Our church year begins with Advent - a season of waiting (laturgical color is purple), which covers the four Sundays before Christmas.
We have a Kids program and a visit from a Big Guy in a Red Suit and beard on a Sunday evening near Christmas. However, the real
reason for celebrating Christmas, of course, is the Birthday of Christ. To celebrate this, we have a Carol service at 5:00 p.m. on
Christmas eve and a worship service for Christmas (if Christmas is on a Sunday - White being the liturgical color).
During the season of Epiphany, we take part in communion (White being the liturgical color).
On Ash Wednesday, Turner worships in the evening with Prospect United Methodist Church and Walkersville Presbyterian Church (Purple
being the liturgical color). This joint service rotates between the three churches and is a happy reunion of the catholic church
(lower case “c” in catholic is used here to denote that all people that call Christ Lord and have a personal relationship with Him
will one day be reunited in Heaven).
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent which is a season of preparation for the resurrection of our Lord.
Palm/Passion Sunday, the Sunday before Easter begins, is celebrated at Turner when the congregation marches in
carry palm branches (Red being the liturgical color). Maundy Thursday is another Joint service which is celebrated with communion
the same way Christ did with His disciples before His Crucifixion and Resurrection (Purple being the liturgical color).
Good Friday, which is also a Joint service, recounts Christ walk to the cross through a service of candles and scripture reading.
All liturgical colors and religious symbols are either removed from the sanctuary or covered with black cloth. (In the middle
of all of the seriousness and respect of Easter, we do have a little light hearted fun for the children by having a good Ol’
Easter Egg hunt on Saturday). Early Easter Sun-rise Service is followed by breakfast marking the surprise of Christ resurrection
by His Disciples then and now. We then meet again for Sunday school and worship with communion at the regular times
of 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 (White is the liturgical color). We Celebrate the season of Easter for 7 Sundays until Pentecost
through reflections on how Christ was raised to redeem us.
On the First Thursday in May, Turner joins with numerous community churches in a celebration of the National Day of Prayer.
Pentecost is celebrated as the Holy Spirit’s coming and is a time of rejoicing while looking to the Spirit of
God (Red is the liturgical color and red attire is worn).
After Pentecost, the liturgical color is green (representing growth) as we are always intending to be growing closer to our God.
In the middle of July, Vacation Bible School is held for the children of the community. A lot of hard work is put into this to
make it a success.
Homecoming – The Third Sunday of September – is a celebration of the church's history and its birthday as we
were conceived on the third Sunday of September. Members again wear red, sing through the Sunday school Hour and
eat a big meal with all those who gather after worship.
On the first Sunday of October, Turner celebrates World Communion Sunday (White being the liturgical color).
On the second Saturday of October we have a church Bazzar to raise money to support missions and outreach.
We have a time for the kids at the end of October called The Pumpkin Patch Party. If all goes as planned we decorate
pumpkins that we collect on a hayride throughout the community.
Laturgical Color
At Turner, we have two calendars. The first one is like any other calendar with regular daily life events. The other
calendar is a Liturgical calendar that directs the seasons of the church year. Liturgy refers to the
patterns, language and actions used in worship and as part of the Presbyterian Church (USA) denomination, we usually follow
the revised common lectionary* and the Liturgical calendar that accompanies it. In following this Calendar, we display
different colors in our sanctuary as we move through the season of the year. These seasons are not Spring or
Summer but seasons of the Christian life, the same as everyday, but set apart for God.
There are four officially recognized liturgical colors at Turner. These are white, purple, red and green. Some churches
have added blue, but we have not seen the need to add this color to our calendar. White is used to display God’s
redemptive acts and is the color for Christmas and Easter. Purple represents seasons of preparation. It is displayed
during Advent as the church prepares for Christ coming and in Lent as we reflect on our need for Christ's redemptive action
at Easter. Red is for celebrations. It is used at Pentecost and other times when the church celebrates the blessings of
God’s Holy Spirit. Green is used in all other time periods not marked by a specific season and is used to denote our
continual need to grow closer to the Lord.
All these colors and seasons are not holy or sacred on their own, but they do point us to Christ and thus encourage us to
be more like the Holy One that we love with service, honor and respect.
*A lectionary is a selection of readings that was suggested by a committee of ministers and elders to provide diverse reading and preaching
of Scripture. These readings rotate through a three year cycle broken in two years A B and C. The suggested readings for
each Sunday include scripture lessons from the both the Old and New Testaments as well as a reading from the Book of Psalm and a
Gospel lesson.
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