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Living in the Season after Pentecost

If you have ever been lost, such as on a cross-country trip or in a mall, you have probably had the experience of finding a map on which has been placed a helpful little arrow stating "You Are Here." In the same way, if you are ever confused about, not where you are, but who you are, locating yourself in the Church Year can likewise be helpful.

The whole purpose of the Church calendar is to center our lives in Christ and the story of God's saving work. It begins with Advent, four weeks prior to Christmas Day. After celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas, we commemorate the day when Jesus was first revealed to the Gentiles, The Epiphany. The Incarnation Cycle-Advent, Christmas, and The Epiphany-is anchored on the calendar by the date of December 25.

The second cycle of the Church Year is often called the Pascha Cycle. Beginning with Ash Wednesday, the Pascha Cycle includes the seasons of Lent, Easter, and the Day of Pentecost. Like Christmas, the date of Easter anchors these seasons on the calendar.

These two cycles are glued together by the Epiphany Season and the Season after Pentecost, making a perpetual loop that will be repeated until the End of the Ages. Today we find ourselves in the Season after Pentecost, somewhere between the coming of the Holy Spirit and the day when the Son of Man will come in his glory with all the angels. On that day he will sit on his throne in judgment of all the people of the nations.¹ The readings we hear in church from the Day of Pentecost to the Feast of Christ the King, the last Sunday of the Church Year, emphasize this theme.

The Church calendar repeats over and over again the story of the decisive action that God took in redeeming his Creation. In this story, the divine Son of God was born in human flesh to make an offering we could not make ourselves, freeing all who believe in him from the power of sin and reconciling us to God.² And after his one time sacrifice to settle all our debts, God sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of those who put their trust in Jesus, to help them to be like him, and to enable them to do the work that Jesus began.

The Church Year has everything to do with who we are and how we live. We are living in the Season after Pentecost, empowered by the same Holy Spirit we read about at Pentecost, and tasked to continue the work of reconciling the world to God in Christ Jesus through the spreading of his Kingdom. It's a monumental task. By all human reason it is an impossible task. It's a good thing, then, that the salvation of the world is not dependent upon our own cunning and wisdom, but by the will of God himself who directs us through the power of his Spirit. Our call is to find ourselves on this "map," to define ourselves as Christ's own people: knowing where we are and who we are, we can choose his way over ours, and pin all our hopes and dreams for ourselves, our children, and the earth that we live upon, on the wisdom of God and the grace and love of Jesus.
God bless us in his work,