How dull and plain life would be if the seasons never changed! No matter how much you might prefer one particular season of the year, you probably would get tired of it if it never ended. Most of us like to see variety in one way or another, and the changing seasons of the year offer that variety to us, and at least give us something start up a conversation. Each season has its own attraction and charm and, by the time you get tired of one season, there’s always another one coming sooner than you think.

Not only our world around us, but also the Church has changing seasons of the year. As we gather to worship, we notice the Church moving through one season into another, each with its own unique message, and each with its own mood. As a result, worship is not monotonous, but vibrant and always renewing from week to week. As one season draws to a close, the next one comes in its own special way.

The Church Calendar informs us of the different seasons in the Church’s liturgical year. The seasons of the Church Year are closely related to the seasons of nature, but sometimes they are independent of each other. A Calendar like the one in the very front of the hymnal tells us when each season of the Church Year is to begin and how long it is to last.

The Church Year is divided into two main parts. The first part is focused on the life and ministry of Christ while He was still visible in the flesh on this earth. During this part of the Church Year we partake of the important events surrounding our Lord, from His birth in Bethlehem, till the time He ascended into heaven and gave His disciples the Holy Spirit. Since significant days like Christmas, Good Friday and Easter happen during this part of the Church Year, it is commonly called the Festival Half. In the non-Festival half, which covers most of the summer into the fall, the festivals are not as big, but no less important. It is also known as the Time of the Church. This is usually the time when the Church focuses on how the life, the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus feed and strengthen us as the Body of Christ.

In response to the various moods expressed throughout the liturgical year, the Church has chosen over the years to use color, among other things, to help bring out the special mood of each season. The paraments that decorate the altar, pulpit and lectern in the front of the Church change colors from season to season. This excursion will take a brief look at each liturgical season and the unique features that it offers us as God’s gathered people.

Other customs also reflect the mood of the season. For instance, during the solemn, penitential season of Lent, some churches do not include many flowers and the congregation does not sing or say the word Alleluia, only then at Easter they pack the place with lilies and sing 10 alleluias with every hymn! Of course, there is a different message from God’s Word for each season, and each Sunday has its own Scripture readings, hymns, prayers and so forth.

If we become aware of these different seasons and what they are all about, our participation in the Church Service will carry more interest and lead to a greater understanding of God’s mysteries.

As this special service explores each season, look especially for its associated color. That will be the color you find draped on the altar, pulpit, lectern and on the stole that the pastor wears. Today, a reading, collect prayer and hymn selection from each season will lead us through each of the Church’s seasons.

Advent

The Church Year begins with the season of Advent, which means “coming.” It includes the four Sundays that precede Christmas in which we prepare to celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. As we look forward to the day of His birth there is, of course, much cause for joy and gladness. But there is also shame and penitence. John the Baptist, who was the last great prophet who pointed to the coming of the Savior, says each Advent to us what he said to his disciples: Repent! The Son of God comes to humble Himself and take on your sins, shortcomings, and sicknesses. Turn from your wicked ways and believe in His forgiveness! The royal and penitential color blue reminds us of our need to be sorry for our sins, but also to look forward in expectation to the second coming of our King, this time not as a baby in a manger, but as the Lord of heaven and earth receiving His children into eternal life.

Zechariah 9:9, 16-17

Advent 1: Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come, that by Your protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Your mighty deliverance; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

LSB 357 1, 3, 7

Christmas

Christmas is one of the greatest days in the entire Church Year. It is the birthday celebration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. At Christmas we set aside the restraints and penitence of Advent as we burst forth with holy joy. God has kept His Old Testament promise. The Son has entered time and space in the form of a lowly newborn child. This Baby of Bethlehem will do for us what we could never do for ourselves—He will set us free from sin and bring us back into communion with God. The wonder and the thrill of God’s love at Christmas is everywhere. The color white, which is always used in connection with Jesus, reflects His radiant glory and testifies to the holy joy that He inspires into our hearts. Of course the chancel is specially decorated for Christmas—and it would seem like something’s missing if there were no greenery, Poinsettias and a Christmas tree up in front. Following the manner that days are reckoned in the Bible, every festival in the Church Year actually begins at sundown the evening before, and Christmas Eve is a perfect example. The Christmas season itself lasts for 12 days, from December 25th to January 5th.

Luke 2: 6-14

Christmas Eve O God, You make us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Grant that as we joyfully receive Him as our Redeemer, we may with sure confidence behold Him when He comes to be our Judge; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord

LSB 380 all

Epiphany

Epiphany follows right after the Christmas season, beginning on the 6th of January. Epiphany means “revealing” or “showing forth.” During this season we ponder the different ways in which Christ was revealed to the world as God and Savior. The first showing forth was to the Wise Men, or Magi by means of a star which guided them to His manger-crib. Later on Christ revealed Himself through His Baptism, His miracles, especially when He changed the water into wine, and through His preaching. His most splendid revelation was at the Transfiguration. The day of Epiphany begins and ends using the dazzling color white from the Christmas season; but in between the color is green, the color of foliage, growth and life, suggesting our spiritual growth as a result of our Lord revealing Himself to us in His Word and the Sacraments.

Matthew 2: 10-11; Luke 9:28-33, 35

Transfig O God, in the glorious transfiguration of Your beloved Son You confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of Moses and Elijah. In the voice that came from the bright cloud You wonderfully foreshowed our adoption by grace. Mercifully make us co-heirs with the King in His glory and bring us to the fullness of our inheritance in heaven; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord.

LSB 396 1-3

Lent

After Epiphany the mood of worship changes abruptly. Joy gives way to penitence as we begin to commemorate the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. The season reaches its climax on Good Friday and comes to an end at sundown on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. As we recall the depth of Christ’s agony at the hands of Pontius Pilate and on the Cross, we are compelled to remember that He went through it all out of His love for us and His desire to free us from our sins. As we especially humble our hearts and gather for worship more often during Lent, the color purple signifies our penitent mood.

Philippians 2:4-8

Lent 3 O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy, be gracious to all who have gone astray from Your ways and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of Your Word; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

LSB 430 1-3, 5

Good Friday

On Good Friday, we commemorate the day God in human flesh gave up His life for us. The altar is either covered in black or it is stripped bare. Our every word and action focuses on the cross, on our bleeding Lord and the events of that all-important day of the world’s history. But there is nothing morbid about this concentration on our guilt and our Lord’s suffering. For that suffering and death is the source of great relief and strength to us. Through His bitter agony and death Christ removed our guilt and paid for the forgiveness of our sins. As we see Him as pictured on the crucifix bleeding and dying, we are looking at the price of our salvation.

Luke 23:33-46

Almighty God, graciously behold this Your family for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed and delivered into the hands of sinful men to suffer death upon the cross; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord.

LSB 451 1-3

Easter

Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Though every Sunday is in its own way a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, on Easter Day, Christian hope and joy reach their highest point, for this is the day on which our Lord rose from the dead. Easter is the only Church festival that is not on any fixed day, but rather it occurs on a certain Sunday each year between March 22 and April 25. The color changes to white, which remains during the entire seven-week Easter season. As we stand before the empty tomb we discover along with the faithful women and the disciples that Christ’s death was not a tragic failure but rather a glorious success. We realize that He entered suffering and death as an Innocent Victim, but He fought as a mighty warrior who has gained the victory over death and Satan. Faith in the Christ who is risen brings us tremendous joy because the victory that He won on this great day is also our victory. His resurrection paved the way for our resurrection into eternal life hereafter.

Matthew 28:1-7 (please stand)

Almighty God the Father, through Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, You have overcome death and opened the gate of everlasting life to us. Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of our Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

LSB 457 all

Ascension

Forty days after Easter, Christ concluded His visible ministry on earth when He ascended into heaven, where He as true God and true Man sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Prior to His ascension He said, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Though we no longer see His physical body, He is still here in a hidden, mysterious way—through His Holy Spirit in the preached Word and in the Holy Sacraments. Ascension is a day of triumph and joy as Christ, our Redeemer and the conqueror of sin, leads the grand procession to heaven, a procession that we follow also to our true home.

Acts 1:9-11

Almighty God, as Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, ascended into the heavens, so may we also ascend in heart and mind and continually dwell there with Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

LSB 494 1, 3, 4

Pentecost Day

The fiery color red belongs to Pentecost, which means “the fiftieth day.” On the fiftieth day after Easter, Jesus Christ sent His Holy Spirit upon His disciples, just as He had promised. Appearing in tongues of fire that rested upon them, the Spirit filled these first preachers with courage and strength. Immediately, Jesus began to preach through their many mouths, and thousands from all nations who had waited for their promised Savior believed. The Holy Spirit has never left Christ’s people, and He has been the constant intercessor for us before our Lord, and our never-failing source of inspiration and zeal. God the Holy Spirit uses the called and ordained ministers of Jesus Christ to preach the powerful Word to His chosen people. For this reason, the red color of Pentecost is also reserved for the ordination and installation of a man into the Office of the Holy Ministry.

Acts 2:1-4

O God, on this day You once taught the hearts of Your faithful people by sending them the light of Your Holy Spirit. Grant us in our day by the same Spirit to have a right understanding in all things and evermore to rejoice in His holy consolation; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord.

LSB 498 1-3, 6

Trinity

After the celebration of Pentecost, the Festival half of the Church Year comes to a close. The very next Sunday after Pentecost is the feast of the Holy Trinity, or Trinity Sunday. The words Trinity and Triune both mean “three-in-one,” and this all-important doctrine of God we confess especially in the Athanasian Creed. On this day we remember that the God who revealed Himself to us in Jesus Christ is the same God who created us and all things, and who dwells in our hearts. The one God is worshiped in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as
represented in the triangle icon. The color white is the symbol of Christ and the divine glory revealed in the Holy Trinity. The Trinity reading from Matthew is AKA the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:16-20

Almighty and everlasting God, You have given us grace to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity by the confession of a true faith and to worship the Unity in the power of the Divine Majesty. Keep us steadfast in this faith and defend us from all adversities; for You, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, live and reign, one God, now and forever.

LSB 507 1, 2, 4

Season of Pentecost

The last and longest season in the Church Year includes all the Sundays after Pentecost. Some local churches number the Sundays after Trinity because they follow the one-year cycle. In either case, the color is green to signify the new life and growth that Christ has achieved for us and continues to work in us through His Word and the activity of the Holy Spirit. This is the time of the Church, and the time in which we are reminded to be rooted in our Lord so that we may bear fruits of service for the benefit of our neighbor. In the late fall, as the Church Year draws to a close and the farmer looks to the gathering of the harvest, the Church proclaims the Last Things: the saints who have gone before us on All Saints’ Day, the Return of Christ, the Last Judgment, and the life everlasting.

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

LSB 644 all

Offering

Church Festivals

Scattered throughout the seasons of the Church’s liturgical year there are also single days and dates that she does well to observe, especially if they happen to occur on a Sunday. Most of these special days commemorate certain Saints. They recall to our minds some of the great Christians of the past. Many of these days borrow the red color of Pentecost to signify the work of the Holy Spirit in their words and deeds as well as the color of their blood that was shed while they lived out the suffering and persecution of Jesus in their own bodies. We in the Lutheran Church follow the correct understanding of the Holy Scriptures when we teach that we do not worship these saints or pray to them. However, we do praise the Lord for the wonderful works He had allowed them to do by His grace, and we pray that God would likewise give us a bold faith.

Revelation 7:9-10

LSB 517 (stanza 4)

Kyrie & Lord’s Prayer

Almighty and most merciful God, the protector of all who trust in You, strengthen our faith and give us courage to believe that in Your love You will rescue us from all adversities; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Father in heaven, in mercy You have given us Your revealed will and counsel in the Holy Scriptures. Grant that as we hear and proclaim Your Word throughout the Church Year, we may be led to repent of our sins against You and receive forgiveness and Your gift of eternal life. Dwell within us in the flesh and blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and by the power of the Holy Spirit may we dwell in You now and forever.

O Father of mercies and God of all comfort our only help in time of need. Look with favor upon Your servants… Assure them of your Mercy, deliver them from the temptations of the evil one, and give the patience and comfort in their illness. If it please You restore them to health, or give them grace to accept their affliction.