The Church and The Moon

Photo by Jordan Steranka on Unsplash

While reading a book for class,  I was reminded that the Christian calendar is based on the moon, and not the sun.

Who cares?

The moon is not a light source, but the object that reflects the light. It goes in phases, and is sometimes bright and other times seemingly absent. It is easily masked by clouds and yet does not hurt your eyes to look directly at it. It shines in the darkness even if only a sliver.

The Church is not the Light, but only attempts to reflect it. At her best, it shines in the darkness and at her worst it is absent from view. The Church is not what gives life but can help sustain life in the dark times. The Church pulls people together with intimacy and peace not unlike the moonlight summer nights of our lives.

This may contribute to our discomfort with Church. It is inconsistent and does not do all that we would want it to do. It does not fit neatly into our evenly measured lives and is more mysterious than we are comfortable with. It requires work to see and is easily over shadowed, but the Church and the Moon are tied together in a way that both are dependent on the Light.

What year is it?

While we were driving to worship we told our son that today (November 30, 2015) was the first Sunday of Advent which means this is the first day of the new year in the Christian year. We then said, "Happy New Year!" in a way that was far too enthusiastic for a six year old boy at just after 7am. 

More puzzled than excited, he asked, "So what year is it now?" 

We tried to explain that the Church year does not have numbers like the "regular year". He was puzzled and asked, "Then how do you know how old you are?" 

"I guess you don't ever know how old you are in the Church." We replied. 

My son is like most of us in the West who view time as a line. There is a start, there is a middle and there is an end. And perhaps that is how time works in some ways. In other ways time is less like a line and more like a circle. Our sisters and brothers in the East have a better grasp on this idea than we do but the Church talks about time as both a line ("In the beginning...") AND as a circle (through the calendar).

Advent, the season we have just entered, is spoken about as the "start" of the Christian year. And to a degree this is true. But it really is the same "start" that we have had for hundreds of years. We tell the story of the birth of God in Jesus and tell stories of humility, hope, and anticipation. 

We may never really know how old we are in the church, and there is a beauty in that. We all are as innocent as children and as wise as an elder. We all have the ability to die to ourselves and be born again. So I say to you, happy new year and welcome back to where we started.