Changing of the Seasons

In this month of November we have the changing of the seasons. As we have been experiencing it so far you can see that we are moving from fall into winter. This is a given and pretty soon we’ll be firing up the snow blowers and the ice augers. But we also have in this month of November the change of the church seasons. We actually begin a new church year in December on the first Sunday of the month. So we say that November in the church year is a new season. This will become evident as we look at the final readings for the church year. They focus very much on the end of the world. This shows us that the world is going to end someday, but we also see the ending of the church year as well. We see the end of the old Church Year and the beginning of a new Church Year. With Christ coming at Christmas this is why there is a break from the old to the new, so that we can do away with the old and welcome in the new church year.

If you remember we use a series of readings for our readings in the church year. This year we have used the series lettered B. Next year starting this December we will use the series lettered C. So this year we focused much of our attention on the Gospel of Mark and the readings about Jesus from that Gospel. The next series we will focus much of our attention on the Gospel of Luke and the stories about Jesus from that Gospel. You can find which readings we will use in our readings for the Divine Services by looking at pages xviii and xix in LSB (Lutheran Service Book) the hymnal we use. But please notice that while some Lutheran churches do not follow the “lectionary–the set of readings” like King of Kings in Omaha, Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines (ELCA), Gloria Dei in Urbandale, they miss out on using the lectionary and getting to read large portions of the Gospel Lessons from the Book of Luke as we will do the next church year. We get to walk with Jesus in the Gospel of Luke from the beginning of his life, then to his ministry through his life, and finally his passion, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension. There is great joy in following this lectionary system in that it unifies us with the rest of the Church. Many other congregations use these readings together on the Sundays we read and use them as well. We are connected to others through things like the liturgy, hymns, and the readings we use.

So as we look to the changing of the seasons in the church year. Let us look forward in joy to the newness that comes with a new year. Let us look forward to Christ and his passion, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sins.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor Ben Dose