Today we conclude the series on the church calendar. I will appreciate comments and questions for better enlightenment.
Last Sunday we looked at Advent to Easter, and concluded that Easter is the greatest feast in the year, and arguably greater than Christmas, since the fulfilment of something is greater than its promise. On this day Jesus rose from the dead, and promise that we, too, will rise one day.
After Jesus Christ rose from the dead, Bible records in 1st Cor. 15: 6, that He was seen by about 500 people. Forty days after, He ascended into heaven, with a promise to send us the comforter, and finally return but this time not as a Saviour, but a Judge. Ten days after His ascension, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came on the apostles, and the Church as we know it today was inaugurated. So, Pentecost is called the ‘Birthday of the church’. Another name for Pentecost Sunday is ‘Whit Sunday’.
Pentecost, was a Jewish feast that held on the fiftieth day after the Passover, only they didn’t call it Pentecost. That’s the Greek name. The Jews called it the Feast of Harvest or the Feast of Weeks. It is mentioned five places in the first five books—in Ex. 23, 24, Lev. 16, Numb. 28, and Deut. 16. Pentecost was the celebration of the beginning of the early harvest.
The Feast of Passover is what we today call ‘Easter’, since Christ has become our ‘Passover Lamb’. Sacrificed once for us all, a perfect sacrifice.
And so, on the day of Pentecost, the first-fruits of the ‘Believers’ were harvested and celebrated. The receiving of the Spirit changed their lives and inspired the Apostles to preach the Good news about Jesus. This is what happens when we receive the Holy Spirit.
The Church Calendar, has up till here, traced the life of Christ, from His expectation, to His birth, His suffering, passion, death, resurrection, ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Thereafter, the church uses the other Sundays of the year about 24, to put before us different aspects of the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, believing that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we would be able to live the Christlike life.
And so, you see the Calendar as Trinity I, Trinity II, Trinity III and so on, till it gets to Trinity 24 to 26, depending on the year. Four weeks to Christmas, becomes Advent and we start counting again.
God bless you.
As we approach the end of the year, in the year of our Supernatural Overflow, I pray for you, you will not miss your miracle. The same way Peter did not miss his at the last minute, you will not miss yours.
God bless you more praying that you will end the year in the joy of the Lord.
Your Vicar and friend,
The Revd. Canon Kiri Wakama
