Christmas
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:10-11
Advent
Advent is a time of preparation and hope. We celebrate this period in the four weeks before Christmas in each of our four churches.
Christmas Eve
Each congregation holds a regular Christmas Eve service. Check the calendar for more details.
The season of Lent and Holy Week
I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
John 11:25-26
What is Lent?
Lent is the span of time in the church calendar that starts with Ash Wednesday and ends with Easter Sunday. Ash Wednesday commemorates the beginning of Jesus’ 40-day fasting and temptation in the desert, and Easter Sunday commemorates Jesus’ resurrection from the grave after his crucifixion.
Lent, then, is generally observed as a time for Christians to reflect, repent, and pray as a way of preparing their hearts for Easter. Many Christian choose to observe it as a way of focusing their thoughts on Jesus Christ during the Easter season.
How does one observe Lent? It differs from person to person and church to church.
As the need for food banks continues to grow in our community, we are asking people to help feed the hungry by ‘giving it up for food banks’.
Week 1: Canned Vegetables
Week 2: Canned Fruit
Week 3: Margarine
Week 4: Boxed/side meals
Week 5: Canned Pasta
Week 6: Peanut Butter
For any questions please contact Kim Merkley:
Palm Sunday
This special day marks our remembrance of Jesus’ parade into Jerusalem before he was tried and convicted for sedition and blasphemy and executed by the Romans. As the people waved palm branches, so we wave branches as well.
Good Friday
Good Friday is the day we acknowledge both the horror of Jesus’ execution on the cross, and our knowledge that this sacrifice was made for all the world.
We gather for our Good Friday evening worship service where we reflect on the cross of Christ and his great love for us.
Easter Sunday
On Easter Sunday, the day of Resurrection, or as some of the early Church fathers called it “The eighth day of creation,” we are invited to gather at 7:30 a.m. at Inkerman United Church for our Sunrise Service and Breakfast hosted by the men of Inkerman UC.
South Mountain, Heckston and Hallville Churches have services at their regular times as well.
Want To Learn More?
The Church’s season revolve around two poles in the life of Jesus: His birth and his resurrection.
His Birth
So the season of Christmas (the 12 days of Christmas) begins on sunset of Christmas Eve and ends on Twelfth Night (the evening of January 5 or Epiphany Eve).
Christmas is preceded by a four-week season of preparation called Advent which begins on the Sunday closest to St. Andrew’s Day (November 30). St. Andrew was the first Disciple to follow Jesus. Following the Christmas Season is Epiphanytide, named after the day of Epiphany, when we celebrate the Magi (wise men) who were the first non-Jewish people to witness Jesus.
His Resurrection
The second pole is centred on the Resurrection of Jesus, Easter, which is preceded by the season of Lent. Lent, which is “40 days long” (but if you look at your calendars, you will realize that it’s more than 40 days as Sundays aren’t counted), begins on Ash Wednesday.
Some churches hold solemn services to remember that we must give up something in order to gain something. In some places, the day before Ash Wednesday is called “Fat Tuesday” or Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. If Lent is a time to give up things like high-fat foods or chocolate or meat, then the day before is a time of using it all up!
Lent concludes with Holy Week, the week before Easter. During Holy Week churches can celebrate Maundy Thursday to remember the Last Supper Jesus had with his friends. The next day is Good Friday when the word Good comes from both “God” and the sense that because of Jesus dying on Good Friday we can have hope for new life in his Resurrection.
The season of Easter lasts for 49 days and ends at the day of Pentecost (which means 50th day) when God’s Holy Spirit was gifted to the Church as its power and strength to show the world the love of Jesus. The season after Pentecost is sometimes called the season after Trinity as we remember how Christians understand God as being a trinity or three in one and one in three. This long season of the year (which generally runs from June to the end of November) is sometimes called “Ordinary Time.”