The season that begins in Advent and ends at Pentecost is the reason I am an Anglican and this week is the most intense but also my favorite week of the year. I love the liturgical calendar that forces me both as a pastor and as a worshiper into setting the resurrection behind a veil for a time and immersing myself in the Passion. I appreciate the long season of Lent and its denial of some pleasures in order to make more room for God in my life and its culmination in the terrible but necessary crucifixion of Jesus prepares me to celebrate on Easter.
I have been thinking about that calendar the past couple of days and appreciating that it can roughly be divided into two grand divisions that correspond to the two divisions of the Ten Commandments, love God and love your neighbor.
This Advent to Pentecost round is the love God part, focusing on the birth of Jesus, the revealing of Jesus' identity, all that leads to the cross, and then the working out of life in the Spirit leading up to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The final Sunday of that round is really the following one, Trinity Sunday, when every preacher gets a test of orthodoxy to see how well they can walk the tightrope and explain the Trinity without lapsing into someone's pet heresy.
The second great division of the calendar changes the focus to how we are to live as ambassadors. I know many people prefer for me to preach week after week on their life but I am thankful that our tradition allows me to say no to that request. Our lives need to be re-contextualized by His life and we need to spend this long season when we focus on Him alone. We spend most of our time on this earth in self-centered ways, it is important to understand that we live in a Christocentric world when we become Christians, the same way His life was lived with one thought, pleasing and glorifying the Father. I am glad of this rhythm of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment