Stripping the year

Much as I admire the Puritans and Scottish Presbyterians, I believe they erred when they stripped the church calendar to an annual cycle of fifty-two Sundays. They reduced the rich melody of the earlier calendar to a repetitive ticking of the clock.

But the problem actually goes deeper.

Israel’s festive calendar was fixed by Torah. Passover, Pentecost, Atonement, Booths, and other festive days puctuated the year. Over the course of Israel’s history, however, other feast days were added. Purim marked the deliverance of Israel from Haman, and Jews celebrate the success of the Maccabean revolt at Hanukuah. The founding moments of Israel’s history were celebrated from the beginning, but history didn’t stop at Sinai.

The church continued the tradition, with relish. To the great commemorations of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost the church eventually added feast days for saints, special observances of the Mass, fasts and carnivals. Doubtless this was overdone, but it stood as permanent testimony that God continued His redemptive work throughout the Christian era.

In this context, the Puritan scouring of the church calendar begins to look like an effort to produce a permanent, unalterable calendar. It appears to be an unintentially gnostic effort to stop time in its tracks. It appears an unconscious declaration that nothing worth remembering will ever again happen in Christian history. To that extent, it represents a failure of faith in the God who is Omega and well as Alpha.