HAPPY NEW YEAR! And you're thinking, President Bertsch, it is only December, so why are you saying Happy New Year? Well, last month I wrote about the end of the church year, so it only seemed appropriate that now I write about the beginning of the church year.

Advent is the beginning of the Church year because advent means “coming.” With that many churches have mid-week Advent Services. These services aren’t meant to be a burden but another opportunity to prepare for the celebration of the birth of Christ, your Savior, from your sin of thought, word, and deed. In those services there is focus and preparation on God’s promise to His people and its fulfillment in Christ.

Every family is shaped by holidays it keeps together. Each society is identified in part by its common celebrations. So the church has a calendar that revolves around Jesus Christ. By its observance faith is shaped and nourished.

Obviously, this annual cycle is not commanded in the New Testament. In many ways though, it is a Christian replacement of the calendar of the Old Testament. God gave Israel feasts and celebrations to keep.

Through them, God’s involvement in Israel’s history and the lives of its people was to be regularly remembered. Many practices of Old Testament priests and worshipers were no longer possible after the temple was destroyed in 70AD. Thus, only the Jewish synagogue worship has survived.

In contrast, the Christian calendar is not focused on a single place of celebration like the temple in Jerusalem. It is meant to fit over a secular year. Indeed, it has been moved from one culture to another. When its pattern is kept, the Christian is helped to remember God’s words and actions. It gives regular occasion to recall God’s love in sending Jesus to be the Savior of the world and of Jesus’ sending the Holy Spirit to call, gather, enlighten, and sanctify the Church. It is a tool to keep the church “with Christ in the one true faith.” The components of the Christian Church year include Sundays, Major Festivals, special Occasions, the use of customs and colors, and readings from the Bible that mark each event along the way. Time in our daily lives is marked by cycles. The minute hand and the hour hand advance around the face of

the clock. The days accumulate into months, months to years, and decades into centuries. Our days involve patterns of meals, work, and rest. Our years are measured by holidays, special weekends and vacation time.

Without some anchor of meaning these are empty cycles. Self-interest, career, or family or national interests fill the void. For Christians the pivot point is obvious: all of life hinges on Jesus Christ. He came from heaven. He was born in Bethlehem (Christmas). He revealed the Father’s love through His miracles and His teachings.

But, most especially, Christians acknowledge His death and resurrection (Good Friday and Easter) as the saving acts that made eternal life possible for all who believe. With the ancient church and with believers today, Christians remember this daily, weekly, and yearly. They want worship to focus on Jesus who gives meaning to everything in life. Let the weekly gathering for worship reflect this priority.

Thus, the rhythm of daily life is interwoven with the story of salvation through Christ. That helps give significance to the flow of time. The earthly cycles of seasons, phase of the moon, and alteration of day and night are combined with incidents in the life of Christ and events in history of the Christian Church. Though this Christian calendar is of human origin it is valid for its purpose.

Therefore, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Advent and Lent are a great opportunity to prepare for the coming High Festive days of the Body of Christ, the Church, you, for the Savior’s birth, His death, and His resurrection which is your resurrection for eternal life.

Have a blessed Christmas and a happy New Year!