January 6th, 2025
What is the church calendar? Not the calendar you can find here on our app highlighting the fun and exciting events coming up at Big Branch, but the traditional or liturgical calendar the larger church body looks to. At some point in 2023, I was listening to a podcast that mentioned the church calendar and then not long after that Michael mentioned the church calendar in conversation. I became intrigued.
The church calendar is an established rhythm of observances that help point the church and individuals to Christ in the ordinary everyday moments in our life. Last year after Christmas I ordered a book for myself (because I failed to let anyone know that it was on my Christmas wish list) called "Sacred Seasons: A Family Guide to Center Your Year Around Jesus". This book is full of practical tips for incorporating the church calendar to our lives. Over the last year, I have changed a few things in my home and we have had some celebrations that align with the church calendar. The book encourages starting slow so that the enormity of the church calendar does not overwhelm.
When I was in high school, I had a friend make a comment after coming to my house that "your house has Jesus everywhere". She was right, everywhere I looked in my parents house had a touch of Jesus and now as I choose decorations to place in my own home I often think, "Will this point my kids to Jesus?". The Christian life is not just meant to be something that happens on Sunday morning from 10 AM-12 PM and Wednesday evenings from 7-8 PM. The Christian life is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. God has allowed us to put practical remembrances into our everyday lives to help point to Him in everything we do.
That brings us to Epiphany. The church calendar actually begins with Advent and Christmas, but Epiphany lines up closest to our calendar new year. Epiphany begins with the celebration remembering the Wise Men visiting Jesus and ends on Fat Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday). Epiphany is a celebration of Jesus' life. We know a lot about Jesus' birth and ministry, but there was also roughly 33 years of time we know very little about. What we do know about this time can be summed up by Luke 2:52, "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man."
Our culture celebrates the changes and goals that people commit to on January 1st every year. You may have been asked "What is your new year's resolution?". Sometimes those resolutions point towards our spiritual walk, sometimes toward our physical well being, and sometimes just a personal goal we would like to accomplish. Epiphany gives us a time frame that points us towards our spiritual growth and our "increase in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man".
This year I am going to be focusing a little more than I did last year on incorporating the church calendar into my family's everyday rhythms and schedules. My end goal is that my kids see me and my home as a place that always points them to Jesus.
What can you do this season of Epiphany to grow in wisdom? Here are a few recommendations:
The church calendar is an established rhythm of observances that help point the church and individuals to Christ in the ordinary everyday moments in our life. Last year after Christmas I ordered a book for myself (because I failed to let anyone know that it was on my Christmas wish list) called "Sacred Seasons: A Family Guide to Center Your Year Around Jesus". This book is full of practical tips for incorporating the church calendar to our lives. Over the last year, I have changed a few things in my home and we have had some celebrations that align with the church calendar. The book encourages starting slow so that the enormity of the church calendar does not overwhelm.
When I was in high school, I had a friend make a comment after coming to my house that "your house has Jesus everywhere". She was right, everywhere I looked in my parents house had a touch of Jesus and now as I choose decorations to place in my own home I often think, "Will this point my kids to Jesus?". The Christian life is not just meant to be something that happens on Sunday morning from 10 AM-12 PM and Wednesday evenings from 7-8 PM. The Christian life is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. God has allowed us to put practical remembrances into our everyday lives to help point to Him in everything we do.
That brings us to Epiphany. The church calendar actually begins with Advent and Christmas, but Epiphany lines up closest to our calendar new year. Epiphany begins with the celebration remembering the Wise Men visiting Jesus and ends on Fat Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday). Epiphany is a celebration of Jesus' life. We know a lot about Jesus' birth and ministry, but there was also roughly 33 years of time we know very little about. What we do know about this time can be summed up by Luke 2:52, "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man."
Our culture celebrates the changes and goals that people commit to on January 1st every year. You may have been asked "What is your new year's resolution?". Sometimes those resolutions point towards our spiritual walk, sometimes toward our physical well being, and sometimes just a personal goal we would like to accomplish. Epiphany gives us a time frame that points us towards our spiritual growth and our "increase in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man".
This year I am going to be focusing a little more than I did last year on incorporating the church calendar into my family's everyday rhythms and schedules. My end goal is that my kids see me and my home as a place that always points them to Jesus.
What can you do this season of Epiphany to grow in wisdom? Here are a few recommendations:
- Join a community group at Big Branch. You can find more information here: https://bigbranchchurch.org/community-groups
- Invite a friend or group of friends to pray with you regularly
- Start a new devotional
- Use a daily prayer app. This one has liturgies for daily life: https://www.everymomentholy.com/app
- Find a podcast you enjoy or listen to scripture as you drive to work or work around the house.
Posted in Church Calendar
1 Comment
I love this!