The Story We're Entering

An Introduction to Kingdom Rhythms

Welcome to Kingdom Rhythms.

If you’ve never heard of the church year, don’t worry, many Christians haven’t. But it’s been shaping believers for two thousand years, and it can bless and change how you think about everything.

Here’s what you need to know.

We Live Inside a Story

Not just any story, but the Story, the one that makes sense of all the others.

God created the universe: galaxies and grasshoppers, mountains and molecules, angels and atoms. He called it good. At the center of it all, he placed us, made in his image, crowned with glory, and called into relationship with him.

But we rebelled. We wanted autonomy. We rejected his lordship. And when we fell, creation fell with us.

Sin entered the world. Death followed. The image of God in us was marred. Relationships shattered. The cosmos itself groaned under the weight of the curse.

But by his grace, God didn’t walk away. He promised a Redeemer.

And in the fullness of time, the Word became flesh. Jesus - truly God, truly man - lived the life we couldn’t live, died the death we deserved, rose from the grave, ascended to the Father’s right hand, and sent his Spirit to dwell in his people.

This is the hinge of history. Everything before it points to the cross. Everything after it flows from the resurrection.

Now the church, the outpost of the Kingdom, proclaims this Gospel to the ends of the earth. We live in the tension of the “already and the not yet,” already redeemed but not yet glorified, already victorious but not yet home.

One day, Jesus will return. He’ll raise the dead, judge the living and the dead, defeat every enemy, and establish his Kingdom in its fullness. He will make all things new.

Creation. Fall. Redemption. Consummation.

This is God’s cosmic Story, and your life exists inside it.

The Church Year Tells This Story in Time

For nearly two millennia, Christians around the world have ordered their lives around this rhythm, not out of nostalgia, but because this Story is the truest thing there is, and we need to live inside it year after year until it shapes everything about us.

Here’s the rhythm:
​

• Advent (4 weeks) - We wait with Israel for the coming King. We long. We hope. We prepare.
• Christmas (12 days) - God becomes flesh. The Word enters the world. Redemption begins.
• Epiphany (variable) - Light breaks into darkness. Christ is revealed to the nations. The Kingdom goes global.
• Lent (40 days) - We walk with Jesus toward Jerusalem, confronting sin, death, and the cross.
• Holy Week (1 week) - We follow him into his final days, watching the cosmic battle unfold at Calvary.
• Easter (50 days) - The tomb is empty. Death is defeated. The new creation has begun. We celebrate for fifty days, not just one morning.
• Ascension (1 day) - Christ ascends to the Father’s right hand. The King is enthroned.
• Pentecost (1 day) - The Spirit comes. The church is born. We are sent. This is the climax of Easter, the fiftieth day of resurrection joy.
• Ordinary Time (roughly 6 months) - We live faithfully in the “already/not yet,” following Jesus in the everyday, growing in holiness, and waiting for his return.
• Christ the King (1 day) - We close the year by lifting our eyes to the coming Kingdom. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess: Jesus Christ is Lord.

And then we do it again, because we need it. Every year, we need to walk this path, feel this rhythm, and let this Story form us.

Why It Matters

Many of us live fragmented spiritual lives. We know about Jesus, but we don’t live inside his Story.

We bounce from one devotional to the next, from one sermon series to another, from one spiritual high to the next low. We have no narrative framework, no sense of where we are in God’s cosmic plan.

The church year changes that. It locates you in the Story. It teaches you to wait (Advent), to wonder (Christmas), to walk into suffering (Lent), to celebrate resurrection (Easter), and to live faithfully when nothing dramatic is happening (Ordinary Time).

And here’s the gift: you’re not alone. Christians in every century have walked this path. Christians in every nation are walking it with you right now. You’re part of the church. The church is part of the Kingdom. The Kingdom is part of God’s cosmic plan to make all things new.

What to Expect

Every week, you’ll receive:

• A brief orientation to where we are in the Story and why it matters
• A Scripture passage that speaks to this season
• A reflection connecting biblical truth to real life
• Questions for personal examination
• A prayer grounded in the day’s theme
• One concrete action step
• A benediction to send you into the day with God’s blessing

This is Practical Christianity. Remember: Christianity is practical because it’s true, practical because it works, and practical because it’s meant to be put into practice.

An Invitation

So welcome. Enter the Story. Let it shape you. Walk the rhythm with me.

And may you find, as millions before you have found, that this ancient path is exactly what your soul needs.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Dale Tedder