The Calendar

Part II

The Reformation

The reformers of the sixteenth century swept away the mediaeval mysteries of the calendar. But there remained an overlay of the pre-Easter Jesus in his passion and death and the obsession of the Middle Ages with sin and death, obscuring the vividness of the portrait of the living Lord. However, wherever the Calendar remained, as in the Book of Common Prayer, it became a useful structure for the reading of Scripture at the different seasons and so allowing the 'story' to be read as a basis for faith rather than for re-enactment. They were sure of the 'once-for-all' nature of the gospel in Jesus. But they were not able to recover the gospel outlook mirrored so faithfully by Paul and the early Christian communities in their worship as we shall see.

In this way the protestant churches in the West continued with a reformed calendar observance used mainly for the reading of Scripture for over four centuries. But in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries there has been a small but enthusiastic movement to restore what was called, as long ago as the 1920s, 'our catholic heritage'. Supported by the then flourishing religious communities there was a steady recovery of the mediaeval rites of re-enactment of the commemorations of Christ's life and death. This has been assimilated into the new versions of the Prayer Book, (Common Worship), in many small ways. For instance we may note the rubrics that say we should not say alleluia in Lent and that Advent is a penitential season and the colour preferred is purple. But we may note about this latter tradition, even as late as the mid- twelfth century Advent was still a period of celebration, of looking ahead to the celebration of the birth of Christ as well as the future advent of the final judgement. The vestments were white and the tone was celebratory and not penitential. Aelred of Rievaulx who died in 1167 says, in a sermon for Advent, 'We should reflect on what good things our Lord did for us by his first coming and what yet greater he will do for us by his second. ..... Therefore we should rejoice in both for both should bring us benefit.'(Aelred of Rievaulx: The Liturgical Sermons, translated by Theodore Berkeley & Basil Pennington, Cistercian Publications 2001, pages 57-58). More important to note, however, is that there has been a wide dissemination of the Holy Week rites which have fostered the unconscious principle that the Christian Calendar is indeed, once again, a means of re-enacting the truths of our faith. So there is the common feeling that after Pentecost when all the dramatic liturgy has come to an end for that year, one has to set one's teeth to endure the boring 'green' season!

An alternative view of the calendar

But there is an alternative view which is based not so much on either the catholic or protestant traditions of what worship should be like but upon the New Testament presupposition that in Christ God's time has been fulfilled and we are now, and always have been, living in that time. Christian worship is a response to that act of God in the revelation of Christ. As disciples, called by the living Lord Jesus Christ we come to respond to the Father in worship and renew our commitment. Jesus overturned the religious movements of his own day, not by opposing them, but by replacing religion with new life in the Spirit, a new creation.

Christian worship as we see it in the New Testament is a new phenomenon. Using the old materials of worship - 'psalms, hymns and spiritual songs' - and above all celebrating in agape meals 'the breaking of the bread' in which Jesus is known, Christian worship no longer is waiting for things to happen, or alternatively performing rites to make things happen, but declares that God has come to us in Christ. In him the new age of God's kingdom has arrived. There is now only one age - the present time which will be ultimately fulfilled. To respond in Christian worship is to recognise what time it is. It is also the expression of a new relationship with God in the Christ who is alive. To think about Christian worship in these terms is to realise how this depends upon a radical change in perception of what worship is about. As we respond to Christ's call to each one of us we receive the grace and gift of faith, so that when we come in community to worship it is by 'faith working through love'.(Galatians 5:6)

Of course there is very little evidence in the New Testament about how the early communities worshipped apart from a few hints here and there. But Paul and the gospel writers do tell us about this new phenomenon of life in Christ. The gospels, while noting many of the historical details of Jesus' mission and death are chiefly concerned to express the reality of the living Christ, known in the communities in which they lived and worshipped. So also Paul with his own experience of Christ urgently declares that the old has passed away in Jesus and the new creation has come. The fact that in the early days of the Christian communities worship was centred round the weekly celebration of the resurrection (on the Lord's day), and the annual commemoration of Easter, tells us that the New Testament vision had taken a great hold upon them. There was reality both about worship and discipleship.

Restoration of Easter as the single focus of the calendar

In this alternative view and use of the Christian Calendar there is only one centre to it rather than the two foci of Christmas and Easter proposed by the later tradition. Easter is the centre because our new life is in Christ and it is the person of the living Lord who dominates both the Calendar and our life. A renewed celebration of Easter would also maintain that in our commemoration of the passion and death we never lose sight of the fact that Jesus, the living Lord, is present to, and has called us, to this worship. The rest of the Christian Calendar then reverts to the original intention of commemorating the events of our Lord's life in reading the Scriptures about him and giving thanks.

Then there can never be any hint that in Advent or at Christmas or at Epiphany we are only on the way to our redemption in Christ. It has already happened! All the commemorations of the Church's Calendar are irradiated with the glory of Easter, telling us what time it is. Length of services, multiplicity of choices and enrichments in worship lay burdens on the worshippers. They are no substitute for the directness and clarity of worship which springs from our freedom in Christ. As Paul begs the Galatians to be aware of their calling, 'For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.'(Galatians 5:1), so we can begin to view the way ahead of us as a rejoicing always in the new life that has been given us and to be in life as in worship witnesses to the present kingship of the Father in our world.

(Go to Part 1)

© Aelred Arnesen

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