Pentecost Day is the famous event of the tongues of fire and speaking in languages. But those things aren’t the true gift of Pentecost. The true gift of the Holy Spirit happens every day.
The feast day of the Ascension has a little of everything in it—Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and the anticipation of Pentecost.
Lent is the season of preparation for Easter. The purpose of Lent is not to dwell on the sufferings of our Savior, but rather to prepare ourselves for a celebration of his resurrection. Lent is a time for repentance and prayer and for renewal of our Baptisms.
If Christmas celebrates the fact that the Father gave his only-begotten Son to the world, then Epiphany is the unwrapping of this gift. The Festival of Epiphany is the second-oldest festival of the Christian church. It marks the start of the next season of the church year after Christmas.
During December we anticipated our Lord’s coming; now we celebrate that God-in-the-flesh has been born to us.
The Christian church follows a calendar based on the orbit of the Christian life around the Son of God, rather than following the calendar based on the orbit of planet Earth around the sun. Thus the Christian church year begins this Sunday, November 29, with the First Sunday of Advent.
Trinity Sunday is not about an advanced math problem that is just too hard. The Trinity is basic. In fact, you can’t be Christian without it. The entire Trinity has worked for your salvation, to bring you back to the love of God.
On Easter Day, we celebrate the astonishing, miraculous resurrection of Jesus, an event that changed the course of history. Yet the whole redemptive work, not only the one phase of the resurrection, is the object of Easter’s celebration.
Spring is my least favorite season. It warms up and gives me hope, but then gets cold again.
On Maundy Thursday, the church recalls the events of Jesus’ life the day before he was crucified.
Good Friday is the most solemn of all days in the Christian church year. But the English title “Good” Friday reflects the joy of Christ’s completed act of redemption.