the Forty-Second Parallel

If you are Catholic or a member of one of the more liturgical Protestant traditions, you're well aware that yesterday was Ash Wednesday. The rest of Christendom, primarily evangelicals, made little note other than wondering what was up with the people with dirty foreheads. Having been raised in a tradition that pays -little- no attention to the "Christian year":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liturgical_year, I can remember the first time I noticed something was up with Ash Wednesday. It seemed really odd to me that people would make such a big deal about (what seemed to me) a random day a month or so before Easter.

But as I got older and observed other Christian traditions first hand, I grew to appreciate and then to look forward to the liturgical seasons. The church we were a part of in Knoxville (and dearly miss) was one of those rare evangelical churches that paid a good bit of attention to the Christian calendar. But, in Memphis, the chuches we've been around or know of pay little attention to anything outside of Christmas and Easter. And that's really too bad.

Granted, there's nothing in Scripture that commends us to observe specific days as holy. But, I think the observance of the liturgical calendar is a good thing because it intentionally places the Gospel front and center in our daily lives. The "Catholic catechism describes the liturgical year":http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/glossary.htm#l as a "celebration throughout the year of the mysteries of the Lord's birth, life, death, and Resurrection in such a way that the entire year becomes a 'year of the Lord's grace'." Despite the emphasis on evangelism, I think there's a tendency in evangelical Christianity to see the Gospel as something to convert people with and once they're converted they can move on to other things. When in reality, the Gospel is what we're converted to and should never move past.

So, here's to the Christian calendar.