Sacred Seasons: A Family Guide to Center Your Year Around Jesus

by Danielle Hitchen, Stephen Crotts (Visual Art)

Make Jesus the Center of Your Family’s Year
 
The time-honored traditions of the liturgical calendar guide Christians through a year-long meditation on the life of Christ. Beyond just Christmas and Easter, each season of the church year offers special opportunities to remember and celebrate the work of God. 
 
In Sacred Seasons, Danielle Hitchen helps you incorporate the rhythms and rituals of this ancient Christian discipline into your everyday family life. Part theology, part church history, and part practical spirituality, Sacred Seasons provides an easy-to-use guide to observing the liturgical year complete with fun activities, delicious recipes, and meaningful liturgies.  
 
Grow your family’s faith in tangible ways as you experience the meaning and joy of each sacred season together.

 
 

Genres: Christian, Parenting, Nonfiction, Christian Living, Christianity, Spirituality, Family

224 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 3, 2023

Reviews

[Katherine Helm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sacred Seasons is an incredible book that is absolutely stunning and full of valuable and practical information. I dove into this book to learn more about the liturgical calendar as I was truly only familiar with Advent and Easter. I love how Danielle lays out the celebrations throughout the years with historical information and ways to celebrate as a family (recipes included!). I really appreciated that she makes it easy for a newbie (like me!) to incorporate these celebrations into my Christian home. The included memory verses and hymns were two of my favorite elements. The cover and graphics throughout make it a beautiful “coffee table book” that will be opened and loved daily. After reading through Sacred Seasons, I am already intrigued to start back at page 1 to continue to wrap my mind around and become more familiar with the church calendar.

[Meagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concept of the church calendar and living accordingly is fairly new to me—my only experience being dipping my toes in Lent and Advent. I learned so much from this book about all the different holidays, feasts, and seasons. It is taught from a Protestant standpoint which I also appreciated. While I don’t believe living by the church calendar is biblically mandated, I appreciated the approach of this being a good way to live a whole year (or your whole life) focused on Christ. I don’t think we will incorporate everything here into my family, but I am excited to learn and try new things with my kids that help point us all to Jesus.

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE this book! Not only is it easy to use and a real treat for the eyes, it's thoughtfully planned, carefully written, and beautifully illustrated. Recipes for king cake and hot cross buns, explanations of liturgical colors, brief liturgies for family worship, explanations of traditions and their histories...Hitchen has it all. Can't wait to share with families at my church.

(Yes, I did just review a book called Every Season Sacred. These two books are quite different though they have the same publication year and nearly identical titles.)

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are looking to ground your daily life more so in the church calendar, especially with your children, get this book. Danielle’s explanation of the history and traditions is so thorough but easy to grasp, and all the resources she includes — liturgies, prayers, recipes, etc. — are invaluable. I will revisit this book regularly for… at least the next 15 years!

[Jessica Telian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! As someone new to practicing the church year, and devouring anything I can read on it, this book is definitely the best one yet. Gorgeous and well-thought-out, I loved the combination of history and information with practical ideas and liturgies set in place for the entire family. It made practicing the church year at home with my family seem so doable and much less overwhelming than I originally thought. Very thankful for this lovely book!

[Sarah Fowler Wolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Do you keep a planner or a Google calendar? Do you worship on Sundays? Do you celebrate birthdays? You are a timekeeper," Hitchen reminds us.

I am so looking forward to working this wonderful book into our family's year! I love the rhythm and reminder of the church calendar for my own devotions, but I've mostly only brought my daughter into Advent and Holy Week. This is a beautiful, thorough, family-centered celebration of reminders of God's faithfulness.

I absolutely love this image: "Visually, the liturgical year is represented by a circle. However, a three-dimensional spiral would be more accurate—a reminder that though we observe the same seasons year after year, God invites us to experience them afresh, drawing us ever upward to Himself."

In the book each season places us in God's story, talks about spiritual discipline, shows how we can share communally, and includes a liturgy. As appropriate there are recipes, saints days, and a true focus on remembering as a family. I highly recommend this beautiful book!

"In remembering—making present—God’s past and his future, we are transformed by the Holy Spirit into walking, talking intersections of time and eternity: embodiments of the gospel."

{I was given an ARC}

[Jordyn Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, practical, and educational guide for how to center your year around the rhythms and cycles of the church calendar. I love the heart that it gets at, having your life and your rhythms not based in culture but based on the events of Christ’s life: his birth, his death, his resurrection, and the waiting periods in-between. Having not grown up in a church that follows the liturgical calendar I learned a lot from this book. But it’s not as heady as it sounds. Each cycle of the church calendar is broken down very plainly into the spiritual disciple of that time (ie advent is a time of waiting), verses to meditate on, colors that represent the season, recipes, and practical ways to enter into that season for yourself and for your whole family. It’s really family friendly, giving ideas for how to incorporate the whole family, young kids or big kids.

My favorite takeaways were the practice feasting!!! How advent is a season of longing and anticipation and then the TWELVE days of Christmas is a time of extended celebration, community, generosity, and worship! This is one that I’ll keep on my shelf and come back to in different seasons of the church.

[Zachary T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book bought by an even better friend :)

What a wonderful guide to the church calendar! She is practical, insightful, and Anglican, all things I love. It is particularly practical when it comes to doing spiritual disciplines with kiddos.

This book has furthered my sense of rootedness in the ancient body of Christ.

[Sydney Levi · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a newbie to the church calendar, I thought this book was a good introduction. It is filled with history, meaning, and practical + guided steps to do as a family!

[Maggie Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book!! Would be so great for families with kids to practice these liturgies

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven’t read every word of this but it is a wonderful resource I would highly recommend, especially for families.

[Kelli Emge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big eva , non-denominational, consumer-driven churches avoid anything that seems too catholic. As a result, there is a great big culture void. What do well-meaning Christians do with this void of culture and tradition? You seek to fill it, to give day, seasons meaning. To provide rituals and traditions that are meaningful and centered on Christ.

If you do not fill it, then either the world will happily fill (secularism, paganism) or else false teaching will dutifully fill (hebrew roots, 7th day adventism, etc.)

What is a culture-seeking Christian to do? Learn church history! The christian church has a strong history. The church has a liturgical year that is Christo-centric. You can learn it with books such as this. The church, and its calendar, represents the entire body of Christ, across every nation tribe and tongue, over millennia.

Join the body of Christ, across all cultures. Exalt Christ in every season. Don’t leave a culture void for the wolves to fill.

[Kyle McFerren · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Following the church calendar over the past few years has really enriched my faith, but there were still some gaps, (i.e. what are you supposed to do for Pentecost? or Epiphany? or All Saints' Day?) and I especially wanted ideas on how to celebrate the church year with kids. This book was the perfect solution to that!

"Sacred Seasons" is a great coffee-table-style book on incorporating the church calendar into your family, complete with beautiful illustrations. There's background information on the church calendar and each season - a lot of this is the same kind of information you would find in any "intro to liturgical Christianity" type book. But each section also gives lots of ideas for celebrating each season in your home, especially with young children. This was the part of the book I thought was most helpful. There are also interesting tidbits about the history of each season and its various traditions.

The author is Anglican (ACNA) but Christians of any tradition could certainly benefit from this book.

[Colton Hudspeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book so much. As someone who grew up Protestant and was taught to stay away from anything that resembled Catholicism, this book stretched me in deeply rich ways.

The idea of focusing mine and my family’s calendar around Christ’s life was an appealing concept, and this book provided a surface level understanding of the liturgical calendar. It was nice reading before Christmas and Easter some of the historical significance of church teachings and traditions that were ignored in my own upbringing, where Santa and eggs were the sole focus of those holidays.

In addition, I enjoyed learning about the in between seasons, such as Epiphany and Ordinary Time, among others. Even made some pretzels during Lent!

There are certainly statements in here that can be parsed out through a Protestant lens, but I would highly recommend reading and rereading this if you are interested in structuring your calendar in a Christ centered format.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book for anyone who is interested in following the traditional Church calendar. I was surprised at the depth of insight into each season, as well as the author's skill as a writer. My wife and I read it together in the car and have been appropriating the calendar more and more over the last few years.

The book is structured according to the two cycles (The Cycle of Light and The Cycle of Life), with each cycle progressing through a period of preparation, celebration, and proclamation. The introduction and this layout make it very readable, both as a book and as a continual reference guide.

[Katie Burrows · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay let’s be honest I haven’t quite finished it. But I will as the year goes on and will go back to it once I’m home and starting more traditions. She has very sound theology, is not endorsing works based righteousness or worship of the saints. Simple put it is a way of ordering your life in that you are always reminded and living out in a tangible way the life and death of Christ. Living out His story not ours. That is very much my theological and liturgical bent. I recommend.

[Courtney White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful! I've done a ton of research regarding the church calendar for the last six years, and a lot of stuff marketed towards families are either Catholic (which is great but feels like too much at times) or they are not worth looking at/using because they lack depth or they are historically inaccurate. So it took me a while to actually buy this. It's definitely a keeper! The liturgies are simple enough to implement, there isn't a lot of fluff in here like crafts, only a few recipes and several ideas for how to make the holidays special. It's written simplified enough to quickly read, but has the depth to show you the WHY of the church calendar. This is a keeper.

[Scott Meadows · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating early because Kayli and I read the first chapters on the liturgical kalendar and will be following the rest throughout the year, beginning with Advent. Excellent resource for the family’s following of the church’s timeline with everything from activities and recipes to make for specific feasts or fasts. Filled with grace to “not follow all of these or you’ll burn out.”

[Paige Benzing]

tbh, I didn’t actually finish it…I liked what I heard, but audio isn’t the ideal format for this one. would consider borrowing a paperback copy in the future, seems to be overall a good entry point for following a liturgical calendar with your family!

[Kate Shivers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful keepsake. I plan to write in the book each year to track what we try as we slowly build our traditions.

[Alicia Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful guide through the church calendar. Rich in its reflection. Practical in its celebration. Would recommend for anyone who wants to add meaning to their year!

[Natalie Herr · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-have if you want to learn about the church calendar and the traditions that surround it. Lots of gold nuggets in here. Highly recommend!

[Jessica Cotton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb resource for the modern day follower of Jesus Christ on recapturing the glory and celebrations found within the liturgical year.

Includes digestible: church history, liturgies, recipes, practical to-do’s, the debunking of myths, activities to do with children, and all of the underlinings behind why we celebrate days like Christmas, Easter, Ash Wednesday, Fat Tuesday, and yes, even Halloween.

A must read.

[Hannah Haruna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I come from an evangelical background, recently I developed a curiosity about the evangelical year. Many times Protestants shy away from the word "liturgy", thinking that it relates to Catholic or Orthodox doctrines, or that it alludes to rule-oriented traditions. Some also make the mistake of believing that we cannot observe holidays as believers, though I believe that this is a matter of freedom in Christ.

Historically, Christians have centered the entire year - the ebb and flow of the seasons and of life - around worship. There is no reason that liturgical living should be limited only to major seasons such as Advent and Easter, or that worship should be reserved only for Sundays! Liturgical living - although *not* a Biblical mandate or something related to salvation itself - can be a tool to help regard every day as sacred and meaningful in the context of eternity.

Liturgical living provides a lovely outline for ways to create family habits of worship, and to cycle through the seasons with a centering on Jesus and the gospel rather than the world. These habits - this beautiful rhythm - is something I was seeking for our family. Danielle Hitchen's book Sacred Seasons is a wonderful resource for those who are new to the liturgical year, and provides a starting point for you and your family to prayerfully consider your own liturgical traditions.

In the book, Hitchens gives concise, easy-to-understand historical details about the liturgical year and the origin and development of the Church Calendar, and provides suggested ideas such as Bible readings and hymns for each part of the year. It also includes recipes, prayers, and other materials, and is written in a way that is simple and easy to read. As a mother of two, I appreciate that the book is so well-organized and accessible! 

Although the book might benefit Christians from any denomination, many books on liturgical living are written from a Catholic or Orthodox perspective, and this one is written with a Protestant view. I appreciated that it included some notes that Protestant readers will appreciate, such as that we do not pray to saints, etc. However, I do not think that such notes will be enough to put off people from different Christian backgrounds from reading. 

In a time when worship has become something performative rather than transformative, Sacred Seasons is a refreshing take on the idea of family devotionals, and centering our time itself on Christ rather than adding Christ in as an "extra" to our already busy lives. I look forward to using the book to jump-start our own family devotionals!

[Katie Garcia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this, but I just couldn't. I adore her Baby Believer series. But  perhaps I'm not her target audience--I didn't know much about the liturgical year and am looking to incorporate more Christ-centered rituals and traditions in our year. I came away with some good ideas, for which I give this book its 2 stars. But I raised my eyebrows a lot while reading this.


(1) Addressing whether Christians should pray to saints, Hitchen says that the Bible does not tell us to and simply leaves it at that, in a way that feels as though it leaves it open for personal conviction. No mention of the Bible's explicit instruction NOT to pray to anyone except God the Father. Her answer, while correct, was not emphatic. This is a huge red flag to me. 


(2) While discussing the importance of confession, she says that if anonymity is important to you to confess at your local Catholic church. Ummm what? This book is supposed to be from a Protestant perspective. Subtle endorsements of icons and prayer beads didn't sit right with me either. 


(3) Hitchen also said that celebrating Passover, if you are not Jewish and not invited by a Jewish friend, is cultural appropriation and is highly offensive. Passover is one of the feasts of the LORD, not only of Israel. So 100% disagree and this was the nail in the coffin for me. I only kept going because I hate DNFs. 


(4) Hitchen also endorses many traditions with pagan roots, taking strong stances that they do not have pagan origins. I don't take issue with Christians celebrating Santa, the Easter Bunny, or Halloween. What do take issue with is glossing over substantial historical records. Hitchens does discuss the origins of the Easter Bunny not being Christian, but denies any pagan origins to Halloween.

[Annelise Gabrielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve long felt that Protestant Evangelicalism has drifted a long way from its roots, so I have been increasingly leaning into the liturgical calendar as a means of anchoring myself into the Church throughout the ages and across the world. Danielle Hitchen makes a compelling case in ‘Sacred Seasons’ for why it’s beneficial to keep ‘sacred time.’ Observing fasts and feasts invites us to internalise our theology as we become part of the story of Christ and it becomes part of us. This enables us to go out and live faithfully in our ordinary days.

Hitchen writes that spiritual discipline is doing the things that Jesus did so we can become more like Him. I found it helpful how she links each season in the church year with a particular spiritual discipline. The explanations of the history, meaning, and importance of each season are thorough and beautiful. ‘Sacred Seasons’ is full of practical ideas for how to incorporate sacred time into family life.

Between the poems included at the start of each chapter, the layout, the recipes, and the gorgeous illustrations by Stephen Crotts, there is a sense of spaciousness and contemplation to the book that I found inviting. Sacred Seasons is a generous book that will invite you into the story of Christ and the Communion of the Saints.

Side note: as a Southern Hemisphere dweller I appreciated Hitchen’s acknowledgment that as the church started in the Northern Hemisphere, the symbolism in the natural seasons lines up there and not down here.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

We've benefited so much from observing Advent and the entire 12-day Christmastide that I wanted to look into the other traditional seasons of the Church Year. Danielle Hitchen's guide is beautiful, informative, and winsome. By beautiful, I mean it's a pleasure to hold and to look at, inviting and clearly laid out. By informative, I mean that each 'tide gets its own brief history, overview of the symbolism and spirit of the season, and any smaller celebrations within it (among other things). By winsome, I mean she makes the Church Year attractive, not condemning those who don't already observe it but commending it to us with warmth and intelligence; she's realistic, too, cheerfully mentioning how small children fit into the mix.

My family and I have adopted some practices, but as people completely new to the Church Year, after a while the many things to keep track of or observe in some way did feel overwhelming. I fully realize this feeling arises not from anything about Hitchens' presentation, but mainly from the traversal of new territory and the fact that our local church doesn't observe all the 'tides and saints' days (so it would be all up to me). I'm not ultimately sure how much of the Church Year we'll practice besides the main Advent/Christmas/Lent/Easter seasons, but I very much appreciated the appealing introduction. We will most likely add to our practices gradually.

P.S. She includes several recipes. I've only tried one (the soft baked pretzels), and it rocks.

[Karla Vann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is beautiful, easy-to-read, and approachable. I am certainly the intended audience: a Christian parent with little-to-no background with the church calendar, but one who desires to orient our family with traditions that center our minds and hearts on Jesus throughout the year.

Sacred Seasons is packed with both traditional and creative ideas to observe church holidays and seasons within the household. It is written from a Protestant perspective (that is still honoring to Catholic and Orthodox traditions), gives some helpful context and history for different holy days, and even provides a handful of recipes, liturgies, and prayers to use alongside your celebrations. The tone is friendly and gracious, constantly reminding the reader that these practices are optional, but can be life-giving and formational. My one complaint is that it left me wanting a bit more depth in some areas (but it’s probably for the best - too much would be overwhelming, especially for a family guide!)

I also think I read this book at just the right time. Some of the practices I was contemplating for Advent were directly mentioned just days later in our pastor’s recommendations for the season, which only confirmed that our family should try them this year! I am grateful for this guide and will recommend it to anyone else looking for an easy introduction to ancient church observances!

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sacred Seasons is a beautiful guide for those seeking both practical and prayerful ways to learn about the church year. The illustrations, historical summaries, quotes, liturgies, recipes, and suggested traditions are fertile soil for an accessible, but rich time of celebration. Readers can either read deeply into the information presented or use the book as a reference for at-a-glance resources.

I especially enjoyed how Danielle covered Allhallowtide, the mini, three day “season” near the end of Ordinary Time. She plainly dispels myths and invites her readers to spend this time remembering the witness of the saints and the fragility of our earthly life. As someone who only learned of the Christian roots of Hallow’s Eve as an adult, I find such great meaning in those feast days and I’m grateful for Danielle giving them the space they deserve.

As with almost any topic, there are many entry points into the liturgical calendar. Sacred Seasons contributes to the beautiful, textured tapestry of liturgical resources. This book is generally ecumenical and appears to be best suited for those who have an existing familiarity with the Christian faith. 4.5 stars!

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

What’s so special about the church calendar? In Sacred Seasons, Danielle Hitchen gives you a family guide to center your year around Jesus.

The church calendar is a spiritual discipline because it causes you to focus on Christ. This book is a practical guide through the church year. It includes activities, recipes, and liturgies - with a special focus on families and how to make these calendar moments meaningful for your children. The illustrations are gorgeous, encouraging you to experience the makings of holy traditions.

Time and Eternity

I was most moved to think about chronos and kairos time, and how the intersection of time and eternity is an intentional part of God’s design for his creation. It made me wonder, especially during this Christmas season, about Christ coming to earth. It’s amazing to think that we get to partake and experience and celebrate this in small part every season.

This book will reorient your faith, encouraging you to tailor your life to your faith rather than jamming faith into your life. It will cause you to keep Christ at the center of your calendar.

I received a media copy of Sacred Seasons and this is my honest review.