Tomorrow is both Mother’s Day and Pentecost Sunday.  In planning for the worship service tomorrow, it raised the question, “Which do we do?”

When Pentecost falls later in May and collides with Memorial Day, the question comes around in my thinking again. (I’ll confess: more often than not we just cram all the disparate pieces into one worship service…..not completely satisfying.)

So, what do we do when the celebrations of the Christian year collide with the celebrations on the civic/social calendar?  Which do we do? What trumps what?  What should?

Personally, I prefer to follow the Christian year.  Not to slight the various civic holidays, but which observance nurtures the soul over the long-haul?

Organizing and planning worship around the civic calendar to me is like being a hamster on a wheel–you keep doing the same thing over and over, year in and year out. It’s a great way to maintain the status quo. It gives predictability and sustained comfort.  But for me it does not give spiritual nourishment.

Integrating the Christian year into worship planning (and yes, in that I include letting our preaching be informed by the Lectionary), takes our congregation on a journey of faith and provides spiritual reference points to counter the excessive commercialization of our culture.

Advent, which begins the Christian year, provides an intentional means of focusing on the true meaning of Christmas. Lent provides a pathway for preparing to embrace the power of the Resurrection. The Ascension gives us an opportunity to evaluate our mission and how well we’re staying on track. Pentecost keeps us tethered to the biblical origin & purpose of the Church.  Ordinary time–that big block of green on the liturgical calendar–provides an extended time to focus on the dimensions of Christian discipleship.

So what about planning preaching and worship emphases? I usually start by looking at the Lectionary texts for each particular week. While some follow the Lectionary in a slavish fashion, there are times when I choose to follow the prescribed readings and other times I choose do depart from them.  For me, following the Lectionary forces me to engage texts that I would otherwise skip right past.

So, tomorrow at Cradock Baptist, we will be celebrating Pentecost Sunday.

What about your church? Which will you be doing?