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Seasons of the Church
Year 2007 & 2008 |
We keep track of time and seasons of the church year by using calendars
that provide us opportunities to observe, commemorate, and celebrate certain
events or occasions. Colors for the different seasons is a visual aspect for
reminding us of the opportunity to tell the stories of God's redemptive work
in the world. |
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Advent
The Christian calendar is organized around two major centers of Sacred
Time: The first is Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Advent
is the beginning of the Church Year . It begins on the fourth Sunday
before Christmas Day. The primary sanctuary
color of Advent is Purple. This is
the color of penitence and fasting as well as the color of royalty to
welcome the Advent of the King. We also use purple for lent pointing to a
connection between Jesus' birth and death. |
Third week of Advent |
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Pentecost Sunday
Pentecost marks the birth of the Christian
church by the power of the Holy Spirit, and continues in the day to day life
of a Christian. Red is the liturgical color for this
day. Red recalls the tongues of flame in which the Holy Spirit
descended on the first Pentecost. Red also reminds us of the blood of
the Martyrs.
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Ordinary Time The rest of the year
following Pentecost is known as Ordinary Time, from the word "ordinal",
which simply means counted time. this time is used to focus on various
aspects of the Faith, especially the mission of the church in the world.
This time extends from Pentecost Sunday to the last Sunday in August, which is the
end of Pentecost. Ordinary Time continues until the beginning of
Advent. The color for Ordinary Time is Green. Special Sundays in
Ordinary Time have a different color, such as All Saints Day (color Red).
The green stole shows the color of the season. |
