Yearly Practices
What does it mean to talk about “Sacred Time?” The word sacred comes from the latin for “to set apart.” We mark time itself based upon ancient monastic and church practices. It was Benedictine months who gave us the “hours” even clocks and calendars as we know them today.
The Church gives us another calendar, a time apart, which helps us to think about how we want to spend time. The seasons of the church year, at times, find themselves at odds with our busy capitalist society. Advent is a time for simplifying and slowing down. Lent asks us to fast, to reflect. Easter intends joyful celebration, Alleluias for a full fifty days. We find in the modern church, we are asked to celebrate and sanctify other seasons as well: Black History month, Pride, Latinx heritage etc. How do we become intentional with our time? Do we make commitments to our practice, and commitments to take time apart?
Click here to see the slides from Mike’s Presentation.
The video showed on the Episcopal Church’s “Way of Love” is here:
Additional Resources:
Becoming Friends with Time: John Swinton
Time is central to all that humans do. Time structures days, provides goals, shapes dreams—and limits lives. Time appears to be tangible, real, and progressive, but, in the end, time proves illusory. John Swinton, a Scottish theologian of Disability, invites us to “move at the speed of love.”
Strength for the Journey by Peter Gomes
Before he died, Gomes was arguably one of the best preachers in the English language, and the longtime minister at Harvard’s Memorial Church. This collection of sermons includes a set that correspond to the liturgical year.
The Liturgical Year by Joan Chittister
What may at first seem to be simply an arbitrary arrangement of ancient holy days, or liturgical seasons, this book explains their essential relationship to one another and their ongoing meaning to us today. It is an excursion into life from the Christian perspective, from the viewpoint of those who set out not only to follow Jesus but to live and think as Jesus did.
The Speed of Love with Kate Bowler and John Swinton
Kate Bowler is a theologian at Duke Divinity School. Her podcast features great conversations with faith leaders and writers. This interview with John Swinton is funny, sweet, and asks us to think deeply about the quality of time we want to spend.
