Measuring time with reference to Jesus

A friend of mine recently posted a link to a video clip by Doug Wilson, in which he talks about Lent. (I used to read a very interesting publication put out by Mr. Wilson called Credenda/Agenda. I still have several issues!) In this video he discusses whether evangelical Christians should observe the season of Lent. I don’t wish to review the video, or even discuss Lent, but in the video he did bring up an interesting point about the church year and church calendar. He said, “If you’re going to have a church calendar at all, I prefer the five basic evangelical feast days linked to events in the life of Christ:” his birth, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, giving of the Spirit. Then he dealt with the issue of counting down the days to Christmas (Advent) and to Easter (Lent).

But the main point was this:

“If you want to define your year in terms of Jesus, this is a good way to do it. You can measure your time with reference to Jesus. One of the reasons for having mile markers during the year is so that you can measure your time in reference to Jesus and not the 4th of July or Memorial Day.”

This is an excellent point. As my friend pointed out, “our calendar will revolve around something. For the Christian, our calendar ought to be centered around Christ.” I agree whole-heartedly. And the Church has a calendar that does just that! And I have long thought that this calendar can provide an excellent template for systematically teaching the Gospel.

The Church Year begins with Advent, leading into Christmas, followed by Epiphany.  Lent follows and then Easter (Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday and climaxes with Easter Day). Fifty days after Easter is Pentecost, which basically lasts until Advent.

This of course raises a few questions. The foremost of which is, “Is this biblical? Does the Gospel lay this down as a pattern for the church to follow?” One has to be honest and say, "No, the New Testament does not specifically command this." Well then, "Is it contrary to the Gospel?" Again, the answer is, "No." And we have an interesting Old Testament precedent.

Under the Old Testament God revealed His yearly calendar for the children of Israel. In Leviticus 23 He says,  these are my feasts, namely: the Sabbath, then the feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Tabernacles. This was the annual cycle that God instituted for them. The year was to begin with Passover and end with Tabernacles. (For some reason the Jews have altered this and instead of beginning their year in the Spring with Passover, they begin it in the fall.) But this calendar did more than mark their trek through each year, as wonderful as that is, it also serves as God’s prophetic calendar. As with everything else in the Law this pointed to Messiah. And on this Messianic calendar we have already reached Pentecost! That is a different post altogether, wonderful to consider and something we should preach on more frequently, but my point right now is simply this: God is not opposed to a calendar to guide us through the year.

What does the Church Calendar do? It simply guides us through the year with events in the life of Christ as markers. Advent & Christmas – He has come; Epiphany – He is revealed to the nations; Palm Sunday – He enters Jerusalem as the King; Maundy Thursday – the institution of the Lord’s Supper, our King is a servant; Good Friday – He is crucified; Easter – He lives! Pentecost – He has sent the Spirit; Advent – He is coming again!

What’s wrong with that?

Ah, I can hear some immediately responding, “Yeah, but if we do that we will feel and look like a church, and we will lose our cool ‘we’re not a church’ ambience.” Well, are you a church or not? I wonder what the Lord thinks about all these people who are working so hard to disassociate themselves from what God has declared He loves – the Church. Besides, no one said anything about robes and chanting! The church is supposed to be a called out community, separate and distinct from the world, not the coolest club in town. “Yeah, well, if we aren’t the happen-est place in town, the hoppin’-est joint in town, people will quit coming.” That’s another problem altogether!

But what about the concern, “We know of churches that follow this church year and they are stuffy and boring.” I recognize that a liturgical church can easily become a very dry place. They seem to often fall into the trap – “If we just do it the right way at the right time, it makes no difference what’s in our hearts.” First of all, every single church has a ritual or liturgy – we all tend to do things the same way every week. After all, God is a God of order. So how do we avoid doldrums? And more importantly, what in the world are doldrums?? This was a word often used by sailors to refer to those areas in the ocean and/or those times on the ocean when there was no wind – and for a sailing vessel that is a bad thing. I think this explanation provides the answer! When we preach Jesus (in an ordered way, following the Christian feasts), promote the application of His precepts and experience of His grace, and earnestly pray for the moving of the Holy Spirit, how in the world can we get stagnate? Will He not send the rain to cure our dryness? Breathe upon us to cure our doldrums? And after all, isn’t this what it’s all about, Jesus? Not our super cool music, our energetic service, our cutting edge style?

Am I suggesting that if you have good music you are not spiritual? Or am I saying that if you don’t follow the Church Calendar you cannot be a good church? Nope. I’m simply saying that I thought Mr. Wilson had a good point, “If you want to define your year in terms of Jesus, this [the Church calendar] is a good way to do it. You can measure your time with reference to Jesus.” I think it is a great idea and one that helps us avoid the secular trap of marking our year by New Year’s Day, Spring Break, July 4th etc. Nothing wrong with these days, there just is no life in them. Jesus, on the other hand, has life because He is life. How can you go wrong when you mark your year by Him?