Seasonal Resources
Just like our year is divided into four seasons (Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn), the church year is divided into various seasons. These are shaped around major events in the life of Jesus. Each season has its own symbolic colour, and the Bible readings in each season help to build up our understanding of those major events.
Celebrating the Church Seasons
Learning communities may like to celebrate the different church seasons. They can be incorporated into worship and devotions through the Bible texts and stories selected, visual elements such as altar dressings, other decorations and displays, and through music and drama.
The sections below include the significance of the season, the colour associated with it, ideas for how the season can be celebrated and resources you may find helpful.
If you would like to use the Bible readings and activities related to each week of the Church year (using the Revised Common Lectionary), you can find a lot of resources on the Planning Resources page.
Resources for the Church Seasons Overview
Grow Ministries Resource: Seasons of the church year This resource is made up of several colourful sheets full of information that provide a fun and interactive way to help you and your class grow in your understanding of the seasons of the church year.
Advent is a short but important season which covers the four Sundays before Christmas, when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. The colours for Advent are blue or violet. The colour for Christmas are white or gold.
There are two aspects to Advent. We are first of all preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, God’s own son, who came into the world more than 2000 years ago in Bethlehem. At the same time, Advent gives us the opportunity to reflect on how we are waiting for Christ to return to earth on the last day. We can look forward to such a time with great hope, because through faith in Jesus, the end of the world will mean the beginning of a new life with Christ forever.
Advent is the time when we reflect on and count down to the coming of Christ. ‘Advent’ comes from two Latin words ‘ad’ and ‘venire’, meaning ‘to come to’. In learning communities, the holidays will interrupt Advent, so you may like to spend time in the second last week of term marking Advent, and the last week of the school year focusing on Christmas.
Resources for Advent
Theme ideas:
The unexpected goodness of God (Advent)
Bible Story Resources
Grow Ministries Resource: GIFT Advent
This GIFT resource provides a time to share the Advent rituals and traditions that have been passed through many generations and to make new ones. A great resource for congregations, schools and homes. So many activities and templates, including worship and event ideas. Inside you will find: worship ideas, dramas, worship activities, take home sheets for families and much more.
Lutheran Tract Mission
LTM have a large range of Advent and Christmas resources including Advent Sticker Calendars, Magnetic Nativity Scenes and a Stand-Up Nativity Set. Visit them here: https://www.ltm.org.au/tract/search?q=
After celebrating the birth of Jesus at Christmas we focus on Epiphany. The season begins on January 6, when the wise men visited Jesus, and realised that Jesus was God’s son, born to be Saviour of the world. The colour for Epiphany is white, because we celebrate that Jesus is the Light of the World.
Epiphany (which means ‘manifestation’, ‘appearance’ or ‘showing plainly’) celebrates the revelation of Jesus not just to the wise men, but also to all people. When the wise men or magi noted the appearance of a special star, it signified to them that a great king had been born. The star eventually led them to Jesus, and they worshipped him and offered gifts of gold, frankinsence and myrhh.
On the first Sunday after Epiphany, the baptism of Jesus is celebrated. This was when God declared Jesus to be his beloved son. In the following Sundays the readings continue to reveal more about who Jesus is and what he came to do. Jesus’ miracles are often a feature of the Bible readings during these weeks, and include the wedding at Cana, his first miracle when he turned water into wine.
Although much of Epiphany happens during the school holidays, it can be a good way to begin the year. Opening services could feature a procession where the candles are brought in and lit for the first time of the year. The first few weeks of term before Lent could feature the Bible stories of Jesus’ early years or the miracles he performed.
Resources
Lutheran Tract Mission has a number of great resources for Epiphany.
Bible Story Resources
Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent when we prepare for Jesus’ death and resurrection.The colour for Lent is violet.
The season of Lent lasts for 40 days. This reminds us of the 40-day fast of Jesus in the wilderness after his baptism (Matthew 4:2, Luke 4:1-2), and also Moses’ 40 day fast on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:28). Sundays are not included in the 40 days because every Sunday is a joyful celebration of Jesus’ resurrection.
Shrove Tuesday is a traditional day of feasting before Lent begins. Households would eat up all the nice things like butter and cream before they began to fast during Lent. That’s why the French call it ‘Mardi Gras’ (Fat Tuesday). In Australia, we often follow the ‘Pancake Day’ tradition. This could be an opportunity to gather food or raise money for local care organisations.
Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent. Often, the pastor or worship leader will mark a cross of ashes on people’s foreheads on this day. Using ashes as a sign of repentance is an ancient custom which is often mentioned in the Bible (e.g. Jonah 3:5-9; Job 42:6; Jeremiah 6:26; Matthew 11:21). The early Christians adopted the use of ashes from this Jewish practice as an external mark of penitence.
Because the date of Easter changes each year, Lent may begin quite early in Term 1, or mid-term.
Resources for Lent
Theme idea: A sacrifice worth making (Lent)
Lenten Cross Activity and Devotional Pattern
Ash Wednesday
Lutheran Tract Mission have some excellent Lent resources.
Bible Story Resources
GROW Ministries
Grow Ministries Resource: GIFT Lent
GIFT Lent is an excellent resource to share the rituals and traditions of Lent and Easter in a fun, modern and interactive way! Excellent resource for schools, full of activities, craft, worship ideas and dramas.
Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, at the start of the last week of his life before he died and was resurrected. On Maundy Thursday we celebrate The Last Supper, and then on Good Friday we remember Jesus dying on the cross. On Easter Sunday we celebrate as Jesus is resurrected. On Maundy Thursday the colour is white, but Good Friday is black. Easter Sunday is white or gold.
The Easter season continues until Ascension. The feast of the Ascension occurs on a Thursday, 40 days after Easter Sunday. This commemorates the event of Jesus’ ascending back into heaven, to take his place at the right hand of his Father. The focus is on Jesus’ completion of all his work on earth rather than on leaving behind his disciples.
As most of these events happen on the Easter weekend, learning communities may cover some of them in the weeks leading up to Easter, have special worship or devotions each day of Holy Week or have a big worship service on Maundy Thursday which includes the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Resources for Easter and Holy Week
Bible Story Resources
LEA Resources
Padlet: Create Your Own Easter Devotion
Resources from Schools/ECSs
GROW Ministries
Grow Ministries Resource: GIFT Lent
GIFT Lent is an excellent resource to share the rituals and traditions of Lent and Easter in a fun, modern and interactive way! Excellent resource for schools, full of activities, craft, worship ideas and dramas.
Lutheran Tract Mission
Jesus: Arrest to Resurrection – leaflet retelling the events of Holy Week. Great illustrations.
The Easter Story – A simply told story with pictures of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Produced together with Aboriginal Ministry of SA. 16 page leaflet
Passion Week of Jesus – Read through with children the events that happened in Jesus’ last week (Holy Week)… written in simple language with cartoon pictures. 20 page leaflet and accompanying activity booklets (junhttps://youtu.be/KYTzVFJk-IQ?si=AI2LXjmrlNlmFT9jior and upper primary versions)
Pentecost marks the birth of the Christian church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost means ‘fiftieth day’ and is celebrated fifty days after Easter. The colour of Pentecost is red, which symbolises the tongues of flame that appeared over the disciples’ heads.
Pentecost is celebrated as the birthday of the Christian church, because it is when Jesus’ followers were given the power to go out and spread the good news to all people all over the world. Although Pentecost is only one day, it is an excellent season for learning communities to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Holy Trinity – the first Sunday after Pentecost is Holy Trinity Sunday. The church rejoices in the impenetrable mystery that God is ‘triune’ or ‘three-in-one’ – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The colour for Holy Trinity is white.
Resources for Pentecost
Bible Story Resources
Pentecost
Jesus is baptised
Resources from LEA
Theme idea: Get your ACTS together (Easter and Pentecost Term 2)
GROW Ministries
Grow Ministries Resource: GIFT Pentecost
Pentecost is an exciting time of the church year when we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit. Here is an opportunity to have a party to celebrate the birthday of the church and offers activities based around how the Holy Spirit lives in us and guides our lives.
Lutheran Tract Mission
LTM have a number of Pentecost resources you may find helpful, including:
The Holy Spirit Comes – story leaflet and activity booklets.
A big part of the church year is the Season after Pentecost, when we explore how the church grew after Pentecost, and how the Holy Spirit continues to grow in us. Because of the growing focus, the colour for the After Pentecost season is green. It can also be called ‘Ordinary Time’.
Green is the colour of life and growth. It is used for those times of the year which focus on growth in faith and discipleship. The time after Pentecost focuses on the growth of the church after Jesus’ resurrection.
In learning communities, this is a good time to explore themes and to look more closely at the Christian life. Reformation and the Season of Creation are also celebrated during this season.
Resources for Time after Pentecost
Bible Story Resources
Other Resources
Reformation Day (31 October) commemorates Martin Luther’s posting of his ‘Ninety-five Theses’ on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany on 31 October, 1517, the act which triggered the Reformation. The colour for Reformation is red.
This is an important liturgical festival celebrated by Lutherans as well Christians of many Protestant denominations. On Reformation Day, we thank God for what he accomplished in 16th century Germany through Martin Luther. The Reformation was the great rediscovery of the doctrine of justification, the good news of the salvation of all sinners by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. The Holy Spirit used Luther to restore this doctrine of justification by grace alone to its rightful place as the cornerstone doctrine of Christianity.
Resources for Reformation
Grow Ministries Resource: GIFT Martin Luther
Who is Martin Luther and why is he so important to Lutherans? God’s great gift is his Word. Throughout its history the Christian church has had to struggle to proclaim and teach the truth of God’s Word. Toward the end of the Middle Ages (in the 15th and 16th centuries), serious false teachings and abuses had developed in the church. God in his grace chose Martin Luther to be his servant for a most important work: the reformation of the church.
Lutheran Tract Mission
LTM have a number of Reformation resources, including: The Story of Martin Luther
