the Christian Seasons Calendar.
The basic concept of the calendar is this. Rather than the year beginning on January 1st and then having days grouped into twelve months, the Christian Seasons Calendar starts with the first day of the liturgical year (the first Sunday of Advent) and then groups dates under the liturgical seasons. You can see the layout here.
Here are some endorsements for the calendar:
Stanley Hauerwas:More endorsements here.
“Few things are more important for Christians today than reclaiming the calendar as our time. This wonderful calendar helps us do that by reminding us that we are constituted by the narrative that is quite different from Canadian or American national holidays. What a wonderful gift this calendar is and makes.”
Walter Brueggemann:
“I am so glad to see the emergence of this calendar because we Christians are in an emergency about time. It is clear that the dominant culture in North America no longer knows what time it is, because every season has now been homogenized into an uninterrupted ‘shopping season’ and when we do not know what time it is we are unlikely to remember ‘former times’ and surely have no ground to hope for ‘new things’. This new calendar refers all our seasons back to the Lord of all time and may, in quite concrete ways, provide a form of resistance against the timelessness of consumerism back into the timefulness of our faith.”
Eugene Peterson:
“Every day is holy, a gift of time in which we enter into the great rhythms of God’s creation and salvation. This calendar brings fresh awareness to the essential sacredness of what is so easily profaned by hurry or sloth.”
What is nifty about the calendar is that you can still use it as a secular calendar. That is, you can quickly look at it and see that, say, today is Tuesday March 9th. But you'd also quickly note that March 9th is the First Week of Lent.
Basically, the liturgical structure is imposed upon the secular calendar breaking it up, not into months, but into liturgical seasons with the number of days for each season varying in length depending upon how long the season lasts. Thus, rather than having 12 months/pages with roughly 30 days per page, Advent has twenty-four days on its page. Christmas has twelve days. Lent has forty days. Holy Week has seven days. And so on.
You still have and can follow the secular days and months, but the organizing structure is liturgical in nature. What grabs your eye is not the month you are in (though that's readily available), but the liturgical season you are in.
I love the quote by Eugene Peterson, "Every day is holy..." The Christian Seasons Calendar is such a reminder. I have used the Daily Office and the Liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer for twenty five years. I look forward to it each morning, as well as experiencing the mystery and awe of existence as it guides me into the seasons. Hope is given power when you do not have to wait until Sunday for the dwelling and movement of God.
ReplyDeleteIf my comment posts twice, my apologies. Though the page says 1 comment, it does not appear. If you see both, please delete one.
ReplyDeleteI love Eugene Peterson's quote. "Every day is holy..." The Christian Calendar helps to continuously keeps that thought alive. I have used the Daily Office and the Liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer for twenty five years. I look forward to it each morning, as well as to the mystery and awe I experience as it takes me into the seasons. Hope finds power when we do not have to wait until Sunday to know the dwelling and movement of God.
This is awesome!
ReplyDeleteI picked one up based on your recommendation last year. Was excited to get the new one in the mail the other day. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Even on the most hectic days at work this is a wonderful reminder of the seasons and cycles we are a part of. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteFor someone who lives and works in the liturgical cycle (Episcopal priest), this is something that makes me go, "Dangnabbit . . . why didn't I think of that??"
ReplyDelete