Christian Year Spirituality – Moving Deeper into the Rhythm of Our Faith
The world we live in is in the midst of a great cultural and spiritual transition. This “post-modern” era, sometimes referred to as “post-Christendom” has seen both a decline in institutional Christianity and a weariness among some Christians of a faith shaped by the culture and practices of the world.
Our spiritual lives can be formed and deepened through the practice of Christian year spirituality. The Christian practice of time is a powerful form of ancient spirituality. We can see how our personal spiritual devotions and our corporate spiritual worship can be ordered by the Christian year in many examples from ancient Church practices and Scripture.
“If we can speak so emphatically of the intrinsic value of the liturgical year, it is because we celebrate it together with Christ himself. The special nature of the church year is entirely due to the fact that the Lord himself presides over it and that he celebrates his mysteries with the church for the glory of the Father.” Adrian Nocent
We Anglicans have retained a portion of this in our Liturgical Year which begins with the first Sunday of Advent and ends with the Reign of Christ. The shape of our liturgy varies with the seasons, with the change of liturgical colors, with the varying components of the liturgy both spoken and enacted. Our liturgical year consists of the following “seasons” and their usual associated colors.
Advent (Blue or Violet)
Christmas (White)
Epiphany/ After Epiphany (Green)
Lent (Purple)
Holy Week & The Great Triduum (Red, White, Purple, none)
Easter (White)
After Pentecost (Green)
Professor Robert Webber has commented that “the pattern of the Christian year is the life lived in the pattern of death and resurrection with Christ. This spiritual tradition was developed in the early church and passed down through history in the worship of the church. It enjoys Biblical sanction, historical staying power and contemporary relevance. Through it we can experience the Biblical mandate to conform to Christ. The Christian year orders our formation with Christ incarnate in his ministry, death burial, resurrection and coming again through Advent, Christmas,Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost. In Christian year spirituality we are spiritually formed by recalling and entering into his great saving events. The practice of a Christian year organizes our own internal experience and brings our everyday experience into union with Christ.”
As part of a deepening of our own spirituality, we will be adding additional pieces of service music to our repertoire in order to more fully enter the rhythm of Christian year spirituality by enabling us to sing different service music during different liturgical seasons. Our Music Director has selected various “settings” from our hymnal and other sources that we can add to those we currently know, to help us further delineate the changes in the liturgical year. This will contribute to us more fully entering into the mysteries of Christ’s saving events as denoted in our Church year.
If you have any suggestions for music or seasonal liturgies, please bring them to Dr. Brough or Fr. Chris.