Here’s a “poser” for you: Why are our ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th months named “Seven” (Sept-), “Eight, (Oct-)” “Nine” (Nov-) and “Ten” (Dec-)?
Answer: Principally because the year started in March, once upon a time – and we never got around to correcting the month names. (“But, we’ve always done it this way!”) To complicate matters, there are calendars other than the one we typically use. Time and calendars are a fascinating topic, if one is interested in such things.
We’re about halfway through Christmas. (It’s 12 days long. Sing the song.) We’re all plot… planning our New Year’s Eve activities. For some it will involve a “Watch Night” service. Others’ agendas will include hangover remedies. However one celebrates: Be safe; be sane; be thankful that God has granted us another year of His grace. We ”old folks” will be turning in early, again.
The other day I was remembering a sermon I heard once. (Goodness, do people actually listen to these things!?) The point of it was that “Jesus is the ‘hinge’ of history.”
While there are other means of marking and accounting for time, on the “common calendar” next week will begin 2024 – meaning it’s been that many years since the incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth; ignoring certain improvements in time-keeping and adjustments to the calendar. The whole system swings around whether we’re talking “Before Christ” (BC), or “After Christ” (AD, Anno Domini, “The Year of Our Lord”.)
The artifice of BCE and CE not withstanding, the so-called “common era” still relies on when God decided to get down and get personal with His creatures.
That changes everything!
Pastor Doug Campbell is a retired Lutheran pastor and a member of Faith, Wilmington. He currently is supplying pulpits in the Southern Ohio Synod. He was formerly Deputy Wing Chaplain for the Civil Air Patrol in Ohio. Before seminary he worked for the Chillicothe (O) Gazette, and as the editor of the Chanute AFB newspaper in Rantoul, Illinois.
