Marking Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year

Session 2 Christus Victor

A Biblical Motif for Structuring the Life and Times of the People of God

Come, Enter into the Entire Sweep of History as We Glorify Christ the Risen One!

The Christian community gathers to remember and to enact its particular identity as those called out by God in Christ. Because all ministries are rooted in the redemptive presence and activity of Christ in the world, the church’s sense of time and place is oriented toward God’s self-giving in the whole person and work of Jesus Christ. Christian worship involves the gathering of a baptized people who are commissioned and empowered to serve the world. Such servanthood does not take place unless the church remembers with the whole sweep of Scripture and is enabled to hope for a real future in light of God’s promises.

~ Doug E. Sailers. “The Origins of the Church Year.” Robert Webber., ed. The Services of the Church Year . Nashville: Star Song Pub. Group. p. 92.

Every culture, every religious tradition has its cycle of seasons, holy days (or holidays), and occasions of special commemoration. We know the earth’s seasons of winter, spring, summer, and fall. In the United States, for example, people celebrate national holidays such as Independence Day and Memorial Day. The calendar of the Christian year marks the occasions that have to do with the life of Jesus: his conception, birth, baptism, teaching, ministry, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension. Someone has said that the Church Year “is the life of Christ lived out again in liturgical time – in the time and in the memory of his Church.”

~ Vicki K. Black. Welcome to the Church Year . Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 2004. pp. 2-3.

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I. Introduction to the Christus Victor Motif: To Christ the Victory!

The Christus Victor motif offers an alternative perspective on the work of Christ, viewing the cross and resurrection from the standpoint of conflict and victory over Satan, sin and death rather than cere monial sacrifice for sins. It is a perspective that sees the plight of Israel and humankind as bondage to a power rather than laboring under guilt (though these are not ultimately exclusive perspectives).

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