Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our heavenly Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

As one liturgical year concludes and another begins, it is an opportune time to review the cycle of the church year. This cycle gives us a rhythm to guide us through the Biblical narrative and focus our attention on what God has and continues to do in the world.

Much in life is cyclical. Each year we go through the seasons of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. (In Minnesota, we can even go this cycle in the span of a few days.) Vegetation and animals go through life cycles of birth, growth, and death. Our own lives go through regular cycles as well as the overall human life cycle.

God’s Word also generates cycles in our lives. ”You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Peter 1:23) Forgiveness and repentance are cycles of death and renewal. God’s Word both creates and works on the cycles of our lives.

The church year reflects similar life cycles. Advent through Easter move us through the Biblical stories from the expectation of a coming Savior to birth to life and ministry to death to resurrection to ascension. This cycle takes us on a journey each year through the gift of God’s incarnate Word, Jesus Christ. Beginning with the Day of Pentecost we journey through the growth of the church on earth, and concluding with the reminder of who reigns over God’s church.

Even as we hear many of the same passages and hear familiar stories, we also hear with new ears each time because the cycle of the church year intersects with our own life cycles.  As we grow and experience different seasons in our own lives, those stories impact at varying points and speak to us in new ways. As all the cycles in life continue, God’s Word continues to intersect those cycles and transform the world and us.

Season	Special day(s)	date		focus
Advent		4 Sundays prior to 12/25		Preparation for 1st & 2nd coming of Christ
Nativity of Our Lord	Eve	December 24	12 days	Birth of Christ
	Day	December 25
Epiphany		January 6		Arrival of Magi
Season after Epiphany	Baptism of Our Lord	1st Sunday after Epiphany		Jesus baptized
Lent	Ash Wednesday	40 days prior to Easter w/o Sundays	40 days + 6 Sundays	Repentance
Holy Week	Palm/Passion Sunday	Sunday before Easter		Journey into Jerusalem – -to the cross
(Easter Triduum)	Maundy Thursday	Thursday before Easter	3 days	Last Supper
	Good Friday	Friday before Easter		Crucifixion
	Easter Vigil	Day before Easter		Tomb
Easter		1st Sunday after the Spring full moon after 3/21	50 days	Resurrection
	Pentecost	50 days after Easter		Coming of the Holy Spirit
Season after Pentecost	Holy Trinity Sunday			Doctrine of the Trinity
	Reformation Sunday	Sunday before or on Oct. 31st		Ideals of the Reformation
	All Saints Day	Sunday on or after Nov. 1st		Communion of saints
	Christ the King Sunday	Last Sunday of the Church year		Christ as king