Colors of the Liturgical Seasons

Each season of the church year has a unique color. Christians, for centuries, have used color in divine worship to emphasize the redemptive action of God through his Son. Liturgical color complements the message of the seasons and occasions during the church year.

Blue

Blue is used during Advent, the new church year. Advent, a preparatory time of waiting and watching, communicates the message of hope. Blue, the color of the sky, helps convey that powerful message. Our Christian faith rests on the hope that Christ, who came into history assuming our flesh, will also return on the last day of time from that same blue sky He ascended into long ago.

Purple
Purple, like black, is a penitential color, in contrast to a festive one. It is appropriately used during Lent and sometimes during the season of Advent. This deep, rich color has come to represent somberness and solemnity, penitence and prayer. It is used during the penitential season of Lent as a vivid reminder of the contempt and scorn Christ endured, and the subsequent sacrifice He made for our eternal salvation. Purple should remind all Christians of their daily need to humbly give attention to leading a life of repentance.

Scarlet
Scarlet is called for use during Holy Week, from Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday. Scarlet, the color of blood, is used during the somber days of Holy Week in association with the Passion.

Black
Black is seen very seldom during the year. The calendar calls for its use only twice; on Good Friday and Ash Wednesday. There’s no mistaking the message that this sober color gives. Black is the absence of light. Good Friday, or Black Friday in combination with Ash Wednesday, calls for sober reflection on the cost of our redemption. Without Christ’s sacrifice on the day the sky turned dark and hid the light of the sun, there would be no bright Light of Christ to live in, nor new life in Christ to enjoy.

White
White is the color of purity and completeness. The theme for the “great fifty days” of Easter is supported by the use of white. This color, used primarily during these Sundays, assists in bearing the message that “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Christ’s triumph from the grave on Resurrection day is the cause for our rejoicing! His purity before His Father becomes our purity. White reinforces that message of joy.

In addition to its use during Easter, white is the appointed color for such festive Sundays as Christmas and its twelve days; Epiphany (Jan. 6) and the first Sunday following it, (observed as the Baptism of Our Lord); the last Sunday after Epiphany, (also known as Transfiguration Sunday); the first Sunday after Pentecost, (also known as Holy Trinity Sunday); and twenty-one minor festivals and occasions listed on the church year calendar in Lutheran Worship. In all, white serves as the best festive color for the church year.

Gold
Gold is the optional color for Easter Sunday. Gold represents value and worth. The golden festival of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the event that gives our lives meaning and worth. He is worthy of our praise as we adorn his altar with the color of splendor.

Red
Red is a power color and is appropriate for use on Pentecost Sunday. On this day we remember the power and fire of “the Lord and Giver of Life,” who revealed Himself as the Promised One. The color red communicates the strength and power the Holy Spirit gives in order for God’s people to call on the name of Jesus Christ and share that powerful name with others.

There is no question that red is a compelling festive color. Consequently, it serves well as the traditional color for the heroic martyrs of the church. Their red blood shed in defense of the Gospel offers perpetual encouragement for God’s people to be resolute in living the faith.

Additional uses of red are Reformation Sunday; such festive occasions as dedications, or anniversaries of a congregation and its physical structure; and festive days celebrating the office of the public ministry, such as ordination and installation.

Green
Green is by far the most common color seen during the year and is used for non-festival periods. Lutheran Worship calls for its use during the seasons of Epiphany and Pentecost.   
Epiphany’s message of Christ’s revelation to the Gentiles along with the season’s traditional emphasis on extending Christ’s kingdom through missions, calls for the use of green – the color symbolic of growth.

The Sundays following Pentecost, observed as “the time of the church,” share a somewhat similar theme as that of Epiphany. Affectionately called the season of the “green meadow,” no doubt due to the fact of green being the established color, these Sundays also emphasize the subject of growth. Green is a neutral color, but there is nothing colorless about our need to grow and mature as disciples of Jesus Christ. That’s why the “green meadow” time of the church year is so lengthy. Time must be given to encourage all worshipers to maintain their faith through the constant use of God’s means of grace.