“The Church Seasons”

Reign of Christ Sunday

NOvember 24, 2024

The seasons of the church calendar.

INTRODUCTION

We have been on a journey the past twelve months as we have traveled through the Christian Church Year. We have followed in the steps of Jesus as he was birthed in a stable, as he walked the dusty hillsides of Galilee, opened blind eyes and made the lame to walk again, as he taught the multitudes and the disciples, as he was crucified, and rose again. We have celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, reflected on the mission of the Church, and what it means to be a disciple of the Christ. Today is the last Sunday of that journey for this year. Next Sunday we begin celebrating Advent as we once again begin that journey to remind ourselves who we are and whose we are.

We do so knowing that the Kin-dom of God that Jesus brought is a present reality in our lives. And yet we also know that there is a future Kingdom over which God will reign in Christ, a Kin-dom in which the world will once again fully reflect its creator. Today we celebrate Christ as past, present, and future King over all the earth, at the same time that we express our hope and our Faith in that coming Kingdom.

So let us look back at this past year’s journey with Jesus. But let us also look forward to our journey this coming year, as we express each week our Faith in the transforming power of God at work in our world, in our Church, and in our lives to restore all of creation to God’s holy purpose.

Advent: The royal color of Blue begins the Church Year in Advent, a word that means "showing up". We spend this season of four Sundays hearing again the silence of the prophets, experiencing the breathless waiting of the Israelites hoping for a Messiah. We sing the song "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" with longing, not because we seek a Messiah yet to come to the world, but because the Christ has come and we long for Christ to come to us again. The quiet pace of Advent is in direct contrast to the bustling commercialism of the secular holidays. And so we begin our new year in Advent, reminding ourselves that in the midst of the worldliness of our lives, we need to renew our relationship to One who has come and will come again.

SCRIPTURE– Luke 3:2-6

Christmas: In the season of Christmas we change the sanctuary colors to White and Gold, a celebration of the purity of the infant who was born in a manger, and yet One with all the splendor of God who has come to dwell with God’s people. Christmas Day is both the culmination of the waiting of the Advent season, and the beginning of twelve days of celebration as we rejoice in the gift of our Savior and the daily rebirth of grace in our own lives.

SCRIPTURE– Isaiah 9:2-7

Epiphany: Epiphany means "to make known” or “reveal,” and in the season of Epiphany we remember the ways and events through which God revealed God’s Self through Jesus Christ.

The colors of Epiphany are usually the colors of Christmas, White and Gold, the colors of celebration, newness, and hope that mark the most sacred days of the church year. In traditions that only observe a single day for Epiphany, the colors are often changed after Epiphany to the colors of Ordinary Time, usually Green or thematic sanctuary colors, until Transfiguration Sunday, the last Sunday before the beginning of Lent. The colors for Transfiguration Sunday are usually the colors of Holy Days, White and Gold.

As with most aspects of the Christian liturgical calendar, Epiphany has significance as a teaching tool in the church. It is often symbolized by a star. The Wise Men or Magi who followed the star brought gifts to the infant Jesus and were the first Gentiles to acknowledge Jesus as "Lord". They were the first to "show" or "reveal" Jesus to a wider world as the incarnate Christ. This act of worship by the Magi, which corresponded to Simeon’s blessing that this child Jesus would be "a light for revelation to the Gentiles" (Luke 2:32), was one of the first indications that Jesus came for all people, of all nations, of all races, and that the work of God in the world would not be limited to only a few.

The day is now observed as a time of focusing on the mission of the church in reaching others by "showing" Jesus as the Savior of all people. It is also a time of focusing on Christian fellowship, especially in healing the divisions of prejudice and bigotry that we all too often create between God’s children.

SCRIPTURE– Isaiah 60:1-6

Lent: With ashes on our heads after the service of Ash Wednesday, the sanctuary colors for Lent turn to a somber Purple or Violet and to Black at the end of the Passion Week. Throughout the six weeks of Lent we remember Jesus’ three years of ministry. Throughout the weeks we relearn the faces and names of people who, like you and me, were sometimes faithful and sometimes selfish; people who heard the good news and responded and others who laughed and scorned; men, women, and children who heard Jesus’ words and watched his life and came hungry and were fulfilled, or who walked away because they could not use him for their own ends.

It is a long season, a season that calls us to stop and take a look at our life in the light of being like Christ, and humble ourselves before our God who says to us gently, "Come, let us talk this over. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing to obey, you shall eat the good things of the earth." (Isaiah 1:18-19 NJB)

The season of Lent culminates in "Passion Week," from a Latin word that means "to suffer." Starting with Palm Sunday and the joyful entry of Israel’s Messiah-King into Jerusalem, it ends with that very same crowd yelling "Crucify him, crucify him." In between these two days, the week’s events are remembered with various services that mark the Passion Week: A Seder meal, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Tenebrae, and the Holy Saturday Vigil.

SCRIPTURE– John 12:12-16, 19:28-30

Easter: Morning dawns and Mary Magdalene weeps at the tomb until she is told the good news "He is not dead! He has risen!" And that call echoes down through the centuries as Christians around the world joyfully cry out "Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen indeed!" year after year on the highest and holiest day of the Christian calendar.

Easter lilies adorn the sanctuary, the colors change to the brightness of White and Gold to portray the purity and reign of our Risen Savior. There is no joy compared to an Easter Sunday after the solemn pace of Lent. Three days before, we buried our beloved Jesus; today, He lives! We wept with Peter on the night he was crucified, and on Easter we are awed anew by the great news that He Lives!

And the fifty days of Easter ring jubilantly with the new life and new hope that the Risen Savior brings to us, to our world, and to all peoples who open their hearts to him. We listen in on the conversations of the disciples as they struggle to wrap their human hearts and minds around this new revelation. We watch as those who previously had persecuted the people of God now fall on their knees in awe and wonder. We experience anew for ourselves in this season the freedom and joy and the power, strength, and life that is our heritage as the people of God.

SCRIPTURE– John 20:1-2, 11-18

Pentecost: The Red of flames is the sanctuary color of Pentecost as we remember the great rushing wind and the dancing flames like fire, and the words of Jesus, baptizing his disciples with the Holy Fire of the Spirit. The disciples and followers of Jesus were one moment huddled in fear in a small upper room. Then the Holy Spirit came in power and they rushed out of the building and into the streets, telling everyone about the good news in ways that all could understand. One day we are ordinary people, the next we are Christ’s evangelists, and pastors, and healers, and mercy-bringers, and the Body of Christ, redeemed by his blood, one in ministry to the entire world. Are you willing to be filled with the Spirit?

SCRIPTURE– Acts 2:1-4

Ordinary Days: Ordinary time refers, not to being basic or ordinary, but to counting. It includes the counted Sundays between Pentecost and Advent. Since there are no Holy Days in this time, it serves to remind us of our daily lives, counting one after another. 

The book of Acts and the New Testament letters give us a clear picture of everyday people, going about their lives, and doing extraordinary things that helped build the Kin-dom of God. The Church was growing by leaps and bounds, both the individuals within it and the worldwide Church. So we use the color of Green to depict this growing time, and pray for the same thing within our own lives. We hear again the Good News, we are instructed in the ways of the world and the Kin-dom, and we are shown the vision of the Church and our responsibility within it. We hear afresh the voices of the gospel writers, the prophets, and Paul, Peter, James, each challenging us to respond anew to the call of God to be God’s people in a world that is hungry for the grace, love, and peace we bring into every minute of life when we walk in the light–when we "abiding in the vine."

Ordinary? Yes, but through our lives God brings the living water to a thirsty world in our offerings of service and mercy that we offer to others on a daily basis. And this is the extraordinary way that God builds God’s Kin-dom - through ordinary people like you and me.

SCRIPTURE– Luke 10:25-37

Reign of Christ: It is Christ the Savior-Shepherd-Ruler who presides over this table. At the Eucharist table we can all gather, "neither Jew nor Greek, male or female, slave or free", but one in Christ. Here we can all come freely to experience and to participate in this means of grace that visibly exhibits to us each week the heart and mind of our Creator, our Savior, and our Sustainer.

On this "Reign of Christ" Sunday we are reminded that God is with us through all the seasons of life as the writer of Ecclesiastes so poignantly reminds us. As we gather around the table today may you feel the freedom, the joy, the strength of Jesus’ presence in your spirit. Remember his words? "Look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time." (Matthew 28:20)

GOSPEL– John 18:33-37