This page is used to "hold" the seasons explanation for each season.  Please do not delete the explanations - we will copy over to the current page whatever is needed.

Advent

Advent is a season of four weeks including four Sundays the first this year being December 2. Advent  derives from the Latin adventus,  which means "coming." The season proclaims the comings of the Christ—whose birth we prepare to celebrate once again, who comes continually in Word and Spirit, and whose return in final victory we anticipate. Each year Advent calls the community of faith to prepare for these comings; historically, the season was marked by fasts for preparation. Each Sunday of Advent has its distinctive theme: Christ's coming in final victory (First Sunday), John the Baptist (Second and Third Sundays), and the events immediately preceding the birth of Jesus Christ (Fourth Sunday).
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Christmas

The Christmas Season includes the twelve days from sunset Christmas Eve (December 24) through Epiphany (January 6).

Season After Epiphany

The Season After Epiphany begins January 7 and lasts until Ash Wednesday.

Lent

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts until Easter. The exact dates of Lent depend on the date for Easter Sunday.

Easter

The Easter Season, also known as the Great Fifty Days, begins at sunset on Easter Eve and continues through the Day of Pentecost. The Easter Season is the most joyous and celebrative season of the Christian year.  It focuses on Christ's resurrection and ascension and on the givings of the Holy Spirit. Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 21. Because the date for Easter moves between March 22 and April 25, the length of the Season After Epiphany and the Season After Pentecost varies. The Easter Season is fifty days long and goes through the Day of Pentecost.

Pentecost

 Season After Pentecost or Ordinary Time

The Season After Pentecost, also called Ordinary Time, begins the day after Pentecost and ends the day before the First Sunday of Advent. United Methodists have the option of calling this season Kingdomtide, a term first used in 1937 in a book sponsored by the former Federal Council of Churches as a name for the half of the year betwen the Day of Pentecost and Adent, during which churches were urged to emphasize Jesus' teachings concerning the kingdom of God.  In 1940 the season was shortened to three months, beginning the last sunday in August.  The former Methodist Church adopted it in its shortened three-month form in the 1945 and 1965 editions of The Book of Worship.  Today, no other denomination uses the term Kingdomtide.