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.