The Church Year
The church year is a set of holy days and seasons that are ordered to deepen faith through ritual. Each church year begins in November with the Season of Advent, and moves through Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost and Ordinary Time. Within those seasons special days and services are set aside to remember important events in Christian history.
Advent
The first season of the church year, beginning with the fourth Sunday before Christmas and continuing through the day before Christmas. The name is derived from a Latin word for “coming.” The season is a time of preparation and expectation for the coming celebration of our Lord’s nativity, and for the final coming of Christ “in power and glory.”