THE TIME OF THE CHURCH

THE SEASON AFTER PENTECOST

Begins the day after Pentecost and ends with midday prayer on the Saturday before the First Sunday in Advent.

The Sundays after Pentecost make up the longest portion of the Church Year. This is the Time of the Church-the time we focus on growing together in the life of the Holy Trinity.

On the first Sunday after Pentecost, the Church celebrates Holy Trinity Sunday. We are baptized into only one name, but that name is “of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” There is only one name, only one God-but there are three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. On this Sunday, we confess the great mystery of the Holy Trinity.

The Sundays of this time of the Church Year are known as Sundays after Pentecost (or Sundays after Trinity). Picking up on Pentecost as the season of growth, they are often referred to as the Green Sundays. The readings focus on the life of Christ in His Church. We hear Jesus teach- ing His disciples and healing the faithful.

Because the Pentecost season is part of “ordinary” time, congregations may choose to observe some of the lesser festivals of the season. When saint days or commemorations fall on Sundays, worship leaders could highlight these to offer teaching moments about the breadth of the Church’s life and work. These noteworthy days enable Christians to reflect on how we worship “with angels and archangels and with al the company of heaven.”

On the Last Sunday after Pentecost, the Church gives voice to the joyful hope of the second coming of Jesus for the resurrection of the dead and the last judgment. The end-times focus of the Last Sunday of the Church Year bears themes of hope and preparation that are similar to those of Advent, which soon follows.

During the Time of the Church, we focus on growing together in the life of the Holy Trinity.

 

Acts 2:41-47 Ephesians 1:15-23 Ephesians 3:14-19 Colossians 3:12-17

 

PRACTICES AND TRADITIONS

The church is decorated in green, the color of growing plants. This marks the season of growth in living in our Baptism and receiving the Lord’s Word and Sacraments.

On Trinity Sunday, we confess the Athanasian Creed, which goes into great detail to confess the catholic (universal) faith that must be faithfully and firmly believed to be saved: “that we worship one God  in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity.”