Ordinary Time, the green Sundays.
Ordinary Time is the two green seasons of the year: the weeks after the Epiphany and the long season after Pentecost. Together they hold more than half the Sundays of the year.
The green seasons ahead
- After PentecostMonday 25 May 2026 to Saturday 28 November 2026
- After the EpiphanyMonday 11 January 2027 to Tuesday 9 February 2027
- After PentecostMonday 17 May 2027 to Saturday 27 November 2027
- After the EpiphanyMonday 10 January 2028 to Tuesday 29 February 2028
- Reformation DaySaturday 31 October 2026 Red, in Lutheran churches: the red stole
- Christ the KingSunday 22 November 2026 White: the white stole
- The last Sunday after the EpiphanySunday 7 February 2027 White in Methodist and Lutheran use, where it is kept as the Transfiguration: the white stole
- Reformation DaySunday 31 October 2027 Red, in Lutheran churches: the red stole
- Christ the KingSunday 21 November 2027 White: the white stole
- The last Sunday after the EpiphanySunday 27 February 2028 White in Methodist and Lutheran use, where it is kept as the Transfiguration: the white stole
- The next dates appear here as the calendar turns.
What each tradition wears
- Roman Catholic
- Green; white on Trinity Sunday and Christ the King.
- Episcopal
- Green; white on the Baptism of our Lord and Trinity Sunday.
- Lutheran
- Green; white on the Transfiguration, the last Sunday after the Epiphany, and red on Reformation Day.
- Methodist
- Green; white on the first and last Sundays after the Epiphany and after Pentecost, and on All Saints.
The days within it that take their own colour are linked to the stole that wears it.
Choosing
Green is worn on more Sundays than any other colour, so it is the stole a pastor wears most. The green stole carries a gold cross with wheat, grape leaves and red grapes on a vine; the green simple cross has a budded cross on each end; the Tree of Life is printed in greens and gold.
Sources: The Roman Missal, General Instruction ch. VI, ยงยง346 to 347 (USCCB); Episcopal Diocese of Ohio, Liturgical Colors & Seasons; Nebraska Synod (ELCA), The Colors of the Church Year; UMC.org, Colors, liturgical.
