Overview of the Christian Liturgical Calendar/Liturgical Year, in the context of the worship ministry of Bangsar Lutheran Church, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

1. THE LITURGICAL CALENDAR
BLC WORSHIP MINISTRY
A BRIEF OVERVIEW

2. UNDERSTANDING WORSHIP AT BLC

3. Our Shared BLC Vision
The Mission of BLC is to
Invite people into the reign of God,
Encourage them to grow in the Body of Christ, and
Equip them to be sent into the world
in the power of the Holy Spirit.
As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you
- John 20:21

4. How does the worship ministry support our
shared vision?
By helping the BLC Family encounter Christ,
so the world may encounter Christ through us.
“We seek Him, then are sent by Him”

5. Lutheran Paradigm
The Lutheran worship service offers
Christ by guiding worshippers to a
faith encounter with Christ in Word
and Sacrament (the biblical core of
Worship).
For a more detailed exposition, please consult “What’s So Special about Lutheran Worship?” a presentation by Jeffrey Truscott, 26 Nov 2009 (jeffreyt@ttc.edu.sg).
Available here: [Link]

6. UNDERSTANDING THE LITURGICAL CALENDAR

7. Measuring Time
The notion of time helps us celebrate
life by marking and recalling the
important dates and events in our
lives. E.g. Birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
Time also has an important place in
our spiritual life: It helps us reconnect
with God and His Story (which we are
a part of).

8. Two Types Of Time: Kronos & Kairos
Kronos (κρονοσ) Kairos (καιροσ)
Kairos is the Greek word that can
refer to “the right time”,
“opportune time”, or “the perfect
moment”. It is “qualitative”,
marking moments that cannot be
measured. E.g. Galatians 4:4-7:
“But when the fullness of time had
come…”
Kronos is the Greek word which
refers to sequential or linear
time, i.e. the time we measure.
It is “quantitative”, measuring
by hours, minutes and seconds.
The Liturgical Calendar celebrates the Kairos moments
of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and return.

9. Celebrating The Life, Death & Resurrection Of Jesus
The Liturgical calendar is organized around the events in the life of Christ, celebrating Jesus’ life, death,
resurrection and return.
– This is called the Paschal Mystery, which is celebrated through specific seasons.
– Each season of the Liturgical year celebrates an important aspect of Christ’s life.
– Each season has its own mood and theological emphases, which can be signified by different ways of decorating
churches, use of colours, scripture readings, themes for preaching and even different traditions and practices.
– The Greek word “liturgy” means “public works”. In Church language, “liturgy” is the public worship given to God,
e.g. word and sacraments.
– In churches that follow the liturgical year, the scripture passages for each Sunday are specified in a lectionary.

10. The Liturgical Calendar Seasons
• There are six seasons in the liturgical calendar:
Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and
Ordinary Time/Pentecost Season.
• The Liturgical year begins with Advent and
ends with Ordinary Time, with the Feast of
Christ The King/Doom Sunday.
• The Liturgical year’s cycle of seasons repeats
itself at the end of each cycle.
• Each season:
• has a particular theme
• has a particular liturgical color
• concentrates on different parts of the Bible
• has different religious practices and symbols

11. Advent
Liturgical colour: Violet, purple or blue
• The word "Advent" comes from the Latin word "adventus", which means "arrival" or
"coming".
• Advent is the first season of the liturgical year, beginning four Sundays before
Christmas, on the Sunday falling on or nearest to 30 November, and ends on
Christmas Eve.
• Advent season focuses on preparing for the coming of Christ; not only His first
coming as the Christ-child at Christmas, but also His Second Coming as King, making
Advent "a period for devout and joyful expectation".
• This season is often marked by an Advent Wreath, a garland of evergreens with four
candles. Some churches attach themes to each candle, most often 'hope', 'faith',
'joy', and 'love'.

12. Christmas
Liturgical colour: White
• The Christmas season immediately follows Advent. The traditional Twelve Days of
Christmas begin with Christmas Eve on the evening of December 24 and continue
until the feast of Epiphany.
• The actual Christmas season continues until the Feast of the Baptism of Christ,
which is typically celebrated on the Sunday after 6 January, or the following Monday
if that Sunday is Epiphany.
• The Christmas season focuses on the Birth of Christ and the Incarnation of God.

13. Epiphany
Liturgical colour: Green
• Epiphany season is considered as part of “Ordinary Time”. “Ordinary” comes from
the same root as our word "ordinal", and in this sense means "the counted weeks".
• It begins with the Feast of Epiphany (Greek: ἐπιφάνεια [epiphaneia]; which means
"manifestation“ or "striking appearance"), which traditionally falls on January 6, to
celebrate the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ.
• Epiphany season is a general celebration of the manifestation of the Incarnation of
Jesus Christ. It includes the commemoration of His birth; the visit of the Magi to
Bethlehem; all of Jesus' childhood events, up to and including his baptism in the
Jordan by John the Baptist; and even the miracle at the wedding at Cana in Galilee.

14. Baptism of Our Lord
Liturgical colour: Green
• The Baptism of Our Lord (or the Baptism of Christ) commemorates the baptism of
Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. It is celebrated on the first Sunday
following The Epiphany of Our Lord (6 January).
• At first glance, the Baptism of the Lord might seem an odd celebration. However, in
submitting Himself humbly to the baptism of John the Baptist, Christ provided the
example for the rest of us – Christ’s baptism foreshadows our own. Many of the
Fathers of the Church, as well as the medieval Scholastics, saw Christ's Baptism as
the institution of the sacrament.
• The descent of the Holy Spirit and the voice of God the Father announcing that this
was His Son, in Whom He was well pleased, marked the beginning of Christ's public
ministry.

15. Transfiguration of Jesus
Liturgical colour: Green
• The Transfiguration of Jesus focuses on how Jesus was transfigured/transformed/
metamorphosed to become radiant upon a mountain (the Mount of Transfiguration).
(See Matthew 17:1–9, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28–36, and 2 Peter 1:16–18).
• The Transfiguration is one of the miracles of Jesus in the Gospels and is unique among
others because it happened to Jesus himself.
• The Transfiguration is a pivotal moment: It supports the identity of Jesus as the Son of
God and the statement "listen to him", identifies him as the messenger of God. The
presence of Elijah and Moses indicates to the apostles that Jesus is the voice of God
“par excellence”. The Transfiguration also echoes Jesus’ teaching (as in Matthew 22:32)
that God is not "the God of the dead, but of the living“ – although Moses had died and
Elijah had been taken up to heaven, they now live in the presence of the Son of God.
• The Transfiguration is one of the five major milestones in the gospel narrative of the life
of Jesus, the others being Baptism, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension.

16. Lent
Liturgical colour: Violet or purple. Red on Palm Sunday.
• Lent is a major season of preparation for Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday and
lasts for 40 days, including Good Friday and Holy Saturday, but not including the six
Sundays within the season. Lent is celebrated in commemoration of the forty days
which Jesus spent fasting in the desert, enduring temptation by the Devil, before
beginning his public ministry.
• "Passion Sunday" and "Palm Sunday" are both names for the Sunday before Easter,
the fifth Sunday of Lent. Sometimes referred to in full as “Palm Sunday Of The
Passion Of Our Lord,” it also marks the beginning of the week before Easter, known
as Holy Week.
• The Scripture readings typically focus on the events leading up to the Last Supper as
well as the betrayal, Passion, and death of Christ.

17. Ash Wednesday
Liturgical colour: Violet or purple.
• Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting, is the first day of Lent.
• According to the Gospels, Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert, where he
endured temptation by Satan. Lent originated as a mirroring of this, fasting 40 days
as preparation for Easter. Every Sunday was seen as a commemoration of the
Sunday of Christ's resurrection and is thus not counted as part of Lent. Accordingly,
Christians fast from Monday to Saturday (6 days) during 6 weeks and from
Wednesday to Saturday (4 days) in the preceding week, thus making up the number
of 40 days.
• Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of blessing ashes made from
palm branches blessed on the previous year’s Palm Sunday, and placing them on the
heads of participants to the accompaniment of the words "Repent, and believe in
the Gospel" or "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return".

18. Palm Sunday
Liturgical colour: Red
• “Palm Sunday Of The Passion Of Our Lord” commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into
Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four Gospels, and which takes place about a week
before his Resurrection.
• Palm Sunday worship services include the use of palm branches to represent the palm
branches the crowd scattered in front of Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.
– The symbolism is captured in Zechariah 9:9 "The Coming of Zion's King – See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey". It was
perceived that Jesus was declaring he was the King of Israel to the anger of the Sanhedrin.
– The symbolism of the donkey may refer to the Eastern tradition that it is an animal of peace, versus
the horse, which is the animal of war. A king came riding upon a horse when he was bent on war and
rode upon a donkey when he wanted to point out he was coming in peace. Jesus' entry to Jerusalem
would thus symbolize his entry as the Prince of Peace, not as a war-waging king.
– The palm branch was a symbol of triumph and victory in the Greco-Roman culture of the Roman
Empire. For contemporary Roman observers, the procession would have evoked the Roman triumph.

19. Holy Week
Liturgical colour: Violet or purple
• Holy Week is the week just before Easter, which includes Palm Sunday, Holy
Monday, Holy Tuesday, Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and
Holy Saturday. It does not include Easter Sunday, which is the beginning of another
liturgical week.
• Holy Week contains the days of the Easter Triduum, including Maundy Thursday
(also known as Holy Thursday), commemorating the Last Supper and its preceding
foot washing, as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of
Jesus.
• The theme of Holy Week focuses on the suffering and death of Christ and looks
towards God’s glorification through The Crucified One.

20. Easter Triduum: Good Friday-Easter Sunday
Liturgical colour: No colour or black for Good Friday. Gold/White for Easter Sunday.
• The Easter Triduum (Latin for "Three Days") consists of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter
Sunday. These days begin liturgically, not with the morning, but with the preceding evening.
• The triduum begins on the evening before Good Friday (i.e. evening of Holy Thursday), often
including a ritual of ceremonial foot-washing, and continues on to the day of Good Friday. The
vestments are either removed (no colour) or black is used. Other colourful hangings, adornments
or icons may be removed or veiled with drab cloth. The service is usually plain with sombre
music, ending with the congregation leaving in silence.
• Holy Saturday commemorates the day during which Christ lay in the tomb. On Holy Saturday the
Church waits at the Lord's tomb in prayer and fasting, meditating on his Passion and Death, and
awaiting his Resurrection. Typically, there is no liturgical celebration, hence there is no question
of a liturgical colour.
• Easter Sunday celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. The liturgical colour is white, often together
with gold. Colours and icons are re-displayed as well.

21. Easter
Liturgical colour: White. Red for The Feast of Pentecost.
• Easter is the celebration of Jesus' resurrection. The Easter season extends from
the Easter Sunday through Pentecost Sunday.
• The theme of the season is the Resurrection of Christ, looking towards Christ’s
Restoration to His Heavenly Glory.
– The resurrection of Jesus, which Easter celebrates, is a foundation of the Christian faith.
– The resurrection established Jesus as the Son of God and is cited as proof that God will judge the
world in righteousness. God has given Christians "a new birth into a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead". Christians, through faith in the working of God are
spiritually resurrected with Jesus so that they may walk in a new way of life.
• Feasts during this season include:
– Ascension Day, which celebrates the return of Jesus to heaven following his resurrection, is the
fortieth day of Easter.
– Pentecost is the fiftieth and last day of the Easter season. It celebrates the sending of the Holy
Spirit to the Apostles, which traditionally marks the birth of the Church.

22. Feast of the Ascension
Liturgical colour: White.
• The Feast of the Ascension (also known as Ascension Thursday) is the fortieth day
of the Easter season (always a Thursday). It celebrates the bodily ascension of Jesus
into heaven following his resurrection.
• The Ascension of Jesus is the Christian teaching found in the New Testament that
the resurrected Jesus was taken up to Heaven in his resurrected body, in the
presence of eleven of his apostles, occurring 40 days after the resurrection. In the
biblical narrative, an angel tells the watching disciples that Jesus' second coming will
take place in the same manner as his ascension.
– The canonical gospels include two brief descriptions of the ascension of Jesus in Luke 24:50-53
and Mark 16:19. A more detailed account of Jesus' bodily Ascension into the clouds is then given
in the Acts of the Apostles (1:9-11).
– The Ascension of Jesus is professed in the Nicene Creed and in the Apostles' Creed.

23. Feast of Pentecost
Liturgical colour: Red.
• Pentecost (Greek: Πεντηκοστή [Pentēkostē] means "the fiftieth [day]") is the fiftieth
and last day of the Easter season. It celebrates the sending of the Holy Spirit to
the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ (120 in all), as described in the Acts
of the Apostles 2:1–31. For this reason, Pentecost is sometimes described by some
Christians today as the "Birthday of the Church".
• The main sign of Pentecost is the color red, symbolizing joy and the fire of the Holy
Spirit. Another custom is reading the appointed Scripture lessons in multiple foreign
languages recounting the speaking in tongues recorded in Acts 2:4-12.
• Pentecost has became, for some, one of the days set aside to celebrate Baptisms,
Confirmations, as well as ordinations. Holy Communion is likewise often a feature of
the Protestant observance of Pentecost as well.

24. Ordinary Time
Liturgical colour: Green
• This season follows the Easter season and the feasts of Easter, Ascension, and
Pentecost. This season ends on the Saturday before the First Sunday of Advent.
• It mainly concerns Christ's preaching and ministry, with many of his parables read as
the Gospel readings.
• Feasts during this season include:
– Trinity Sunday, the first Sunday after Pentecost
– Feast of Christ the King/Doom Sunday, last Sunday before Advent
• In the final few weeks of Ordinary Time, many churches direct attention to the
coming of the Kingdom of God, thus ending the liturgical year with
an eschatological theme that is one of the predominant themes of the season of
Advent that began the liturgical year.

25. Trinity Sunday
Liturgical colour: White
• Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost and celebrates the Christian doctrine
of the Trinity, the three Persons of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
• The liturgical colour used on Trinity Sunday is white.
• The Trinity is a mystery. By mystery the Church does not mean a riddle, but rather the
Trinity is a reality above our human comprehension that we may begin to grasp, but
ultimately must know through worship, symbol, and faith. It has been said that mystery
is not a wall to run up against, but an ocean in which to swim.
• Another illustration to explain the Trinity is the musical chord. Think of a C-chord. The C,
E, and G notes are all distinct notes, but joined together as one chord the sound is
richer and more dynamic than had the notes been played individually. The chords are
all equally important in producing the rich sound, and the sound is lacking and thin if
one of the notes is left out.

26. *Reformation Day
Liturgical colour: Red
• Reformation Day is not part of the Liturgical Calendar, but is important as part of our
Lutheran heritage. It falls on 31 October every year, but is observed on the Sunday on or
before 31 October.
• On 31 October 1517, Martin Luther wrote to Albrecht, Archbishop of Mainz and
Magdeburg, protesting against the sale of indulgences. He enclosed in his letter a copy
of his "Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences," which
came to be known as The 95 Theses. Luther wrote the 95 Theses and posted them on
the church of All Saints, an event now seen as sparking the Protestant Reformation.
• The liturgical color of the day is red, which represents the Holy Spirit and the Martyrs of
the Christian Church. Luther's hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God” can be sung.

27. Christ The King/Doom Sunday
Liturgical colour: Green
• The Feast of Christ the King also known as Doom Sunday, falls on the last Sunday
before Advent. It is the last day of the Liturgical Calendar Year before the cycle begins
anew.
• The Feast of Christ The King focuses on Christ as King of Kings and Lord of All, who is
coming again in glory to reign (Revelation 1:4-8). The celebration of the lordship of
Christ thus looks back to Ascension, Easter, and Transfiguration, and points ahead to the
appearing in glory. As the Alpha and Omega, Christ is the center of the universe, the
ruler of all history, the judge of all people. In Christ all things began, and in Christ all
things will be fulfilled. In the end, Christ will triumph over the forces of evil. As
sovereign ruler, He thus calls us to a loyalty that transcends every earthly claim on the
human heart.
• This day is also referred to as the Sunday of Doom/Doom Sunday, centred on the Final
Judgement at the Return of Christ.

28. Making Sense Of It All

29. “…to experience the liturgical year is to
sing the story, live the story, be re-oriented
by the story and to do it all with
others…all who did this before, all who
do it now and all who will do it after we
have gone. It is to have duel citizenship
in the now and the not-yet. To celebrate
the church year is to be sewn into the
story of Jesus in a way that allows the
fabric of our lives and our world to
take on a holy texture.”
– Nadia Bolz-Weber, “My first Advent”
(http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nadiabolzweber/2014/11/my-first-advent)

30. THE LITURGICAL CALENDAR
BLC WORSHIP MINISTRY
END