00a0This story of Jesus intersects with each of our stories in powerful ways-ways that are universal and ways that are profoundly personal and individual. \u00a0I trust your Easter celebration will be a glorious celebration of your place in the grand story God is telling in Jesus. \u00a0I also pray that the whole story of your life will follow the storyline of the Gospel.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,
\nJay\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jay Phelan, president of North Park Theological Seminary, sends out an electronic newsletter. In his last letter, he reflected on the Church Year, secular holidays and how these days drive our decisions in worship. 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