Happy New Year?
Advent starts on Sunday 28 November. It is also the beginning of the church calendar. With it comes the colors of the church season. Here is a chart display the different color throughout the year.
Advent Series
Our Advent Series from Dr. Wilda Gafney’s, “A Woman’s Lectionary for the Whole Church,” a womanist perspective on Scripture and the church calendar. We will be looking at four “annunciations,” or proclamations of who God is, through four women in Jesus’ lineage: Hagar, Sarai, Manoah’s Wife and Hannah. The series will be accompanied by a virtual Wednesday night study.
The Christian year includes two central cycles focused on major events in the life of Christ: the Christmas cycle [Advent-Christmas-Epiphany] and Easter cycle [Lent-Easter-Pentecost].
Each of these seasons begins with a time of preparation and anticipation followed by a time of celebration. A season designated as Ordinary Time follows each cycle.
The word "ordinary" here does not mean “routine” or “not special.” Instead, it refers to the "ordinal numbers" [first, second, third, etc.] used to name and count the Sundays [such as the Third Sunday after Epiphany]. This term comes from the Latin ordinalis, meaning "numbered" or "ordered," and tempus ordinarium, “measured time.”
The first period of Ordinary Time, called the Season after Epiphany, begins on Epiphany Day and ends on the day before Ash Wednesday [the beginning of Lent]. The central theme of this season is the calling of disciples and the early ministry of Jesus.