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

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