Planning Worship Using the Christian Year
The following is an initial introduction. In the future we plan to provide additional resources.

What is the Christian year?
The Christian year is a cycle of seasons that are observed by the Christian church.  Much like the Jewish calendar of feast days and fast days, the Christian year observes specific events from recorded Biblical History, and reflects the life of Christ.

What is liturgy?
Liturgy comes from a Greek word leitourgia, which is a word that is used to describe the work of an individual in service or all Christian service.  It has come to mean an established formula for public worship.

Source: http://www.allaboutreligion.org/what-is-liturgy-faq.htm
 
What are the seasons observed in the Christian year?
The seasons of the Christian year are Advent, Christmas, Ordinary Time, Lent, Easter, and another Ordinary Time.  Advent begins the Christian year.  Some of the observed days happen on the same date every year, while others move around within a range of dates.  This is because the Christian Calendar grew out of two other Calendars, the Jewish calendar, which is based on phases of the moon, and the Roman calendar, which is controlled by the sun.

ADVENT
The Latin word adventus means “arrival” or “coming,” thus the season of Advent is a time of waiting for the coming Christ.  This coming is two-fold, as it points to the coming of the Christ-child at Christmas as well as the 2nd coming of Christ.  Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve.  The time of Advent is often observed by the lighting of an Advent wreath, or Advent candles.

CHRISTMAS
Christmas begins the evening of Christmas Eve, and ends with Epiphany.  The Christmas season is twelve days long, beginning on Christmas day (thus the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”).  Epiphany is the last day of the Christmas season, and celebrates the visit of the three wise men to the infant Jesus.

ORDINARY TIME (the time after Epiphany)
Belying its name, Ordinary Time comes from the same root as our word ordinal, and refers to counted weeks.  These weeks do not belong to a proper season, but mark the time in between seasons.  Beginning with the day after Epiphany, this Ordinary Time extends until the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.

LENT
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday.  There are forty days of Lent (not including Sundays), recalling many themes of 40 in the Bible, such as the temptation of Christ and the Israelites period of 40 years of wandering.  Lent is a major observance of the Church in preparation for Easter, and involves spiritual disciplines such as prayer, fasting and alms-giving.

PASSION WEEK OR HOLY WEEK
This is the last week of Lent, and is like Lent, only intensified.  It begins with Palm Sunday and ends on midnight of Holy Saturday.  Passion Week (or Holy Week) commemorates the last week of the life of Jesus Christ, leading up to His crucifixion on Good Friday.  It traditionally ends with a candlelight vigil on Saturday night.

EASTER
Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.  The Easter Season extends from the Easter vigil, which begins in the pre-dawn hours of Easter Sunday, and ends with Pentecost Sunday, 50 days later, which celebrates the sending of the Holy Spirit.  Pentecost is commonly seen as the birth of the Church.
Ordinary Time (the time after Pentecost)
Ordinary Time resumes after the Pentecost Sunday, and ends on the Saturday before the First Sunday of Advent.

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liturgical_year

What is the LECTIONARY?
A lectionary is just a list of texts recommended for use in worship or study on a particular day.  The Revised Common Lectionary is built around the Church Year, and is a three-year cycle of weekly Bible readings used by the vast majority of Protestant churches in the US and Canada.  These readings include an Old Testament reading, a Psalm, a reading from the Epistles, and a Gospel reading.  During the season of Easter, the Old Testament reading is often replaced with a reading from the book of Acts.  In Ordinary Time, there are two sets of readings from the Old Testament.

The three-year cycle, Years A, B and C respectively, follows different Old Testament stories with each year, as well as a different gospel account of the life of Jesus.  Year A is the story of the Patriarchs and the Exodus, along with the Gospel of Matthew.  Year B takes readings from the times of the Kings of Israel and the Gospel of Mark.  Year C consists of readings from the Prophets, and follows the Gospel of Luke.  Readings from the Gospel of John can be found throughout all three years.

Source: http://divinity.library.vanderbilt.edu/lectionary/FAQ/faq_lect.htm

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