When we walk through the church year, something beautiful and life-changing happens: we actually walk with Jesus: through his birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, and mission. And when we journey with him, we see that our lives aren't random—that our own stories fit into his story and find a greater joy and purpose than we ever could trying to craft our own.
The church year is an annual calendar of feasts and fasts, seasons and scriptures, that help us order our time and lives around Jesus and his kingdom. It began with the weekly celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, a weekly Friday fast for his death, then yearly feasts and fasts for the resurrection, birth, and death of Jesus, then with seasons of preparation for those special days.
Much of the church calendar was adapted from the Jewish calendar. At the council of Nicea in 325 CE, church leaders from around the known world aligned their celebrations of Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Advent, and Easter so they could celebrate them together.
Through the church calendar, we not only retell the story of Jesus and his church, we participate in it and are transformed by it to be more like Jesus.
This story begins with Advent, a season of waiting and watching for Jesus to arrive and breathe his hope into those dead and dry places in our world and in our hearts.
Join us as we enter into the story of Jesus on Sundays altogether and in our households throughout the week.
The Anglican Church in North America Calendar for Book of Common Prayer 2019 purchase at https://www.ashbypublishing.com, $5.53 each.
Our own Evelea Solgos' church year sticker and other icons.
Our own Rachel Wassink's podcast on the collects of the church year. Start at the beginning with the first week of Advent.
Our Diocese's Word and Table podcast with an episode on the church calendar (part 1 and part 2) and on the church calendar colors.
Pastor Trevor and Rachel Wassink's podcast introducing Advent
Pastor Trevor's podcast introducing Lent.
God's Saving Deeds, a book Pastor Trevor created at Church of the Resurrection on the Easter Vigil, its meaning, and its readings.
Lectionary has a three year cycle with a different main Gospel each year. Advent 2022 begins Year A with the Gospel of Matthew. Throughout this year, we will walk through the Gospel as we enter into the story of Jesus. Follow along in your homes in your Bible and your Book of Common Prayer.
Download the 2019 Book of Common Prayer here
Purchase a 2019 Book of Common Prayer here.
Download an app with the daily prayers and Scripture readings from the Book of Common Prayer here.
The Bible Project has simple yet rich overviews of the books of the Bible check out the video of Matthew as well as the great graphic.
Watch Video Overview Here