The Kingdom Season.
During November we come to the last four weeks of the Church's year. By the end of the month we will reach Advent Sunday, the start the new Christian year.
These four weeks are often called the Kingdom Season. It is not really a separate ‘season', like Epiphany or Lent, but it feels like one and is often treated as one.
A favourite image of the Church is of a pilgrim people and throughout the Church year we travel with Jesus in the readings, sermons and prayers. We witness the birth of Christ, we listen to his teaching, we are there at his execution, and we celebrate his resurrection.
Everything we've worked for throughout the year is now coming to its conclusion in the Kingdom Season. This is when we come to understand what this has meant in the lives of Christian men and women throughout the ages.
November starts with All Saints' Day, then All Souls' Day (to commemorate the faithful departed). During the next three weeks 23 Christian monarchs, priests, teachers of the faith, or mystics are remembered by name. The final Sunday celebrates Christ the King. God's work is completed and we wait for the New Kingdom to be revealed in all its fullness.
Look at the altar frontal, the fall (the coloured and embroidered cloth below the book rest) on the pulpit, the book marker ribbons in the Bible, and the priest's stole. These will be red, to signify the work of the Holy Spirit.
Listen to the Collects and Post Communion Prayers. They speak of an ‘eternal and glorious kingdom', where ‘the whole created order [will] worship at his feet', of us being ‘knit together in one fellowship', of us ‘coming to share the joy of heaven' and ‘the heavenly feast' prepared for us there.
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