Christmas Starts with a New Calendar

I’m planning this Christmas around a new calendar . . . and it all started with some conversations that majored on one letter in the alphabet.

Members in my age group seem to be pre-occupied with one particular letter in the alphabet. No matter the friend, the conversation, or the time — one letter keeps surfacing. What’s the letter?

It’s the letter P and it’s found in three words that quickly dominate the conversations I have with friends who share my age.

• Prescriptions – “I’m now taking this prescription. What’s working for you?”
• Physicians – “At my last doctor’s visit I found out that _______________.”
• Politics – “This country is going to hell in a hand basket!”

It’s easy to lose perspective when you focus on these three words. I find myself wanting to shout in the middle of conversations: “I’m tired of hearing how Trump is the greatest President!” or “Don’t tell me he’s the destroyer of democracy!” “I’m tired about talking about my medications!” “I’m tired of recounting my last doctor’s visit!” 

I fluctuate between anger and discouragement during these repeated conversations. I feel a little bit like the enslaved Israelites when Moses showed up on the scene: And they did not listen to Moses on account of their despondency and cruel bondage (Exodus 9:6). When I lose perspective I get into trouble; I stop listening to God. How do I escape this trap?

I start with a new calendar.

I’m finding freedom and hope in the church’s ancient calendar. This calendar is becoming my partner in living my life in Christ.

The church’s ancient calendar marks the points of God’s intervention in time and space. This calendar calls me to immerse myself in His alternate view of history; a history very different from the one depicted in the New York Times or my social media feed. This story is a grand redemptive one that operates at a cosmic and a personal level. This is the story of Jesus; this is God’s alternate view of history.

The traditional church calendar is structured in two tripartite cycles: Advent/Christmas/Epiphany and Lent/Easter/Pentecost. All of these dates reveal God’s intervention in history and point to a new life, a new hope, and a new release — the promise of a new life and a new world in Christ.

In the December cycle, God shows up as Immanuel — “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). He enters human history in the form of a man — a King. This King will not only reign in my life but will “scatter the proud in the thoughts of their hearts . . . bring down the mighty from their thrones . . . and send the rich away empty” while “exalting those of humble estate and filling the hungry with good things” (Luke 1:51-53). What an alternative to our current exercise of political power.

This is a radically different way of looking at history! The Christmas season reminds me that God has intervened in history and when I light the Advent candles I celebrate this present and future King and his reign. History now becomes the story of Jesus.

In the Easter cycle, God again intervenes in history through Jesus’ resurrection; an act that promises the restoration of creation (Romans 8:21), disarming the rulers and authorities (Colossians 2:15), and re-creating the human race in His image (2 Corinthians 5:17). History is about the Risen Savior.

This is the history that I want to enter — not the daily narrative of Fox News or CNN. God has intervened in history and is setting things right in a way very different from our national media’s storyline.

What happens between the seasonal highlights of Christmas and Easter? The ancients called this “ordinary time.” I love this concept. Ordinary time is the longest time in the church’s calendar year — it’s the long stretch of months between Christmas and Lent, between Easter and Advent. Ordinary time shows us that most of our lives are lived in long, routine stretches of daily life — where we “live in the quiet” (1 Thessalonians 4:11). Ordinary time invites me to live the resurrected life in the quiet of my daily routines.

Just like life, the church year has seasons of light and darkness, of sorrow and rejoicing, and sometimes just trying to get through. My everyday life is like this — I work at getting through the darkness and sorrow, at celebrating the light and hope. I cycle back to God’s intervention in history — an intervention remembered and celebrated through his marker calendar events, an alternate history that points me to Jesus.

Life shrinks as I age. The walls of physical and mental limitations close in on me. I push the walls back when I remember that I belong to something bigger than myself. I want to live in God’s alternate view of history, celebrating his unfolding story through His startling and majestic intervention in time and space.

Following the church calendar places God at the center stage of history and my life. I participate in a story bigger than myself, and I need this regular reminder because life is sometimes marked by despondency and cruel bondage. I need all the help I can get to live in God’s flow of history, and the ancient church calendar is proving to be a valuable partner in this journey.

At this Christmas season, step back and start life with a new Calendar. Raise your sights to God’s alternative of true history. Discover Jesus in all the church seasons starting with this one. Merry Christmas!

Want to explore further the history and meaning of the church calendar? Check out The Circle of Seasons by K.C. Breton.