End/Beginning of the Church Year. . .

New Year's Eve is a big extravaganza in most places.  The turning of the calendar from one year to another is a very big deal.  Of course, truth be told it does not take much of an excuse for a party.  That said, I weary of the attempts to make the end of the Church Year into the same sort of huge celebration.  We certainly inherited it from Rome with the placement of the Christ the King Sunday on the last Sunday of the Church Year (though before it the feast was the last Sunday in October).  It was not ancient in Rome, either.  Essentially a magnification of the Feast of the Ascension, it was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925. Originally, it was celebrated on the last Sunday in October, but in the revised liturgical calendar promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969 it was moved to the last Sunday of Ordinary Time (immediately preceding Advent), where its theme of Christ’s dominion made it a logical end to the liturgical year. I wish we Lutherans had left the day to Rome.  It is not because I have anything against celebrating Christ the King (which we do on Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, Holy Cross, etc.).  It is because I do not like the logic in having a grand year end celebration when the unity between the end of one Church Year and the beginning of the next are so obvious.

Contrary to popular belief, Advent does not usher in the subject of the end times.  It builds upon a topic which is the focus of the Gospel reading of any lectionary through the end of the Pentecost (Trinity) seasons.  It is all about the end times because we are already living in them.  So long before our liturgical thoughts turn toward Christmas, we are talking about the great Christ Mass which will come when the clouds open and legions of angels surround the Savior who returns in glory as King and Judge of all.  We should be talking about this all the time and not just in the Sundays leading up to Christmas or the Sundays at the end of the Church Year prior to Advent.  Indeed, within the Divine Service we are always talking about the end times -- as we celebrate the Marriage Feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom without end.  This is what we should be doing and not something novel or trendy or seasonal.

I have come to value NOT having a big to do at the end of one Church Year but rather seeing it more as a gentle end of one and the beginning of the new.  It is a gradual transition of the thoughts of the last days and judgment before Advent frames it all with the entrance of Jesus on Palm Sunday.  The comings of Jesus are not different but remarkably connected as it all unfolds in time toward eternity.  Jesus coming in flesh and blood, His entrance into Jerusalem on His way to the cross, His resurrection on the third day, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, His coming in Word and Sacrament, and His coming again as Lord and Judge of all are all connected -- not different stories but the one story unfolding through events which give us the full revelation in layers, if you will.

The Church Year does not go out with a bang but with a whimper.  It gently surrenders the year past to the Lord even as it begins the new also in His name.  Advent itself is one of the newer seasons of the Church Year.  Debate rages about how long it was intended to be or should be.  Some have long Advent seasons (from St. Martin's Day and not just beginning with the Sunday closest to St. Andrew's).  When I was a kid learning how to drive (stick shift mind you) there were a lot of jerks and jolts.  Granted, I was about 10 or 11 and it was on a farm and on a tractor.  Generally, experience taught me to shift more smoothly from one gear to the next.  I greatly enjoyed the five speed Subaru I used to have.  Unlike the immature folks at the stop light, my goal was not to announce that I was driving a manual but to shift so smoothly no one could tell the difference.  Perhaps that is exactly what the Church should do.  As one Church Year fades into memory and another begins, there are no jolts or jerks but a gradual transition which emphasizes how smoothly we make the move.  After all, we are those who know where the whole thing is going and what the end will be.  We are not camping on a mountain awaiting a sign from heaven but living within the means of grace where Christ is dispensing the gifts that make us ready for the eternal tomorrow.