THE CHURCH YEAR

The Church Year is composed of "times" and "seasons". There are three Times and one or more Seasons in each time. The Times and associated Seasons are listed in the left column in the order in which they appear in the Church Year, and descriptions of them are in the right column. There is a proper color for each Sunday of the various Seasons but is substituted by other colors on special days in that Season. The basic color for the Season is noted by parentheses following the Season name. The numbering of a Service usually begins from the first Sunday of the Season and can be substituted by names of special Sundays in that Season.

The Time of Christmas Seasons: Advent (blue) Christmas (white) Epiphany (green) Pre-Lent (green)

Advent is the first season of the Church Year. It begins with the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve. Advent is from a Latin Word meaning "coming" It speaks of both Christ's first and second coming. The season of Christmas is twelve days long, in celebration of Christ's birth. Epiphany means "revealing" and during the season of Epiphany Christ is revealed as King of kings and Lord of lords, as fully God and fully man,and ends with His Transfiguration.The "pre-lent" season is used in the One Year Lectionary to synchronize the time of Easter for the two Lectionaries.

The Time of Easter Seasons: Lent (violet) Ash Wednesday Palm Sunday & Holy Week Easter (white) The Resurrection The Ascension The Day of Pentecost The Holy Trinity

The season of Lent begins with the week of Ash Wednesday and extends to Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week.. This is when Jesus enters Jerusalem, and begins His journey to the Cross and Crucifixion on Good Friday. On Thursday of this week, Christ instituted the Sacrament of the Lords Supper. The Season of Easter begins with Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday morning. Jesus spends many days thereafter showing absolute proof that He is raised from the dead. This period ends with His Ascension, when He leaves the earth and takes His place at the right hand of God. The Ascension takes place 40 days after Easter Sunday morning and is always on a Thursday. Pentecost Sunday is 50 days after Easter,and marks the beginning of the Church with the giving of the Holy Spirit. Trinity occurs on the next Sunday, and marks the triune nature of our Lord God: Father,Son and Holy Spirit.

The Time of the Church The Season after Trinity or Pentecost (green)

The numbering of the Sundays after Pentecost and Trinity differ by one for the two lectionaries. In the three year lectionary, the Sundays in the Time of the Church are numbered starting with the 1st Sunday after Pentecost (Trinity Sunday). In the one year lectionary, the Sundays in the Time of the Chjurch are numbered starting from the 1st Sunday after Trinity. The Sunday numbers are adjusted to coincide with the Last Sunday of the Church year, the next Sunday being Advent, the first Sunday of the new Church Year.