Here, we're on the 26th Sunday after Trinity. We skipped a couple of Sundays at Michaelmas, just like we always used to. But I've noticed most of the congregations on the one-year pericope series from LSB just plowed right through and are still on the 24th Sunday.
I'm used to thinking that the last Sunday in the church year is the parable of the ten virgins and that we sing Wake, Awake. I'm used to the next-to-last Sunday being the judgment at the end of the world (end of Mt 25) and that we sing The Day Is Surely Drawing Near. But I get the impression that not a lot of y'all did the "next-to-last Sunday" today. So then what happens to the clear and obvious teaching that hell really does exist? Do we just skip that now? I mean, really, how often will we be using ALL the Sundays after Trinity?
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We heard end-of-the-world/ judgement today.
ReplyDeleteErmm... what's 'Michaelmas' ?
ReplyDeleteAnd Hell is over-rated... and dreary.
>what's 'Michaelmas'?
ReplyDeleteFeast of St Michael and All Angels. September 29.
Jeff, it's the mass for St Michael's day. Just like Christmas is the mass for Christ's birthday.
We did next-to-last type stuff today & Pastor's sermon was along those lines... and we're on the 3yr pericope & the 25th Sund. after Pentecost.
ReplyDeleteI luuuuuuvvv the end of the church year. The mood darkens just like the sky with its early twilight and then comes the watching season of Advent with its warm candles and evening services. (And that Ladies Aid soup. Yum.)
Now that you mention it, it's been YEARS since I heard that parable read or preached about in church. :(
ReplyDeleteSince our move, we have not found a new church home. Attended one service at the LCMS church nearby. Sigh...LCMS Lite with Willow Creek music. Checked your husband's site for the nearest church using the hymnal we love but it's an hour away.
The way the Sundays after Trinity are dealt with has varied over time. There is some evidence that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, most Lutherans just counted up until Advent started - no skipping at Michaelmas, or three Sundays before the end, or even skipping to Trinity 27 for the last Sunday. But Lutherans have handled this problem differently in recent generations. There is a substantial judgment theme present in Advent (at least in the One-Year series - I honestly wouldn't know about the three-year, especially the latest version of it). All that is to say, I don't think there is a real bias for or against hell in how one chooses to count. Something has to get skipped, unless Easter falls at the earliest possible dates to get in twenty-seven Sundays after Trinity.
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