A Restored Gospel Christian Calendar

We sometimes speak of the idea of a holy envy—meaning something that we admire in another a religion. For years, while remaining active in my ward, I spent a considerable amount of time at a Presbyterian Church ringing English handbells. Over time, one feature of their worship that I developed a bit of a holy envy for is their use of a liturgical calendar.

The liturgical calendar is an approach to remembering Christ’s life throughout the year. In Christian traditions that follow a calendar, the year is divided into a series of seasons with specific moods, theological emphases, and modes of prayer. Important holidays like Christmas and Easter are proceeded by periods of penitence, reflection, and preparation (Advent and Lent, respectively) and followed by several weeks of talking about the stories of Christ and Christianity that happened because of the events that the holidays focus on. Scripture readings and sermon subjects used in church are often based on the calendar, making the calendar the foundation of their worship services.

The reason I have holy envy for the calendar is because it helps people focus on Christ throughout the year—particularly around Christmas and Easter. I wanted to try it out in my personal life, so I have been developing my own version of the calendar that incorporates readings from all of our scriptural cannon to use in Sunday evening scripture study or family home evenings. Strictly speaking, of course, it’s not liturgical  (I’m not suggesting it be used in our public services in the Church), but focused on use in the family. With the renewed emphasis on gospel instruction in the home, I thought I might share what I’ve been doing in case someone else finds it to be valuable and to hear what people’s thoughts on the idea are.

The series of readings that I have been using are divided into four main sections, spanning most of the year. There is a specific topic for each week, and I have written up an introduction to the scriptures being read that brings together important quotes from Church leaders on the topic and explains how that week’s reading fits into the larger picture. The first section is an introduction to the year through a discussion of the Plan of Salvation. The scriptures for this section are mostly focused on the experiences of Adam and Eve and take place from late September to mid-November. Following traditional Christian calendars, Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost are all observed with readings for each Sunday of the respective seasons and daily during the week leading up to Easter. Finally, I’ve included a season celebrating the Restoration of the Gospel in late June through mid-August. Since my family has Utah pioneer ancestry and lives in the United States, I’ve based the time frame around both the United States Independence Day and Pioneer Day in July. Over the course of that season, I cover a basic outline of Latter-day Saint history and family history stories about the pioneer trek and settlement in Utah. The calendar is an ongoing work in progress, but it has helped keep Christ on my mind throughout the year.

Below is a table of the readings. It isn’t perfect yet—some holidays, like Pentecost, don’t line up exactly with the traditional Christian calendar, and if Easter is later (as it is this year), it throws off the timeline leading up to the Restoration history season. Some readings are also a bit long for reading with small children (though the Church’s Bible videos are another possibility there). That being acknowledged, this is what I have been using: