The Seasons
• The Church, or Christian, year celebrates different parts of the Christian faith during the course of twelve months, dividing the year into a series of seasons. These are Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent and Easter. The rest of the year is referred to as ‘Ordinary Time’ as there is no specific focus for celebration. The Christian year also consists of Saints Days, Festivals and Holy Days. These seasons and days make up the Church, or Christian, Calendar.
Colours of the Christian Year shows the way the St James's is coloured during the seasons. Each season has its own mood, theological emphasis, etc, which is shown in different ways of decorating the church, colours used, scriptural readings, themes for preaching and so on.
The Seasons in the Christian Year follow the life of Jesus a bit like a story:
• Advent is when the story actually begins, as we prepare for the birth of Jesus.
• Christmas follows, when Jesus was born.
• Epiphany follows, when the Wise Men (or kings, or Magi) came to visit Jesus.
• Lent is the next part of the story as we carry on following his life through to the preparation for his passion (suffering) in Lent and death on the cross in Holy Week.
• Easter is when we learn about his resurrection from the dead.
• The Ascension into Heaven follows Easter.
• Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit, is the next part of the story.
• Trinity is the last part of the story that we learn about and we then concentrate on learning more about our faith.
Other Special Days and Festivals
In addition to the above special days, there are others which we celebrate at St James's:
• Candlemas
• St James's Day
• Harvest Festival
• All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day
• Remembrance Sunday
Find out more
Colours of the Christian Year
Service Garments
Church Textiles
Church Plate
The History of St James's Services
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