Advent

The seasons of the church calendar are like the headings for each act of a theater production. They provide the particular setting in which one element of the divine drama of God’s revelation in Christ is presented to us. The liturgical seasons are sometimes thought of as optional observances, like a fancily-iced cake. They make worship more attractive, but are not part of the basic recipe.

This collection of liturgical dramas for worship is written, not as frosting, but with the intention that the church year provides the staging through which the Christian story is made known. To proclaim the gospel without telling of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, is like writing a novel without any characters or visual landscape. The church year incarnates the gospel, making it visible in pagea…