Seasons of the Church Year

The Church Year is ordered according to six seasons that each celebrate a part of Christian faith and life.  You can most easily tell what season we are in by the color of the clergy's vestments and the altar cloth hangings.  Some seasons have the same color, so that can be a bit tricky, but if you know what time of year it is that helps match the color with the season.  Special services, such as Baptism, can also confuse things as we have paticular colors that may not match the season we are in.  Don't worry to much about it, someone can always explain it and after a while you'll figure out (and then can help explain it to others).  We also try to do little reminders  about the seasons of the church year as we move from season to season.  Following is a wonderful description that we have adapted from sundayschoollessons.com. 

The seasons follow the life of Jesus, the Christ, beginning with the preparation for his birth in Advent, the birth of the Christ child at Christmas, the journey of discipleship in Epiphany as the Wise Men follow the star to Bethlehem, the preparation for Jesus' passion and death during Lent and Holy Week, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead at Easter, and his ascension into Heaven. After his ascension, we receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and build our relationship with the risen Christ during this season.

Advent (Blue): The church year begins with the Advent of Our Lord, the four weeks of getting ready for the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem on Christmas Day. Advent is a time of joyful preparation for the wonderful time when the Son of God came to earth to live as a person among regular people.

Christmas (White) is a short season, beginning with Christmas Day, December 25, and continuing through the Name of Jesus until Epiphany. Christmas is a season of thankfulness for the goodness of God. The color of Christmas is white.

Epiphany (White on Epiphany & Baptism of our Lord, Green after) begins on January 6, the day the Wise Men came to Bethlehem to worship the Baby Jesus. Epiphany is a season of worship, as the whole world follows the Wise Men to find and honor Jesus.

Lent (Purple) begins with Ash Wednesday and is a season of self-examination and quiet contemplation of the mysteries of God. Christians prepare for the death of their sins and worldly selves with the death of Jesus on the cross on Good Friday as they follow his footsteps through Holy Week (Holy Week we use red for Christ's Passion).

Easter (White) begins with Easter Sunday. It is a glorious celebration of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. It is a season of praise, as Christians glorify the risen Christ.  There are fifty days of the Easter season that ends on the Day of Pentecost (we use red on Pentecost) when we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit on the apostles (the "birthday of the Church").

Season After Pentecost (or Ordinary Time) (Green) lasts for almost half the church year and how long depends on where Easter falls on the calendar.  This is a season where we focus on celebrating the Holy Spirit and how that sends us out in mission through evangelism and outreach.