I did not grow up in church observing any sort of Christian Calendar. Church life centered around Christmas and Easter at those times of the year and there were special days such as Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Although my family wasn’t Southern Baptist we were Baptists in the South so Homecoming, Vacation Bible School and revival meetings were annual observances. The vast majority of the year the pastor preached on whatever he felt led to, Sunday School teachers did the same, and all of that seemed perfectly normal to me.
If you Google ordinary time you will get a lot of results from Catholic sources and relating to the Roman Catholic Church. Many Protestant churches find they benefit from a Christian Calendar, like the one shown above, even without following a strict lectionary throughout the year. Continue reading
If you are a follower of The Master’s Table, or a former student, or have ever listened to me preach, teach Sunday School or lead a small group of any kind, you know by now that I do not pick up a recent newspaper and use the headlines for talking points about Bible prophesy. During Advent I talk about prophecies of the Messiah being fulfilled by Jesus’s birth and the events surrounding it. During Easter and Pentecost I talk about prophesies Jesus fulfilled during his earthly ministry, his death, burial and resurrection, and the promise we have of his future return. What I have never done is point to earthquakes, volcanoes, war in the Middle East or any other current event while quoting snippets of scripture and saying “See, the Bible says so.” I’ve seen preachers and other church leaders look foolish when Mikhail Gorbachev did not turn out to be the antichrist, Saddam Hussein was not the Beast described in Revelation and the world did not end in 1988 despite the list of 88 reasons that it was going to. 
The Master's Table 