Ok, so I know that this isn’t my first year with
Christian calendar, in fact it is my twenty-fifth. I have of course experienced
many of the nuances of the seasons from Advent and Christmas, to Epiphany, Lent,
Easter and Pentecost, and of course ordinary time and all of the special days
scattered throughout the year. Growing up I had of coursed celebrated many of
these seasons (and even understood some of them!). In college and in seminary I
learned more about the calendar in depth, and yet for all of my experience and
training, there truly is something eye opening about experiencing the Christian
for the first time as a pastor. These are some of the things that stuck out to
me from my first year in service. There are many seasons and special days that
I will not mention that were still greatly important to me, but the following
examples are the experiences that have surprised me, and that have taught me
the most over the past year.
1) The
Christian Calendar Reorders Time
What do I mean
when I say that Christian Calendar reorders time? We live in a culture that
lives its life within the boundaries and context of many different calendars;
some more obvious than others. When we think of calendar, we in the West of
course think of January first as the beginning and December 31 as the end.
Those who are in school or who are teachers may have another calendar they go
by, beginning in late August or early September or and going until May or June.
Many businesses have a fiscal year that begins in July. In other words, we
order our lives around these calendars, but when we truly follow the Christian
Calendar we find a calendar that is different, and sometimes seemingly in
opposition to these other calendars that lay claim to our lives. This is not a
new concept, I even remember having this explained to me in seminary, and yet
it is totally different once you experience your vocation dedicated to a
calendar different than the other calendars you had been living within the
boundaries of ( for me, this was the school calendar in particular). My first Sunday was the first Sunday of July,
I had just graduated from seminary turning the page on that chapter, and I had
just opened a new chapter in my life through the beginning of my ministry. While my life was at the crossroads of the
end and a beginning, the Christian calendar was right in the middle of Ordinary
time. It was a reminder for me that despite all the new and wonderful things
going on in my life, both the joys and the fears, that the story of God of love
continues on. It was rather humbling, reminding me that I am but in one moment
somewhere between the already and the not yet. As the September approached, a
new school year started, but not for me, I was still in the middle of ordinary
time. And finally as Christ the King Sunday arrived in November, I remember how
odd it felt to be ending a year, and starting a new one, a month before we in
the western culture celebrate the turn of our calendars. Living in the
Christian Calendar reordered time for me in that while as I said a realized I
was but in a certain moment between the already and the not yet, I somehow,
almost paradoxically, was able to live the entirety of the salvation narrative.
2. The
Advent/ Christmas Battle
This dilemma too
is nothing new, it is something that pastors have been griping about for ages,
and yet until you are a pastor you don’t really get it. In seminary I thought I got it, but I didn’t.
What I am referring to is of course the need for churches to skip past advent
straight to Christmas. When you start a new year in the calendar (Advent is the
beginning of the Christian Calendar) what is it saying when the first thing you
talk about is little baby Jesus? What does this say about the span of time
prior to Jesus? What does it say about our view of the importance of what we
call the Old Testament? How do we learn about our need for God incarnate, if we
don’t take time to listen to the prophets’ warnings? All of these questions
seem to be neglected because we want to sing our favorite Christmas hymns and
celebrate the coming of our savior before we take time to prepare for what that
means. This dilemma I expected; what I didn’t account for was how quickly
Christmas was over. That once we were finally in the Christmas season, Christmas
was over for most people. They didn’t want to sing those hymns anymore, they
didn’t want to hear about the little baby, it’s time for Jesus to grow up
now. For wanting to rush into the coming
of Christmas, it is truly amazing that we fail to celebrate it in its fullest.
3.
The Easter Hangover
No I don’t mean the
sheer fatigue that accompanies the festivities of Holy Week, and no I don’t
mean the inability to move after sinning boldly as gluttons at Easter dinner.
The Easter Hangover I refer to here is one that came about three weeks into
Easter. The first two Sundays of Easter were great! After a long but meaningful
Lent, preaching about the good news of
the resurrection, the forgiveness of our sins, grace and so on seemed to just
easily flow from my lips. Then I got to a point where I had to stop and ask,
what now? I can’t just say the same
thing four weeks in a row. Where do I go from here? It was on Ascension Sunday
when I realized that my questions were probably not that different from those
of the disciples. Jesus is resurrected and now ascended, what now? It truly taught me to wait, to pray, to stop
trying to run ahead of where God was leading me. Most of all, it gave me a
greater appreciation for Pentecost. Pentecost was as if a weight was lifted
from my shoulders; the spirit was with us, and now we had a direction to go.
4. The End or the Beginning?
Christ the King
Sunday marks the end of the Christian calendar, but unfortunately it is a day
that is less emphasized in some of the less liturgical churches. For this
reason I knew about the day, but it truly was like experiencing it for the
first time. I got all excited to talk about soteriology and eschatology. I was
excited to talk about the Kingdom come and to talk about communion and our
foretaste of when “Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly
banquet.”[1] I
was excited to talk about that anticipation of the coming Christ. Jump forward
to next week, and it the beginning of Advent and what else am I talking about
than the anticipation of the coming Christ. It may be the greatest transition
in history of calendars, that the end and the beginning, though so completely
different, focus on the same hope. That in the beginning of our journey to its
end, we truly live in a world in need of Emmanuel, God with us, and that as we
begin and end each Christian year we know that our hope is real, because we have
experienced it each day of our lives by putting ourselves within the salvation
narrative. For me that truly is the beauty of the Christian Calendar.
P.S. I do indeed recognize the irony of writing this
during Ordinary time and not at the end of the Christian year.
Daniel,
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful post. How you have grown. I am so proud of you and I know you are about to embark on another great journey.....marriage. Keep writing.
Love,
Patti