Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

368 • P LANTING C HURCHES AMONG THE C ITY ’ S P OOR : V OLUME 1

Here are some tips on equipping your Church Planters and disciples in the storyline of Jesus through the Church Year.

Understand the Church Year’s Purpose For centuries, the Christian church has employed the Seasons of the Church Year as a means of focusing on the promise, incarnation, passion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Following the Jewish tradition of celebration and festival rooted in Old Testament worship, Christians have used these seasons as a means of marking time, of establishing moments for remembrance, festivals, and holidays, as a way of worshiping God through the Story of Scripture, the hope of glory in our Lord Jesus Christ. Used at least in part by virtually all traditions of the Church (including Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Protestant traditions), the Christian Church year highlights and follows the prophecy, manifestation, and ministry of Jesus. The unfolding events on the calendar becomes an opportunity for worshipers to hear the prophets herald his coming, to kneel at the manger, to worship Christ with the Magi, and to hear his teaching to the multitudes. Through these events we see our Lord triumphantly come to Jerusalem, stand accused in a sham trial before his foes, be crucified with thieves on Golgotha, and rise from the dead on the third day! From his ascension to the coming of the Holy Spirit, from his exaltation to the mission of his Church in the world, the Church Year reminds us of the that Story which in fact is the Greatest Story Ever Told – the hope of salvation in Christ for the world. The purpose of the Church Year, then, from ancient times to the present, has been to remember, reenact, and to be transformed by the major events of Jesus’ life. In the course of our everyday lives, we redraw and relive the way of Jesus in real time, tracing his birth, death, resurrection, ascension, session and return through the course of the year. Our Church Year Calendar is a remarkable visual presentation of the Christian Year, and includes weekly lectionary texts, major Christian services and holy days, and commentary on their meaning. It is designed specifically to help urban pastors and their congregations avoid the pitfalls of idiosyncratic kinds of emphases that stray from the person of Christ, who is our life and the key to spiritual formation (Col. 3.1-4). Discipline Your Attention and Practice The key to character and discipline is focused attention, effort, and energy. Whatever subjects or directions upon which we concentrate our energies and efforts in a deliberate and disciplined manner, we grow and deepen. To use an analogy, honey is gathered by the bee, who draws out of a single blossom all the sweet nectars which it has to offer.