Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! That’s right, the long green season of Ordinary Time is finally over. After more than 25 weeks, we wrap up the season of Pentecost, and with it, another Church calendar year. So, what’s next?

Some of you, I know, are rather new to the Episcopal Church and our Church calendar. The new year starts this Sunday with the first Sunday in the season of Advent, our Royal Blue season. Advent comes to us from the Latin ‘adventus’ and means ‘arrival; coming.’ It is the season of remembrance of our Lord’s past arrival and his future coming in glory back into this world, his kingdom on earth.

Our Church calendar has a long history and is a rich tradition. When we live by the Church calendar, we tend to live in God’s time as opposed to secular time. The time-honored Church seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost are designed to help us to move and live into a cycle of remembrance, celebration and anticipation. The remembrance of the acts of our Lord; the celebration of the life we live in Christ as children of God and anticipation of the return of our Lord and the fulfillment of the age. That’s good stuff!

So, pick yourself up a Church calendar. It might just be the best three bucks you can spend on your next year.

Peace my friends, Rob+