Christ the King Episcopal Church
Lakeland, Florida
SEASONS & FEASTS
"The Church Year consists of two cycles of feasts and holy days..."
(Book of Common Prayer)
The seasons of the church year in The Episcopal Church form a sacred rhythm that shapes Christian identity, deepens spiritual formation, and anchors worship in the life of Jesus Christ. Each season—Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost—invites the church into a distinct spiritual posture. Together they create a narrative arc that moves from anticipation to incarnation, revelation to repentance, resurrection to mission.
These seasons matter because they prevent Christian worship from becoming static or self‑focused. Instead, they continually reorient the community toward the story of salvation. Advent trains the church in hope and longing. Christmas celebrates God’s nearness. Epiphany expands the vision of Christ’s light to the world. Lent calls for honest self‑examination. Easter proclaims the victory of life over death. Pentecost empowers the church to live out its mission in the Spirit.
The seasons of the church year in The Episcopal Church form a sacred rhythm that shapes Christian identity, deepens spiritual formation, and anchors worship in the life of Jesus Christ. Each season—Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost—invites the church into a distinct spiritual posture. Together they create a narrative arc that moves from anticipation to incarnation, revelation to repentance, resurrection to mission.
These seasons matter because they prevent Christian worship from becoming static or self‑focused. Instead, they continually reorient the community toward the story of salvation. Advent trains the church in hope and longing. Christmas celebrates God’s nearness. Epiphany expands the vision of Christ’s light to the world. Lent calls for honest self‑examination. Easter proclaims the victory of life over death. Pentecost empowers the church to live out its mission in the Spirit.
By cycling through these movements every year, worship becomes a form of spiritual formation. The seasons teach Christians how to wait, rejoice, repent, and serve. They also shape preaching, music, prayer, and the use of color and symbol, giving worship a theological coherence that ties every Sunday to the larger mystery of Christ. In this way, the liturgical year forms disciples who live not by the world’s calendar but by the story of God.
The church year begins with the SEASON OF ADVENT - the first Sunday of Advent being the fourth Sunday before Christmas. It runs through the day before Christmas. The name is derived from a Latin word for “coming," and the season is a time of preparation and expectation for the coming of the Lord. The seasonal color is purple or sarum blue.
CHRISTMAS lasts 12 days, beginning with the Feast of the Incarnation, fixed on the Christian calendar on December 25. Christmas is the remembrance of Jesus' birth - the birth of the son of God by a human mother, Mary. Seen through filtered Christian lenses, Christmas is the fulfillment of the promise that God made to Israel through their ancestors.
Epiphany Day (January 6) recalls the manifestation of God in Jesus Christ to all of creation. The western church recalls this manifestation through the remembrance of the Magi who followed the star to Bethlehem to search out the newborn king of the Jews. The feast ushers in the ubiquitous SEASON AFTER EPIPHANY (also called ORDINARY TIME). The seasonal color is green, with white worn on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
The SEASON OF LENT comprises the forty days (excluding Sundays) before Easter. Lent, meaning spring in Old English), is a season of penitence, prayer, fasting, and self-denial in preparation for Easter. Beginning with Palm Sunday, the last week of Lent is known as Holy Week, and the last three days of Holy Week are the sacred TRIDUUM ("Three Days") of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. The seasonal color is violet, with white or red worn on the days of Holy Week.
Easter Day ushers in the SEASON OF EASTER. The word Easter derives from the Anglo-Saxon goddess, Eostre, the goddess of spring, which was applied by the early Anglo-Saxon Christians to Easter's remembrance of deliverance and the proclamation of the risen Jesus. Such faith in the Jesus' resurrection is at the heart of Christian belief. Easter, in the west, is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon on or after the vernal equinox (which is always between March 22 and April 25, inclusive). The Easter season ends with the day of Pentecost (Whit Sunday), fifty days after Easter Day. Within the season is also Ascension Thursday - forty days after Easter (always a Thursday). The seasonal color is white.
The SEASON AFTER PENTECOST begins after Pentecost (as the name implies). Depending on the date of Easter, this season might include as many as twenty-eight Sundays. The first Sunday after Pentecost is Holy Trinity Sunday. In the past, it has been called Ordinary Time because of the use of ordinal numbers to describe the Sundays within (i.e. Proper 1, Proper 2, etc.). Also included in the season is All Saints' Day (Nov. 1 or the 1st Sunday of November). The seasonal color is green, with white worn on the major feasts: Trinity and All Saints' Day.
Important FEASTS & FASTS:
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The seven principal feasts of the Church year are: Christmas Day (Dec 25), the Epiphany (Jan 6), Easter Day, Ascension Day, the Day of Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and All Saints' Day (Nov 1).
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Important days of remembrance include: Holy Name (Jan 1), Presentation (Feb 2), Annunciation (March 25), Visitation (May 31), Nativity of John the Baptist (June 24), Transfiguration (Aug 6), Holy Cross Day (Sept 14), and Christ the King (last Sunday after Pentecost).
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Some well-known Saint's days include: Saint Patrick (March 17), Saint Joseph (March 19), Saint Mary Magdalene (July 22), Saint Mary-Mother of Jesus (August 15), and Saint Francis of Assisi (October 4).
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There are two days of universal fast: Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent) and Good Friday.
The calendar of the Book of Common Prayer orders the year into seasons which mark not just the passage of time, but also help to the story of God with us. The calendar also identifies and provides directions concerning days of special devotion and observance, and the remembrance of the saints.