November 28, 2025

Happy New Year!

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…”

~ Ecclesiastes 3:1

Seasons come and go, one leading to the next. People experience the same seasons differently depending where they are in the world. Summer in Seattle is winter in Sidney. But even in the same hemisphere, summer is Seattle is different than summer in Syracuse, different than summer in Atlanta, different than summer in Anchorage. 

Calendars developed around a people’s experience of the passing of time and its seasons. Calendars were originally local. But the Roman empire with its incredible expanse, codified a single calendar for all of its population. A calendar that in some respect we still use today. After all, July was for Julius Caesar, and August for Caesar Augustus, to name two months. Yet some people within the Roman empire continued to use their people’s calendar, especially for religious purposes. The Jews were one.

Early Christians kept much of the Jewish calendar. In Acts, Christians are constantly going to Jerusalem to keep Jewish feasts. The Christians preserved Jewish concepts such as a day starting at sunset, a seven-day week, and a Sabbath. Over time Christians redefined Jewish feasts, like Pentecost and Passover (originally Pasch, for us now, Easter), and transformed the Sabbath into the celebration of Resurrection (Emperor Constantine later made Sunday a “sabbath” day.)

The point is, people have for centuries juggled multiple calendars simultaneously. And calendars never stop changing. And though our civil calendars are telling us that the new year is just over a month away, our Church calendars are telling us that this Sunday is the first day of our new year. (There are still some calendars for the 2026 Church year in the narthex, for those who like to keep track of such things.)

For each season of the church year we adjust our worship service to reflect the theme of that season. Our first season is Advent, a season of preparing for the second coming of Christ, while reflecting on those writings anticipating the first coming of Christ. So we plan for our service differently these four weeks. We have no Prelude. We enter in silence, and break that silence with song, we light a candle marking the beginning of a new week, and then we offer our welcome. For this reason, I encourage you not to spend too much time in the Narthex before the Advent services. If you see acolytes heading down the aisles, it might be a good time to follow them!

We also do Advent preparation outside of worship. One example is our Monday evening study during Advent. This year we will follow the pattern of our our adult Sunday School classes this Fall by reflecting on the first lesson and gospel lesson read in worship the day before. As we will not have any formation offerings in December, we thought this would be a good way to keep that practice going. Monday’s reflections will be led by Sunday’s preacher.

Advent is short (at least for adults; it drags for children!), and soon gives way to Christmas, and so season follows season, until we return to Advent again next year.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Happy new year to you all. Take advantage of our Advent services that invite you to slow down when your other calendars are telling you to speed up and cram more in. Take advantage of the opportunity to stop and reflect on how we ought to prepare for the consummation of God’s reign on earth by forwarding God’s ministries of justice, compassion, redemption, and salvation.

All the best to you all in the new year,

~ Pastor Todd