Why Follow the Christian Calendar? #1 of 3:

Do not let anyone condemn you in matters of observing festivals...

(Colossians 2:15)

Moses and the Law prescribed three festivals: Passover in spring, Pentecost in summer, and Tabernacles in the fall. Since Jesus fulfilled the Law, we are no longer obliged to observe: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law” (Ga 4:4-5).

Christ frees us from prescribed feasts and fasts, festivals and rituals. “Therefore,” as the Apostle instructs us, “do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths. These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Col 2:16-17).

So, we are free. We need not follow the Christian Calendar or any other contrived rituals and regulations (Col 2:18-20). If we follow the Christian Calendar, we do so out of our freedom. It’s not the Gospel. It’s not the “substance”. But maybe it’s one of those shadows that can help some of us stick close to the “substance”— the Gospel and the fulness of Christ.

The Christian Calendar was not “handed down” to me. Neither my denomination, nor my church, nor my family paid notice—too Catholic and liturgical, I suspect. The Calendar came to me during my early years of pastoring. I noticed how much of church life depended on me—what God was doing in my life. The personality of the pastor seemed everything. It was a burden I could not bear. The congregation deserved something bigger than what God was doing in my life. For me, the Christian Calendar became that bigger thing to guide and feed the congregation, and me as well.