Christian Liturgical Calendar

As we approach the beginning of the Christian liturgical calendar, I found it quite serendipitous that someone posted the following on one of the Christian discussion forums:

Why is Christmas such a big deal when it's no even in the Bible? Many laymen and laywomen will readily tell me to look at the begining of Matthew for the Christmas story.

I find this story hard to believe when comparing it to the actual word describing this Holy day.

Christmas or "Christ Mass."

As we already know Christ is the Greek form of Messiah the Lord's Anointed One. But Mass is a Latin word that Means "Barley Cake."

Why, on GOD'S green earth, do so called christians celebrate a holy day that doesn't make sense within itself?

Messiah's Barley Cake has nothing to do with the "BIRTHDAY" of our LORD!
Yet, if it were important to celebrate, Jesus would have surely warned his disciple's to do so.
If we go to the book of Matthew, Jesus is continually warning the Disciple's of his death and not his birth. He even remind's them to take up your cross (death) daily.
So what's more important to you, the supposed "CHRISTIAN?"
Following what the LORD Says, or following the tradition of men?


Here is my response:

The Christmas season is part of the Christian (Catholic and Eastern Orthodox) liturgical calendar. The liturgical calendar is a device which helps the church make sure that it focuses on each aspect of Jesus' ministry at least once during the period of a year. During each season of the liturgical calendar, the scripture reading would be from the Bible verses about that season.

Christian liturgical calendar is organized around: Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and concluding at Pentecost. The rest of the year following Pentecost is known as Ordinary Time, from the word "ordinal, " which simply means counted time (First Sunday after Pentecost, second Sunday after Pentecost, etc.). Ordinary Time is used to focus on various aspects of the Faith, especially the mission of the church in the world. Some church traditions break up ordinary time into a Pentecost Season, (Pentecost until the next to last Sunday of August) and Kingdomtide (last Sunday of August until the beginning of Advent).

Advent is the beginning of the liturgical calendar. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which is the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Dec 24. Advent is marked by a spirit of expectation, of anticipation, of preparation, of longing for the coming of Christ to deliver us from sin.

Christmas starts on the 25th of December and ends on the 5th of January (thus the twelve days of Christmas). And we all know what that's all about.

The season of Epiphany extends from January 6th until Ash Wednesday. The term epiphany means "to show" or "to make known" or even "to reveal." It is associated with the coming of the wise men bringing gifts to visit the Christ child, who by so doing "reveal" Jesus to the world as Lord and King.

The season of Lent spans 40 weekdays beginning on Ash Wednesday and climaxing during Holy Week with Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday). Originally, Lent was the time of preparation for those who were to be baptized, a time of concentrated study and prayer before their baptism at the Easter Vigil, the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord early on Easter Sunday. But since these new members were to be received into a living community of Faith, the entire community was called to preparation. Today, Lent is marked by a time of prayer and preparation to celebrate Easter.

The week leading up to Easter is, of course the Holy Week.

Unfortunately, most Protestant churches only celebrate the first day of the Christmas season and the first day of the Easter season; so, most Protestants are not aware of the entire Christian liturgical calendar. If we are going to celebrate the first day of the Christmas season and the first day of the Easter season, shouldn't we celebrate the entire liturgical calendar? There's more to Christ's ministry than just His birth and death. Otherwise, we can celebrate his birth and death any day of the year.

p.s., The "Mass", in the name "Christ Mass", refers to the worship service.

Reaching Your Neighbors

Someone wanted to do door to do evangelism and posted the following message asking for advice:

SO basically I want to get out there and start door to door preaching but what is the best way to go about it and get prepared?

Another member of the forum replied with the following message:

You're wasting your time...

Unless you are being guided by the Holy Spirit to do so. Sorry if that sounded unduly bold.


Here is my reply:

Door to door evangelism may or may not be the vehicle with which the Lord wants you to reach your neighbors. However, we are all called by the Lord to "make disciples". So, I would encourage you to continue pursuing reaching your neighbors with the Gospel.

I do have this advice. There are many ways through which the Lord can use us to reach our neighbors but they all have one thing in common: love.

Principle:
John 13:34
34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Application:
Acts 2:44-47
44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.
45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

On this side of eternity, this world hungers for genuine authentic love (agape love). This world also knows that talk is cheap; we can talk about love all we want, but this world's not going to buy it unless we can show them the goods. They want see that we love one another because Christ first loved us. If you can't show them that we love one another, they are not going to believe that Christ first loved us. And if they don't believe that Christ first loved us, how can they believe that Jesus would love them. And if they don't believe that Jesus would love them, how can they believe that Christ died on the cross to atone for their sin.

If we want to reach our neighbors, we can't be doing it like lone cowboys. We need to do it as the body of Christ whose members love one another because Christ first loved us and let our love for one another draw in our neighbors which in turn allow Christ's love overflows from us onto them by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Some Suggested Action Points:

1. Develop a strong fellowship of brothers and/or sisters in Christ. All you need is a couple of guys (or gals) with whom you can develop deep godly relationships: guys (or gals) that you can pray with, pray for, lean on, and enjoy life with. Do things together: go sailing, fishing, bowling, guys' (girls') night out, etc.


2. As a fellowship, pray for the lost in your neighborhood and ask the Holy Spirit to direct your fellowship.


3. Invite non-believing neighbors to join you when you do things together: go sailing, fishing, bowling, guys' night out, etc.


4. Pray and look for opportunities to share the Gospel when non-believing neighbor(s) accept(s) your invitations.


5. Let the Holy Spirit flow.

Love one another as Christ loves you: by this all men will know that you are His disciples.