Happy New Year? Again?

How we lost the Christian Calendar

Happy New Year! 25^th March marks the beginning of another year! Doesn’t time fly? The last new year only seemed like a couple of months ago.

My ‘Happy New Year’ does not, of course, refer to the calendar year which begins on 1^st January, designated the first day of the year in 1752. That’s when the English finally caved in to Europe and switched from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar.

Neither are we talking about the liturgical calendar, which begins on the first Sunday in Advent as we prepare for both Christ’s return as well as celebrating his incarnation at Christmas.

25^th March, traditionally known as ‘Lady Day’, marks the beginning of the Christian year. What’s the difference between the Liturgical Calendar and the Christian calendar? About four months.

The Christian calendar starts on ‘Lady Day’ because it is nine months before Christmas and therefore marks the conception of Christ. The church has always considered this to have happened when the Angel Gabriel visited Mary and announced she would be with child. This is why the Church of England calls this principal feast ‘The Annunciation of Our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary’.

The Decline of the Christian Calendar

Although our national calendar still revolves around Christmas, we have mostly rejected a Christ-centred calendar for a thin diet of school terms, sporting seasons, tax years, Mother’s Day and Halloween. Every four years there’s an Olympics, and a Football World Cup. And then there are the final unpredictable feasts for a royal wedding or funeral that will probably end up being in May.

We have slowly been dismantling the Christian and liturgical calendars. Words like ‘Whitsun’ and ‘Shrove Tuesday’ have fallen out of use. Now we have ‘May Bank Holiday’ and ‘Pancake Day’. Why? It’s partly a lack of interest in Christianity and a decline in church attendance.

But there’s another factor at play. We don’t like the idea of cycles. It’s not just that they feel repetitive. They feel limiting and constricting. After all, what if I don’t feel like celebrating Palm Sunday or Corpus Christi? What if Lent isn’t good for me this year? To quote Brian:

You are all individuals… Don’t let anyone tell you what to do!

Rampant individualism has no use for any kind of calendar. The only thing that matters is how you feel on the day, and what you want to do. When there is no longer any obligation to celebrate the same saints or virtues on the same day – but unite only around bargains on Amazon Prime Day or Black Friday - we should not be surprised when society starts to fray. Loneliness is surely another symptom of this.

Having a Pop at Progress

Our attitudes about choice and self-determination are a symptom of something bigger: the idea of progress. Karl Popper (1902-1994), a staunch defender of liberal democracy, summed up what people had been thinking for centuries when he wrote:

“The direction of history is towards an ever-greater realization of human potential and freedom.”

I’m currently reading The Fourth Turning is Here by Neil Howe in which Howe argues that history tends to happen in cycles of about 80-100 years, changing with each generation but in predictable fashion. Right now, we are in a ‘fourth turning’, which is the bumpiest of the four turns. And to be fair, Howe predicted this period of unrest back in 1997 when it seemed like history had ended and it was all smooth sailing. He doesn’t consider that it all turned in 2001 with 9/11, but 2008 with the collapse of banks.

Howe also traces this idea of cycles in history back to ancient cultures who all assumed their own version of it. To us, however, it is unthinkable and unbearable. Popper, and many like him, were determined to avoid the atrocities of two world wars. He had to believe in progress. If one couldn’t believe in a better tomorrow, what was the point of going on at all?

Modern Christians are not immune from this way of thinking, especially evangelicals who have drunk the individualism Kool-Aid, eschewing church calendars and liturgical rhythms. They have also rejected liturgical calendars circular thinking because it seems pagan, or Eastern. Ideas of reincarnation, being one with nature and returning to the soil don’t sound very Christian. The thing is Adam is told that he will return to the earth. “From dust you came and to dust you shall return” is the verdict after the fall.

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Cycles in Scripture

The fact is the Bible is littered with patterns that are repeated over and over again. Most blatant are the seven cycles of rebellion in Judges, in which the Israelites do evil in the eyes of the Lord: a foreign nation invades and enslaves them and, following repentance and cries to the Lord, a judge delivers them from their captors. Also, as we saw last time, both Josephs went down into Egypt. But Abraham also went down into Egypt as a result of a famine.

But it’s not all circular. The Bible begins with the words ‘In the beginning’. God may be without beginning, but the universe is created at a point in time (argue among yourselves). And we are creatures made by him, conceived, born and destined to die once and face judgment.

Our desire for ‘progress’ towards utopia is a God-given desire to tend the garden, improve it and make disciples of all nations, transforming it in the process. This process will be completed by Christ who gives us a history and future. He came to earth in a time and a place, conceived by the Holy Spirit, announced by the Angel Gabriel and born of the virgin Mary. He died, rose again, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father. And he will come again to judge the world and make all things new.

So is life circular or linear? Like a true member of the Church of England, I would say it’s both. Scripture presents us with both. Let us therefore embrace the discipline of daily and weekly repentance, the lectionary, the church calendar, the liturgical calendar and the moveable feasts in accordance with the sun, moon and stars created in the beginning.

And even if some dates are the same every year, we are not. “You can’t step into the same river twice,” wrote Heraclitus. ‘The Annunciation of Our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary’ may be the same every year. But you are not. You are changing and growing, passing through seasons of your own life. Let us cling to the cross of Christ, bolstered by the historic Christian calendar.

So I’m going to say it again. Happy New Year!

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God, the Bible and Everything (in 60 minutes)

The tour is well under way. Three dates in a row last week really helped the show to settle into a rhythm and I’m now very pleased with it. So I’m looking to book in dates for the autumn, although there are still some dates available for June, like 12^th, 14^th 19^th or 21^st or 28^th, or July 3^rd, 4^th or 5^th. If you think your church could host a performance, get in touch, get some info and we might be able to make that happen.

Click that link and you’ll also find some trailers for the show over on my website, plus I’ve put a couple on Instagram if that’s a platform you use.