Marking Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year

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Mark i ng T ime : Formi ng Sp i r i tua l i t y through the Chr i s t i an Year

5. On the Day of Atonement, the nation was called to fast (Lev. 16.29-34; 23.26-32; Num. 29.7).

a. Fast to occur on the 10th day of the seventh month

b. Involved abstaining from food and drink and other gratifications of the body (cf. 2 Sam. 12.16-20; Dan. 10.2-3)

6. After Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar (cf. 580 BCE), the Jewish people fasted annually in the 4th, 5th, 7th, and 10th months to grieve over this tragedy (Zech. 7.3, 5; 8.19).

7. In the 13th day of Adar, the nation fasted before the Festival of Purim (note, Esther 9.31, with 4.16).

II. The Christian Faith: Religion of the Resurrection

The very nature of the church is defined by the saving deeds of God in Christ. The church, as the extension of Jesus in the world, is called to be an incarnational embodiment of Jesus’ way of being. It is not just another institution in the world (although it allows itself to degenerate into that on occasion), but it is the sign of the historic redemption and of the coming kingdom. The church witnesses to God’s saving deeds not only by its very existence in the world but also by its worship, which animates its life. How does the church express the spirituality of being with Christ in his incarnation, mani festation to the world, death, resurrection, ascension, and coming again? How can we as members of the church participate in a present spirituality that is rooted in past events and anticipates a future event? The answer to this question is that we are shaped and formed spiritually by Christ in the church through a worship that continually orders the pattern of our spirituality into a remembrance of God’s saving deeds and the anticipation of the rule of God over all creation.

~ Robert Webber. Ancient Future Time: Forming Spirituality Through the Christian Year . Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004. p. 27.