This or That?
Part 4
To Follow…?
The New Testament (NT) gives no mandate for a church calendar. In fact, Colossians 2:16-17 specifically tells us not to. When we look at the Old Testament we see holy day instructions, and the Sabbath is the primary example. The NT doesn’t carry any of these forward. Older readers, though, probably remember a time when there was a more strict observance of the Lord’s Day.
Like all societies, we have calendrical rites. As far as I know, all religions have special days. It’s a human thing. For the most part, churches affiliated with Rosedale Network of Churches would not keep elaborate church calendars. I suppose that’s typical. One writer joked about the importance of church attendance on the three high holy days: Christmas, Easter, and Mother’s Day.
You probably get a bit of Advent, a Christmas service, maybe Palm Sunday, and then Easter. The rest is the most ordinary of ordinary time. Sunday after Sunday, a locked down pattern of worship is followed, we might say, religiously. I think we could do better.
Some churches will wave flags on July 4, and memorialize through advocacy armed service on Memorial Day and Veterans Day. A little less distressing, but maybe still a little suspicious, we embrace the greeting card holidays like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or perhaps one of the various long weekend holidays.
We are all following calendars with special days. Whose calendar should we follow? How would developing a stronger sense of church days hurt us? It could break up stale worship routines and direct our thoughts toward a bigger faith. There are plenty of Sundays left for the usual approaches.
I would like to see us add in a few special days by having music, scripture readings, and prayer focused around the rhythm of the church calendar. We do alright by Advent and Christmas, but I wonder if the Annunciation and Epiphany could provide a focus that would help us declare vital truths that hold the stories together? Why not consider observing Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday to enrich Easter? Noting Pentecost and Ascension Day would help to fill out the story of the cross.
Reuben is associate pastor at London Christian Fellowship and on the faculty at Rosedale Bible College. He is married to Vicki and has three grown sons.
…Or Not To Follow?
When God delivered His people from slavery, He gave them a calendar of worship in the Mosaic Covenant. If Israel were righteous, keeping the covenant, Israel would have fulfilled its mission as God’s priestly people: representing God among the nations; inheriting the covenant blessings.
God’s prophets bring the charge that Israel is not righteous. Rather, Israel has shown its worthiness of covenant curses, and brought God’s name into disrepute. But the prophets hold out hope for the future! God Himself will come to set the record straight. He will glorify Himself among the nations. God’s righteous servant will bear the curse that His people deserve, in exchange for the blessing that He alone deserves.
God has done all these things in Jesus. Jesus’ righteous life fulfills the Law of the Mosaic Covenant; His atoning death covers all our sins and establishes the New Covenant. In His grace, God counts the perfect righteousness of Jesus to any sinner who has faith in him. The work of Christ, not our work, secures our position before God.
The Mosaic Covenant and its calendar bear enduring witness to Jesus, foreshadowing His person and work. But if we have Jesus, we have God’s substance, not His shadow! If Jesus has truly established the New Covenant, we are not bound to observe the Mosaic festivals. To impose such an observance would be apostasy: a denial of Jesus’s person and work; a denial of the Good News.
If we must guard against the wrongful imposition of a calendar once given by God, how much more must we guard against the imposition of man-made calendars for the church’s life? Christians must not be expected to participate in worship practices that lack clear biblical warrants for New Covenant people. The church lacks authority to bind consciences to man-made festivals.
Granted, evangelical Christians commonly observe holdovers from the “Christian liturgical calendar,” such as Christmas. For the most part, such voluntarily-held traditions seem innocuous or even beneficial. But once every seven years, my confidence is shaken when corporate worship on the Lord’s Day is widely canceled for the private observance of Christmas!
Even when extra-biblical practices are adopted freely and discerningly, not illegitimately imposed, they will grow to fill the space they are given. Especially if these practices are well-loved, they will tend to shade out practices commended to the church by God’s Word.
In my view, we have little business fostering a love of historic feasts while the Lord’s Supper goes unloved among us. In corporate worship, we should dedicate our energy to those practices that God’s Word commends, before emphasizing observances He does not.
Matthew is a pastor at Pike Mennonite Church in Elida, OH. He is married to Rachel and has three young children.
2 Responses
Per usual, I’m not convinced that Reuben and I substantively disagree.
I love the unpredictability and participatory nature of a “I Corinthians 14 worship service” in which everyone is expected to bring a word, a hymn, etc. This format urges us not to be mere passive receivers of good teaching by the “apostles” but to be listening for how God might want to use us to encourage others. I also love history and understanding how we fit into the “apostolic train.” Thus I enjoy being publicly reminded of things like Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, Passover, Triumphal Entry, Good Friday, the Ascension, Pentecost, etc. (in addition to Christmas and Easter!) Yes, we follow our national calendars and pray for our earthly leaders as we celebrate Mothers’/Fathers’ Day, July 4th, Labor Day, etc. — but we need all the reminders we can get that we belong to another Kingdom!