WEEKS 21-30

Week 21: How long is the time of Easter?

One day out of 365 is hardly sufficient to celebrate the great mystery of our faith – that Christ is risen from the dead.  So the season of Easter lasts seven weeks, spanning the fifty days from the Sunday of the Resurrection to Pentecost Sunday.   This idea of Easter as a season of 50 days is patterned after the ancient Jewish festival of seven weeks that extended from the beginning of the barley harvest (on the second day after the beginning of Passover) to the end of the wheat harvest, at the Festival of Weeks.  The Festival of Weeks later came to be called Pentecost (“fiftieth day”) by Greek speaking Jews.

The symbolic value of numbers also plays a meaningful role in the length of the season.  In ancient Israelite culture the number seven represented wholeness or completion; a period of seven weeks suggests fullness squared.  The season of Easter is therefore, a “week” of weeks, and is intended to be an extended time of joy and celebration in the church.

Week 22: Why is Sunday sometimes called the 8^th day of creation?

Jews mark days from sunset to sunset so their Sabbath is Friday evening through Saturday; generally we mark Saturday as their Sabbath.  God created the earth in six days and rested on the seventh.  These are the 7 days of creation with the assumption that Saturday Sabbath is the seventh day.  Jesus rose from the dead on the morning after the Sabbath.  So Christians began to mark Sunday as the holy day, like so many little Easters.  And because Jesus is the light of the world and was raised in the morning, Christians shifted the day to morning to morning instead of sunset to sunset.

This eighth day of creation, and first day of the week, is what has become known as the Lord’s Day, the day of the resurrection.

Christ in his rising opens the way to new life for us and so for “making us a new creation” by his death and resurrection.

Week 23: Who’s responsible for preparing communion?

Members of the Affirmation ministry do both the preparation and clean-up of communion.  Preparation begins the day before, with bread cut and wrapped for use the next day.  Both wheat-based and gluten free bread are available.

And how do they fill the little cups of grape juice used in the Sanctuary?  Newlonsburg has a special pitcher designed just for this purpose; it has a squeeze-bulb on top that allows for easy portion-control into the small cups.

The Affirmation ministry is responsible for all aspects of our worship, including preparation of communion.  If you are interested in joining the Affirmation committee, we would love to hear from you!  Affirmation@newlonsburgchurch.org

Week 24: What is the significance of the robes that our pastors wear?

Most liturgical vestments have their origins in the street clothes of an earlier era.  The oldest is the alb, a long white garment derived from the ancient Roman tunic.  The alb has come to represent equality in ministry, and can be worn by any baptized liturgical leader.  The cincture is a rope belt worn with the alb.

The Geneva gown is black robe, once commonly worn in public by those with academic credentials.  The Geneva gown symbolizes scholarly training and learned preaching, a historical value and strength of the Reformed tradition.  The addition of three bars called chevrons to the sleeve signifies the doctoral degree.

A stole is a long band of cloth, generally color-coordinated with the liturgical season.  Its practical origin was a scarf, though it has come to be associated with the ordained ministry and the yoke of service to Christ.

Continuing in the tradition of the Reformers, in some instances pastors choose to wear contemporary street clothes to downplay the impression of clericalism and to emphasize the ministry of all believers.

Week 25: How is confirmation different than baptism?

Baptism is the sign and symbol of inclusion in God’s grace and covenant with the Church.  It enacts and seals what the Word proclaims:  God’s redeeming grace is offered to all people.  The practice of baptizing infants has come to signify for us that God’s love and care for us precedes our understanding.

Confirmation in the Presbyterian Church is the opportunity for individuals to make public their personal profession of faith and their acceptance of responsibility in the life of the church.   Our young people confirm their answers to the baptismal questions their parents answered on their behalf when they were infants.

Follow along from the Book of Order as our confirmation class:

• Professes their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,
• Renounces evil and affirms their reliance on God’s grace,
• Declares their intention to participate actively and responsibly in the worship and mission of the church.

Week 26: Why do we use red for Pentecost?

The word “Pentecost” means “fiftieth day”, and occurs 50 days following Easter Sunday.  Pentecost has its roots in a Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot, also called Pentecost, which is celebrated 50 days after Passover.

According to the Day of Pentecost story in Acts 2:1-13, God gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to empower witnesses to the resurrection.  The Holy Spirit appeared as a burning fire in the house where the apostles had gathered.  A power – the unseen power of God – moved among them and gripped them.   The book of Acts tells the story of the outcome of Pentecost’s new creation:  people witness in word and in deed to the risen Christ.

So the red that you see in our sanctuary this week symbolizes the fire of Pentecost – the red of the fabric art decorating the chancel, the red of geraniums in the sanctuary, and the red that so many of us are wearing to celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church and to each of us.

Week 27: What is Trinity Sunday?

Unlike other days in the church’s liturgical calendar, Trinity Sunday celebrates a doctrine of the church, rather than an event.  On Trinity Sunday we celebrate the mystery of God’s being as the trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Trinity Sunday helps us synthesize all we have celebrated over the past months:  Christmas and Epiphany celebrating God’s taking flesh and dwelling among us in Jesus Christ, Easter celebrating Christ’s death and resurrection for us, and Pentecost, celebrating God the Holy Spirit among us.  So it’s a fitting transition to that part of the year when Sunday by Sunday the work of God among us is unfolded in a more general way.

Week 28: How do we pray for our seniors as they graduate?

This week in worship we have the opportunity to celebrate our graduating high school seniors – we get to learn what they are doing next, and maybe hear a funny story or two about their memories of their time here at Newlonsburg.  We’ve watched these kids grow up; some were baptized here and sat on the steps with Marnie for Small Talk; others joined us as their families moved to our church, and still others came to know us through their involvement in Lost Sheep.

As members of this church we take on a responsibility at the time of baptism – to nurture our children in their faith.  Eighteen or so years later, we can still nurture these young people by praying for them at this milestone of graduation.  As a congregation we will gather around each of our seniors and surround them with our prayers as they commence the next season of their lives.

Week 29: How do worship and mission connect in the life of Christians?

Our Sunday morning worship is like a concentrated dose of worshipping God, to remind us of how we should be living our lives 24/7.   During worship, we remember that God calls the church to join the mission of Jesus Christ in service to the world.

Jesus called, commissioned and promised to be present to a people gathered in his name.  To each member, the Holy Spirit gives gifts for building up the body of Christ and for equipping it for the work of ministry.   God sends the church to exercise compassion in the world; to feed the hungry, comfort the grieving, care for the sick, visit the prisoners, free the captives, shelter the homeless and befriend the lonely.

And so our mission – “Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me” becomes an extension of our weekly Sunday morning worship service.

Week 30: What’s so ordinary about Ordinary Time?

The name “Ordinary Time” sounds mundane, but this is not to imply that these weeks represent an unimportant part of the Christian year – quite the opposite is true.  Ordinary Time is a reminder that Christian life is an everyday vocation and is not reserved simply for special occasions.  The word ordinary derives from the Latin ordo, (“rule” or “order”) and the liturgical term “ordinary” means that which is standard, normative, usual or typical.

The liturgical year has two periods of Ordinary Time:  the first is from January 7 (the day after Epiphany) through the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, and the second is from the day after Pentecost to the day before the first Sunday of Advent.   Both periods are recognized as seasons for growth, and the green color of Ordinary Time is a good reminder of this growing season for us as Christians.