Maybe you noticed that Ash Wednesday came and went without any fanfare at Grace Covenant. Have you ever noticed your neighbors or coworkers walking around with ashes on their foreheads while your church isn’t even mentioning it? In the coming days and weeks, you won’t hear anything about Lent at Grace Covenant, either.

Why doesn’t GCPC observe the church calendar?

First, there’s just no command in all of Scripture to follow any particular church calendar. There’s no evidence that the church today is supposed to organize its annual preaching schedule around particular events that occurred in the Gospels either to Jesus or in connection with his earthly ministry. And, as confessional Presbyterians, Scripture is “our sole rule of faith and life,” and especially so when it comes to something like this.

Take, for example, Palm Sunday, a date that appears in any U.S. holiday calendar to which you might subscribe in iCal or Outlook or whatever. There are plenty of churches around who will do a whole children’s production centered around carrying and waving palm branches either during or before the worship service on that particular Sunday. But if you read the passage (John 12), there isn’t any particular indication that we are supposed to replicate that event in our churches today. 

Second, historically, much of what we call “the liturgical calendar” was developed in the 4th century or later (Easter became a feast day in the 2nd, it appears). It came about, primarily, after the Council of Nicaea, after Constantine made Christianity the public religion of the Roman Empire. Having a liturgical calendar offered the Roman Church another way to control

Might I add, I’ve long been struck by the decidedly public nature of Ash Wednesday. It is a form of piety practiced before the eyes of everyone around us. Everyone knows who’s “been ashed” and who hasn’t. Yet, Scripture warns against practicing our good deeds publicly, calling attention to our actions rather than to Christ’s. 

Now, it’s certainly NOT the case that anyone and everyone who participates in Ash Wednesday is guilty of seeking the praise of men, and the abuse of a thing doesn’t make the thing itself wrong. However, as a practice, it is a very public practice.

This is not to say, however, that we have no church calendar. We do. And, I believe, it’s the same pattern laid out for us over and over again throughout redemptive history from the Garden to Glory – the seven-day week. As we read the Bible, we can’t help but notice the strong emphasis placed, from beginning to end, on the regular pattern of 6 days of work and 1 day of worship. Every single week we gather to celebrate the birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ on our behalf.  

I know, I know. That’s kinda boring. It’s not flashy. There’s no pizzazz to wow the masses. But it is, I believe, biblical. To a world that demands more and greater and space-aged, the Bible offers ordinary and regular and rhythmic.

Does that mean that all “special” days should be ignored?

Here’s where I backpedal just a little bit. The Bible and early church history emphasize a few events enough, key events in the earthly ministry of Jesus for us, that it makes sense to celebrate them in a particular and special manner. Apart from the birth, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (and one could add ascension and Pentecost to that list) we are still in our sins. We need God in the flesh to suffer and die and to defeat death in our place that we might be delivered from the domain of darkness.

Now that GCPC has a building, I’d expect us to commemorate Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday as lynchpins in the accomplishment of our salvation.

A couple of caveats

Let me make a couple of observations in light of this new pattern in the life of GCPC. 

First, we obviously don’t know the exact date of the birth of Jesus. December 25th appears to have been established as the day of celebration in the late 4th century; however, we aren’t celebrating a day, but an event, the enfleshment of the Son of God.

Second, while Easter Sunday gets a special recognition, the reality is that we meet on the first day of the week in the 21st century as a direct result of the resurrection of Christ in the 1st century. The change was made in Acts when the apostles began meeting together on the first day of the week rather than the seventh. In that sense, every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. And, in that sense, Easter Sunday is no more special than any other Lord’s Day. Again, we are celebrating an event, not a day.

The work of the church, of gathering and perfecting the saints, isn’t as flashy and showy as we might be tempted to think, or even as we might be tempted to want. But it is patterned, not after an annual calendar of highs and lows, but a weekly rhythm of worship and work. So, let’s celebrate the 52 feast days given to us in God’s Word. Let’s rejoice in those days that commemorate the work of Christ on our behalf. And let’s embrace a calendar centered on the Lord’s Day and the ordinary means of grace.