Church Year – Page 2 – What Does This Mean?

At Just the Right Time

Encore Post: Time is a funny thing. We use clocks that measure the vibrations of atoms, coordinated with telescopes to record its passage with great precision and consistency from place to place, transmit them to us via computers, satellites, radio, television and other digital signals and synchronize our clocks with them. We barely notice that time is a human thing — except on leap year or when we change our clocks twice a year or move from time zone to time zone.

Time is the way we record the change we notice more and more with each year of life. Time passes quickly. When you are a child, an hour drags on forever. As an adult, it passes before your realize it. What is important, our culture has noticed, is not time itself, but what you do with it. It has become our new currency. We sooner will write a check than hang out.

The Greek of the New Testament has two different words for time. καιρός (Chairos) translates roughly “the right time.” χρόνος (Chronos) is about the passage of time, minute after minute, hour after hour, year after year. Seasons like Advent, days like Christmas and New Years Day are χρόνος, times that we plan for, come and go, forming a part of the rhythm of life. That Christmas when you opened your first present is καιρός

The fullness of time when God sent his son, born of a virgin, is God’s καιρός (Galatians 4:4-5). His acts and plans unfolded slowly, one building on another, leading to just that right time. The next big καιρός is the Second Advent, when time itself will come to an end in God’s eternal life with his people.

The persons, events and institutions leading to that first right time, the incarnation, life, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension of Immanuel — God-with-us — were called by the Early Church the praeparatio Evangelii (The Preparation of the Gospel).

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Stir up Sunday

Encore Post: In the Anglican Church’s Book of Common Prayer, the collects for the last Sunday of the Church Year and three of the four sundays of Advent begin with the words “Stir up …” In England, where the mix for Christmas Pudding needed to cure for weeks, hearing the words of the collect reminded households to stir up the Christmas pudding! So they nicknamed the Sunday “Stir up Sunday.”

Lutheran Churches do not use the first collect, perhaps because it is kind of works-righteous. But we do use the three Advent Collects. They are:

First Sunday of Advent: Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come, that by Your protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Your mighty deliverance;

Second Sunday of Advent: Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of Your only-begotten Son, that by His coming we may be enabled to serve You with pure minds;

Fourth Sunday of Advent: Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come and help us by Your might, that the sins which weigh us down may be quickly lifted by Your grace and mercy;

The three prayers summarize the themes of Advent. We call on God to come, knowing he has come in the person of his Son, comes to us each day by the Holy Spirit and will come to us on the last day. But our prayers make his coming our own in a special way. the Spirit and the Bride say to us Come! They invite us also to say Come! to God’s children lost and found. They call on us to say, Come Lord Jesus. And so we do in Advent.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Joy to the World! The Lord is Come!

Encore Post: Isaac Watts hated the music sung in his dissenting Calvinist churches. These congregations believed that only the words of Psalms, or close paraphrases, were appropriate for worship. Watts believed that hymns should bring out the Christian sense of the Psalms and connect with the lives of everyday Christians. So over three hundred years ago (1719), he composed a book of hymns inspired by the Psalms entitled: ” The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament. On Psalm 98, he wrote two hymns. Under the title “The Messiah’s Coming and Kingdom” he wrote “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.”

Now the most published Christmas hymn in North America, “Joy to the World” is really not a Christmas hymn. It celebrates both the First and Second Advent of Christ.

Joy to the World; The Lord is come;
Let Earth receive her King:
Let every Heart prepare him Room,
And Heaven and Nature sing.

The first stanza rejoices that Christ has already come and invites us to do what Bethlehem did not do on the first Christmas: make room for him in our hearts.

Joy to the Earth, The Savior reigns;
Let Men their Songs employ;
While Fields & Floods, Rocks, Hills & Plains
Repeat the sounding Joy.

No more let Sins and Sorrows grow,
Nor Thorns infest the Ground:
He comes to make his Blessings flow
Far as the Curse is found.

He rules the World with Truth and Grace,
And makes the Nations prove
The Glories of his Righteousness,
And Wonders of his Love.

The rest of the hymn looks forward to the Second Advent. Then the Savior will reign on the earth. The curse of Adam will be reversed. He will rule with truth and grace and all the nations will know it. We will all rejoice.

So, no, you are not rushing Christmas by singing “Joy to the World.” It is great to sing on the last Sunday of the church year and throughout Advent. After all: The Lord has come. He was born of the virgin, lived a perfect life for us, died for our sins and rose for our salvation. The Lord is come, wherever people baptized in his name, saved by his grace, rejoice as he reigns among them. The Lord will come as far the curse is found. Joy to the world indeed! Come Lord Jesus, Come!

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Special days in the Church calendar

Encore Post: The Lutheran Church is a liturgical church. This means that the theme of the day is set well ahead of time by the lectionary that your parish uses. Each Sunday is normally named by the place it is in the church year — a certain Sunday in Advent, a certain Sunday in Lent, a certain Sunday of Easter, or in Epiphany, or a certain Sunday after Pentecost or Trinity.

Each day is assigned a set of propers — a Psalm, a Collect (a prayer for the day that collects the thoughts of the people related to the theme of the day), a Gradual (a few sentences of scripture spoken between the Epistle and the Gospel lessons), Scripture lessons and a proper preface (said by the pastor during the beginning of the Service of the Sacrament). These are proper to the season and day and so change from week to week or season to season. In the long season of ordinary time (Sunday after Pentecost), the themes chosen traditionally shift about every ten weeks (After the Feast of the Holy Trinity, St. Lawrence’s Day and St. Michael and All Angels)

Once in a while you will run into a Sunday that is named after a person, like Saint Peter, or an event, like the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. These days typically are called Feasts or Saints’ days. Most of these are Biblical figures or events, with Reformation Day and The Presentation of the Augsburg Confession being notable exceptions. In a church or a college or seminary chapel, where there are services every day, these days are observed often and on the date appointed. Most Missouri Synod parishes, however, celebrate them only when the date falls on a Sunday.

Also assigned on the calendar of the church are commemorations. These are available to congregations of the church but are rarely used. They include Biblical figures, especially Old Testament ones, Christian leaders or memorable figures from the church’s history. In the Missouri Synod, they include musicians (like J. S. Bach) and other artists of various kinds and figures of the Synod’s history (like C. F. W. Walther and Rev. Smith‘s favorite — F.C.D. Wyneken)

We celebrate these people and events because they point to Jesus. Saints are not perfect, nor do they have special powers. They were sinners just like us, but now live in Heaven with all the saints. (Hebrews 13:7-8)

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

The Colorful End of the Church Year

Encore post: Fall brings changing colors to landscapes in northern areas of the United States. Green leaves change to a breathtaking variety of red, orange, yellow and brown. People will drive miles to just take in all in. The beauty of it all brings out praise of God for his creation.

In Lutheran Churches, colors change in the sanctuary almost weekly during late October and early November as the church marks the last weeks of ordinary time. This time begins with red paraments for Reformation Day, celebrated on the nearest Sunday before October 31. Red is the color used for the Holy Spirit and his work and martyrdom.

The color soon changes to white for All Saints’ Sunday, celebrated the Sunday after November 1, All Saints’ Day. White is the color of the resurrection, celebration and the saints, who wash their robes white in the Blood of the Lamb.

The next week or two, the color returns to the green of Pentecost or Trinity season (the name depends on how your church counts the Sundays of ordinary time) Green is the color of life and growth. It is also used in Epiphany Season.

The theme for the last three Sundays of the church year is preparation for the Second Advent of Christ. In fact, in some lectionaries, the Sundays are referred to as the Third-Last Sunday, Second-Last Sunday and the Last Sunday of the Church year. Some churches call the last Sunday the Sunday of the Fulfillment or Christ the King Sunday. Some churches change color to white.

Finally, the new church year begins with a change to the color blue or purple for the season of Advent and the beginning of a new church year. Purple is the color of repentance and is traditionally used for Lent — where the church fasts to receive Jesus as the Son of God and Son of Mary. Blue is the color of hope and used more recently, where Advent is celebrated as a season of joy.

One more color change happens in some churches (to white) in the United States for Thanksgiving Day, which is the celebration of the good gifts God has given to us and our thanks to him for these blessings.

Enjoy this season of meditation, joy, expectation and hope as we consider the various blessing Jesus has given and will give to us because of his love for us, shown by his incarnation, sufferings, death, resurrection, ascension and soon return in glory.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Michelmas

Encore Post: In the church’s long season of ordinary time (Sundays after Trinity if you are on a one-year cycle, Sundays after Pentecost if you are on a three-year cycle), the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels (September 29) marks a change in the themes of the day. After this day, we turn our thoughts to the Last Day, when Jesus will return to be with us forever. We use the day to thank God for his holy angels, especially Michael the Archangel, whose army of light defeated Satan and his forces, casting them out of Heaven to the earth. In the English-speaking world, it is nicknamed Michelmas (Michael’s Mass), similar to Christmas (Christ’s Mass)

The Holy Angels (מַלְאָךְ, ἄγγελος) are God’s messengers. They were created by God to praise him and bear his messages to his people. After the fall of Satan and his evil angels, they also battle these forces and protect us from harm. Two angels are named in Scripture: Michael (“who is like God?”) and Gabriel (“God is my Strength”). Michael the Archangel is the leader of the heavenly army of Angels that battled Satan and his forces, casting him down from Heaven. Gabriel is the heavenly messenger that interpreted Daniel’s dreams and announced the conceptions of John the Baptist and Jesus.

We thank God for the ministry of angels, who stand by our side, protect us from the evil one and will, on the last of our days, escort us home to Jesus. With Martin Luther, we pray:

I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Sunday School: Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

Encore Post: The Holy Spirit sent Deacon Philip to meet a eunuch in the service of Candice of Ethiopia, the mother of the reigning king. In Ethiopian society, she took care of day-to-day duties of the kingdom. Ethiopians believe she was the descendant of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. Many believe they are Jewish.

Eunuchs served as assistants for the royal family. They were often castrated so that they could be trusted to guard royal or noble women and provide physical care to kings and emperors. This man appears to have been the treasurer of Candice. He is devout and has been to worship at the temple in Jerusalem. On his way home, the man is reading Isaiah 53, a detailed prophecy of the suffering and death of the Messiah. Puzzled by it, he invited Philip to explain the text to him. With this opening, Philip tells the man the good news that Jesus is the Man Isaiah prophesied. The man responded by asking to be baptized. When the Holy Spirit took Philip away, he rejoiced that salvation had come to him.

This new Christian became, in turn, the evangelist who brought the gospel to Ethiopia. A strong Eastern Orthodox church was born and grew there. Called the Coptic Church, its members still thrive in Muslim Egypt to this day. This man was the first of many Christians to believe in Christ on the continent of Africa.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Sunday School: Matthias the Twelfth Apostle

Encore Post: After Jesus ascended into Heaven, St. Peter gathered the eleven Apostles and others. The betrayal of Jesus by Judas and his suicide left a vacancy among them. The number twelve was important. After all, there were twelve tribes of Israel. In Biblical numerology, the number stands for the whole people of God. When Jesus established the church, the number twelve came to stand for the church. They chose two men as candidates who had been with them from the very beginning and thus witnessed everything Jesus said and did — including the resurrection and ascension. They prayed and chose Matthias by lot.

We know little about Matthias. He appears only once in the Bible and that is in the first chapter of Acts. We know he was a disciple of Jesus from the time that he was baptized by John until the Ascension. He was probably one of the seventy men Jesus sent out two by two to preach the coming of God’s kingdom. All the disciples respected him enough to pick him as one of two men to take Judas’ place as an Apostle. We do not even know what happened to him later. Church tradition has stories: he went to Northern Turkey and set up the church there, or to Ethiopia or that he died in Jerusalem.

We might think that he and other little known Apostles really were not important. Yet God used them to build his church. No one is too small or unimportant in God’s eyes. He has a plan for everyone’s life and uses whatever they do to serve him and to take care of people. Even children can do important things for God, no matter how little those things seem.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Stay with Us, Lord, for it is Evening

Encore Post: Today, our Easter celebration of the resurrection is filled with joy. White paraments, flowers and banners decorate our churches. Well-practiced organs, choirs and musical instruments of all kinds add to our song. After all, we know the story and how it ends. Jesus is risen!

The first Easter was quite different. Reports from women close to Jesus reported visions of angels and of the Lord himself. The disciples didn’t know what to think. The five accounts of that day show the confusion. (Matthew 28:1-15, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-49, John 20:1-23, 1 Corinthians 15:3-5) Different people were running all over the place and each story is its own. One thing was for sure. The tomb was empty.

The first Sunday afternoon, two disciples were on the road home and were very unsettled. Could it be true? Was the Lord really risen from the dead? Jesus appeared to them, but did not reveal himself to them. As they walked to Emmaus, Jesus showed them how the Old Testament pointed to him and that he had to suffer, die, and rise again from the dead. They invited him to stay with them for the evening. As they ate dinner, Jesus blessed bread, broke it and gave it to them. They recognized him. He immediately vanished.

These two disciples immediately went back to Jerusalem to report to the disciples what had happened. There, they learned Jesus had appeared to Peter. As they were talking about this, Jesus removed all doubt. He appeared to them, ate some food to show them he was not a ghost, but had risen from the dead, body and soul. He then blessed the Apostles and gave them the power to forgive and retain sins.

When life gets confusing and we do not know what to do, Jesus comes to us in his word. Even though we do not see him, he is always with us. When we pray, “stay with us, Lord,” he does. We are never alone, even until the end of time itself.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

The Day of Resurrection

Encore Post: He is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

In the silence of a cold, dark tomb, the world changed forever. Just as he promised, Jesus rose from his rest in the grave, breaking the seal of the tomb forever. And no one noticed.

The Romans were really good at torturing people to death. Crucifixion was a slow death, designed to kill with the maximum amount of pain and humiliation possible. If the Romans killed you, you were dead. Jesus, in fact, was already dead when the soldiers moved to hurry up the process to get the bodies into a grave before sunset and the beginning of the Sabbath.

Once they laid Jesus in the tomb, no one expected him to go anywhere. Pilate ordered the tomb sealed by the authority of Rome, setting its seal on the stone that shut it off from the world. Had he not risen from death, the women would have completed his embalming and they would have mourned him for seven days. After a year, they would gather his bones into a stone box. In fact, this is what Caiaphas’ family did. Archaeologists have found his box. Had he not risen, likely no one today would even know the name of Jesus.

But Jesus did rise from the dead. The seal of our graves is broken. When we die now, our spirits live with him until the last day. When Jesus returns on that day, he will call our bodies from the grave and a new creation will occur. We will finally be whole — our bodies — like his resurrected body, will be fit for eternal life. Death no longer has a sting. The grave will have no victory. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)

Therefore Easter strikes such a chord with Christians. It is why we greet each other with joy… Christ is risen…

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Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana