A little history about the church calendar and the reasons why/why not a church may follow them.

The seasons of the Christian church vary from denomination to denomination, although many recent changes have consolidated the 'Lectionary' into a 'Revised Common Lectionary.'

Following the Jewish traditions of celebrations of feasts and worship, the early Christians shifted some focus from the 'sacrificial' feasts and focused on the ones that highlighted the uniqueness of following Christ.

By 200 A.D./C.E. (anno domini/Common Era) some standards were identified by the Archbishops.

The Greek Orthodox church and the Roman Catholic Churches diverged and so did their celebrations.

Hence, the Greek Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on January 6th. Their season before Christmas involves 40 days of fasting--the Nativity Fast. Their church year begins in September [similar to the Jewish Rosh Hashannah (celebrating the beginning of creation) and the soon to follow,Yom Kippur, (a day of atonement to get a fresh start)--the beginning of their spiritual year] and Christmas feast is January 6th, which is the Roman 'Epiphany.'

Confused? Yes, many Christians could not keep things straight. So Churches formed Lectionaries--an orderly listing of the Scriptures that follow the Christian year.

As the churches 'divided' they had separate Lectionaries.

Now, there are so many occasions when 'Christians' are called to celebrate a festivity together, the churches have gathered together and created the 'Revised Common Lectionary' and joined the various traditions together. Still, some churches will hold on to their 'traditions' and retain the older versions.

The early church became concerned that Christians needed to learn the entire Bible, so the Lectionaries assigned Scriptures that applied to each season, but filled three years of time.

Thus we have Lectionary Year A, Year B and Year C. To read through the entire Bible requires all three years.

I use the Revised Common Lectionary. It was wonderful for all the chaplains in my military tours to be 'preaching' on the same texts--so the different faith groups could discuss the Scriptures around the meal table and be talking about the same verses.

I will use the Revised Common Lectionary for this coming season of Advent.

What is Advent?

Advent is focused on 'what is coming up'--so it deals with the prophesies of the Old Testament, our Hebrew heritage that points to the Messiah and also the end of times, when Christ will return in the clouds.

So, Advent has a dual purpose 1) looking for the prophecies which speak of Christ's birth and first coming and 2) looking for the prophecies which deal with the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time, as we know it.

The Season of Christmas (Christ-mass or feast) begins on the day of Christ's birth...and often we celebrate with a Christmas Eve service (akin to our Jewish heritage of beginning the day the night before the day).

However, some have Christmas services on the day of the 25th of December (by the way, scholars do not know whether this is the actual day of Christ's birth, but it is a day that was selected in the early church to honor his birth...and hence called his birthday).

The Christmas feast or mass was to run for 12 days and January 6th was considered Epiphany (the day of awareness and recognition-- the day Christ is honored by the Wise Kings; the day Christ is recognized in the temple by the Jewish prophetess, Anna and the prophet, Simeon.)

Then, we begin Ordinary time, until we come to Lent (40 days) and then Easter (50 days) until Pentecost. You will notice that our Easter runs in tandem with the Jewish calendar again (because it is our heritage) of the Passover Feast (remember Jesus met with his disciples at the Passover feast, which became our 'Last Supper' or 'Holy Communion' or 'Holy Eucharist?'


Why don't all churches follow the same thing?

1) Divisions in the church meant that the newer forming churches reacted by establishing different traditions.

2) Many Protestants resisted the things which looked 'like the Roman Catholic church.' However, some (like Lutherans and Church of England) copied the Roman Lectionary and practices.

Why are they all doing more of it now?

Pastors everywhere find that the consistency of the Lectionary helps connect the Scriptures for the church people from week to week. They build on the week before.

Chaplain in hospitals and military etc. find that focusing on the similarities of our faiths benefits the laity more than being dogmatic about differences.

So, we have common ground, hence the Revised Common Lectionary. This is the site which was responsible for creating the common Lectionary: http://www.commontexts.org/rcl/

I hope I have not confused you more. Do feel free to ask me if there is something you would like me to clarify. It is not unusual for more questions to arise.

I am your chaplain.

Have a blessed day!
ChapLynne