2021-2022 Church Year Calendar

About the Calendar Since our earliest records, the Church has remembered and celebrated the events of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. The ancient Church centered its worship and witness on his glorious person and salvation work. A cursory outline of Church history reveals its deep commitment to re-enact and re-present the major events of Jesus’s life in real time. Largely as an act of worship and instruction, the Church Year (also known as the Church Calendar or Christian Year ) was the early Church’s response to secular society’s attempt to make meaning through its civil calendar and its celebrations. The Christian Year observances, feasts, and services allowed them to think “Christianly” about their days and weeks and months, and put all things in the perspective of the Christ event. Following Jesus’s life through the cycle of the Christian Year can do the same for us today! The Benefits of Spiritual Formation through the Church Year Linking our devotion and practice to the cycle of the Christian Year provides a wealth of benefits to the spiritual journey of individuals, families, and congregations. To begin with, it enables us to “track with” the thoughts and sermons of tens of thousands of other congregations who share in reflecting on Jesus’s life and work through the Christian Year. Furthermore, it helps us avoid scattered and arbitrary emphases since we link our reading and services to the horizon of texts provided by the Revised Common Lectionary. Such an emphasis opens our congregations up to the vast devotional, sermonic, and teaching resources available to believers which are keyed to the Christian Year. Another benefit involves our being drawn into closer fellowship with the ancient tradition of the Church, i.e., those who focused so joyfully on the victorious work of Christ as the destroyer of evil and restorer of creation. Above all, with its focus on the story of Christ and his working in the Church, your Christian Year reflection will bring you back to the Storyline that lies at the foundation of the Church’s worship and mission – the story of Jesus. The Christian Year can enable you to walk to his beat with a new rhythm, a beat whose pulse pounds counter to those rhythms thumping so loudly in civil calendars and in secular society. Rehearsing the Life and Ministry of Jesus As to its logic, the Church Year follows the order of events outlined in the Gospels and Acts, and testified of in the Epistles and the Apocalypse. It begins with the birth of Christ (Advent to Epiphany). Next, it focuses on the revelation of his mission to the world (Epiphany and Transfiguration). It reminds us that Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem and the cross (Ash Wednesday and Lent). It chronicles his final week , his crucifixion (Holy Week), and his To Enhance OurWorship, to Equip Our Community, and to AffirmOur Unity The Church Year enhances our worship and equips our congregations for spiritual growth. Urban Christians can benefit from hearing the story of Jesus told over and over again in the context of public worship. New believers are grounded in the essential biblical story of their new-found faith, and older Christians are reminded of the bedrock solid foundation of the faith they have treasured for years. Hearing the great stories, Psalms, letters, and events of the Bible in the context of worship unites us around our common faith, and builds in us our sense of connection to the one grand tale of God’s faithful love to us all in Jesus Christ. In addition to public worship, using the Church Year can also enrich and equip congregations as they follow together the life of Christ. Organizing our sermons, studies, and disciplines around Christ’s major events provides the entire Church body a shared understanding and experience, allowing it to learn and grow together as they focus on the same events and Scriptures. Perhaps most importantly, the Church Year is an effective link to the global Christian community’s spiritual journey. By reading and preaching the same texts shared by thousands of other congregations worldwide, we as families, small groups, and congregations walk as partners with other traditions in the body of Christ, and so affirm our connection to the Church as defined by the Nicene Creed: God’s “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.” World Impact, Inc.: “Transforming Communities Together” World Impact is a Christian missions organization whose overarching vision is to see a healthy church in every community of poverty. For fifty years World Impact has boldly proclaimed and tangibly displayed the love of God in at-risk communities in the name of Christ, within the inner cities of America and around the world. As we enable our partners to train their leaders through programs, our mission is to empower urban leaders and partner with local churches to reach their cities with the Gospel. The Urban Ministry Institute The Urban Ministry Institute is a ministry of World Impact, Inc. As World Impact’s training and research center, TUMI produces innovative programs and resources to empower churches serving communities of poverty to mature and plant healthy churches wherever God has placed them.

resurrection (Easter). It affirms his ascension to the Father’s right hand in glory (Ascension Day). It celebrates the birth of his Church through the coming of his Spirit (Pentecost). It remembers the history of his Church throughout the ages (All Saints Day). Finally, it acknowledges that at his return , Christ will reign supreme as Lord and King over all (Reign of Christ the King). Advent both ends the cycle and begins it again. It looks forward to his Second Coming as the conclusion of the Church Year but also prepares to remember again his First Coming and thus starts the Church Year afresh. This amazing portrayal of the life and hope of Jesus can give us a recurring beat, a dynamic cycle that provides us with a fresh outlook and vision on The act of reading the Scriptures in public worship dates back to some of the most ancient practices in the early Church. This emphasis on the public reading of the Word lay at the heart of Christian faith and worship, and this practice accommodated a large segment of the early Church’s membership, many of whom were illiterate. Today, in the ongoing busy‑ ness and cluttered nature of our schedules, it is wise and reasonable to emphasize this biblical practice. The Revised Common Lectionary is a Bible reading program used by many church denominations in order to help congregations read through the major sections and stories of the Scriptures over a three-year period. The Years A, B, and C refer to the Gospel readings according to the evangelists: Year A refers to Matthew, Year B to Mark, and Year C to Luke’s Gospel. (The Gospel of John is read throughout the lectionary at certain times in each of the three years.) The Meaning of “Proper” in the Church Year As you follow through the Church Year, you will notice that during the Season after Pentecost (also referred to as Ordinary Time or Kingdomtide ) the weeks are referred to as “Proper.” This term is used for all the weeks during this extended period, except Holy Days (e.g., Trinity Sunday, All Saints Day, and Reign of Christ the King). The “Proper” of the Church Year refers to how some church traditions assign appointed prayers (called collects ) for specific services, along with particular Psalms and Lessons (i.e., lectionary texts) for a given week or Holy Day. The Anglican and Episcopal traditions (among others) use these “Proper” references to conduct their worship services, in conjunction with their books of order and common prayer. the meaning of our lives as we live out our days here. The Revised Common Lectionary and Years A, B, and C workers and leaders to advance the Kingdom of God among the poor, both in America and around the world. Through our programs and resources, TUMI empowers urban leaders and their congregations for effective ministry. Correspondingly, we work with these leaders to plant and pastor new urban churches, and to reproduce themselves in urban church planting movements. Our goal is to train urban leaders and their churches to partner together to multiply healthy churches which will serve as outposts of the Kingdom in stressed communities, becoming vessels of both Gospel mission and biblical justice. About This Year’s Calendar We have entitled our 2021-22 Church Year Calendar Our Sacred Roots: The Priesthood of All Believers . The Church is God’s royal priesthood, redeemed by the blood of Christ to represent the Kingdom in its theology, worship, spiritual formation, and witness. This calendar beautifully captures selected biblical symbols and metaphors that illustrate the mystery of the Church in the world. This year we also highlight the song The Church of the Living God in Jesus Christ , which lists a rich array of the biblical symbols that reveal the Church’s mission and identity. (You can find the song lyrics inside the back cover.) Our dear friend and colleague, Tim Ladwig, illustrated this year’s signature image, The Priesthood of All Believers . Tim is a former urban missionary and an award-winning illustrator. Carolyn Hennings, TUMI’s desktop publisher and graphic designer-in-chief, designed the calendar’s layout. She is a gifted writer, artist, and urban missionary, who created the seasonal expressions of the calendar, and arranged its biblical texts and images together to provide us with this stunning liturgical calendar. Tim and Carolyn’s collaboration produced this lovely, informative piece that joins good theology with visual beauty, anchored in the liturgical tradition. Our Sacred Roots: The Priesthood of All Believers is a rich blend of liturgical readings, biblical theology, lovely images, and spiritual devotion. We pray that as you employ the calendar, you’ll be inspired to love her Head and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who alone has saved and commissioned his people to be his agents in the world.

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