Lectionary Reflections, Part 1

Preface to the Series

2010 marks my thirteenth year as a Presbyter of the Church. Since 1997, I have used several different ‘Sunday and Holy Day’ Lectionaries in various congregations and ministries I have served. They include:

• The Three Year Lectionary of the Novus Ordo Missae
• The One Year Lectionary of the historic Book of Common Prayer
• The Local Use Lectionary of the Syriac Rite Church of the Transfiguration
• The Three Year Lectionary of the LCMS’s Lutheran Service Book
• The Three Year Lectionary of the RESA’s Interim Book of Common Prayer

In all those years, I have never felt truly comfortable with any of these Lectionaries for a variety of reasons. My pastoral heart has lead me to ask myself why. This series is my attempt to answer some of those questions for myself, and to share those answers with the Christian community at-large. I hope that you, dear reader, will consider offering feedback to my posts and engaging in discussion concerning them.

PART I
Historical Overview and Questions to Consider

Since the late 1960’s, there has been a strong movement afoot in Lectionary development and refinement of providing more and more Scripture to the People of God in the context of the Sunday assembly. Not counting motets, hymns, and choral anthems based on Scriptural texts, most Western Christian congregations hear four portions (lections) from the Word of God when they gather – a Psalm, an Old Testament lesson, a reading from the Gospels, and a lesson from the New Testament. This practice is ancient, to be sure, going back to at least the time of Jerome in the West. Fragments of lectionaries used by many ancient Christian luminaries are known to historians and liturgists, and they tell an interesting tale.

Prior to the reforms instituted by the Second Vatican Council, only a few denominations included such copious amounts of Scripture on a given Sunday or Holy Day. Most Western Churches had snippets of the Psalms which served as introits, graduals, Alleluia verses, offertory verses, and post-communion chants. The Old Testament was rarely found in the Eucharistic lectionary (which was the default public lectionary, as it was the one most frequently used on Sundays) outside of the eves of Holy Days, and the idea of a multi-year lectionary was more a matter of alternate preaching texts (particularly in the Lutheran and, to a lesser extent, Reformed traditions) than regular liturgical texts.

As a result, most of the Christian west heard (as the Christian east still does) the same lessons on the same Sundays and Holy Days year after year. This certainly has a positive impact in terms of impressing the precious truths found in the lectionary upon the hearts and minds of the faithful, but it left the vast majority of the Biblical narrative on the cutting room floor, so to speak – leaving it for the monks, pastors, and industrious laypersons to peruse and apply the more intensive daily lectionaries to their daily life and personal worship.

The Second Vatican Council rightly acknowledged that this was a wholly unsatisfactory situation, and the framers of the Lectionary of the Novus Ordo rite must at least be given credit for attempting to expose more of the Scripture to the people. Sadly, however, what little cohesiveness existed in the preceding lectionary system seemed to disappear in many respects with the adoption of the new lectionary. While the major feasts retain much that is good and valuable (and thematic), many ordinary Sundays now have readings with no seeming interconnectivity, leading to them being frequently ignored by preachers, and disregarded by the faithful.

This leads to three very striking questions:

1. What is the value of reading four passages of Scripture, two or three of which are ignored, marginalized, or even misappropriated to a specific theme?

2. What good is including such a significant amount of Scripture in the Liturgy of the Church when/if people largely tune it out?

3. If the Lectionary is a tool to serve the needs of the People of God, what form should the Lectionary take to ensure that said needs are met?

In my next post on this topic,

I will explore where so many Lectionaries break down in practical use

for both the people and the preacher.

Baptismal Portraits

Clare had her baptismal portraits this evening... she's utterly adorable!

 

Enjoying the Journey

In the past, I have seen numerous one year Bibles, and have recommended them to those who were in need of a good springboard into the narrative of Scripture. Being a nut for contextualization, of course, I often recommended a Chronological Bible to folks. This year, I am taking my own advice. Separate from the Divine Office, I have decided to read the Scriptures using the One Year Chronological Bible in the NLT translation. While I am fairly certain that I have read the vast majority of the sixty-six books of the common Canon of Scripture, I have to admit that some of the finer details between Leviticus and 2 Kings tend to escape me without returning to the text itself and doing some hunting. Perhaps this won't change that... but it's the first time that I will have made a concerted effort to read Scripture in the order the events occured, which usually helps to jog my mind.

Now, let me be clear, the NLT has some issues when it comes to translating old terminology, but on the whole, it is the most enjoyable translation I have ever read. I also have an NLT Study Bible, which contains the most recent revision of the NLT text - the Second Revised Edition. (I understand that there is a newer NLT chronological one-year Bible out there that uses the Second Revised Edition text, but for the moment, I'll stick with what I have.)

Last night, I finished off the narrative of Issac's marriage to Rebekah... and I'll continue on tonight... but I have so far found the experience to be quite rewarding and refreshing. I'd highly recommend picking up a copy of a Chronological One-Year Bible for your own personal reading, or as the foundation for your daily devotions.

Interesting Book - Still Relevant Today

I recently came across an outstanding little book at Google Books:

Memoirs of the Lutheran Liturgical Association, Volumes 1-4

This book contains articles on the Lutheran Liturgy by various sources, and while the book predates the twentieth century, there is a ton of material there that will bring the history of the Western Liturgy into the eyes of anyone. I especially recommend it to seminary studients, no matter your background.

My Daughter Makes My Heart Melt

Here is Clare, resplendent in her baptismal gown prepared by her grandmother (who is holding her in this picture). The bonnet is a gift from Dr. Meg Gaffney, a colleague of mine at Wishard.

This has to be the most adorable image of her yet! Doesn't that little face just make your heart melt? It does mine!

Clare's Baptism

Today our Synod celebrated the Solemnity of the Baptism of our Lord, bringing to a conclusion two weeks of very strong focus upon the incarnation, birth, and early life of our Lord. On this occasion, Bishop Chuck Huckaby joined us here in Bargersville to celebrate with us not simply the Divine Service and to preach the Gospel of Salvation, but he also came to baptize our little Clare.

A wonderful time was had by all... and Clare was adorable in her baptismal gown - made by her loving grandmother. What an amazing day, and an amazingly awesome responsibility that lay ahead - sharing the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ with our little daughter.

Thanks to Bishop Chuck, his lovely wife Renee, Deacon Greg Elsbernd, and all of our family who were able to join us.

Incidentally, this was the first formal service celebrated by Saint Boniface Church, which was offically established today by our Synod, and which I will be serving as Pastor. Please pray for us in the next few months as we begin looking for ways to be responsive to God's call to bring many to the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Now I Have Seen it All (Until the Next Time!)

Happy New Year! As this message posts, I am preparing for the Baptism of little Clare Adele. Bishop Huckaby and his wife have safely arrived, and we enjoyed a nice dinner with them last night after they got checked-in at their motel. 

Those of you who know me know that I am very liturgically inclined, and while some people get their fill from browsing at Macy's, Target, or Parisian... I get mine from reading Church supply catalogs. During a rather bored moment, I recently discovered one of those things which makes me immediately say, "Now I have seen it all!"  And what prompted my moment of shock? You might think it was the automatic holy water dispenser that recently made news in the fight against H1N1... but you would be wrong.

This time it's - get this - an automatic host dispenser!

Just fill this little puppy up with hosts (it will hold 150 without needing to be refilled) and hand it over to your sacramental ministers to distribute the Body of Christ at lightning speed. I mean, the thing has a trigger to eject the host! (I can just see the Altar Boys playing their own version of paintball in the sacristy before Mass.)

The AHD is avaliable in your choice of gold, silver, or white... and there are accessories avaliable!

Please note, this is most definately NOT an endorsement of this product. Like individual cups and automatic holy water dispensers, it's yet another technological response to the paranoia and fear of getting sick from Communion... which is the food of new life for all who believe.

Some Comments on Weekly Communion

"If we celebrate Communion every week, it won't be as special."

Those of us who practice weekly (even daily!) celebrations of the Lord's Supper are often confronted with this argument by our Christian brothers and sisters who are less Sacramentally inclined than ourselves. To be certain, nothing rises the ire of eucharistically-centered folks quite like hearing this statement, so I would like to offer some reflections on why this is such a common agrument against weekly Communion and how we can begin, slowly, to change the view.

First, we need to charitably recognize that every denomination has its own distinctives, which ultimately lead them to focusing on certain elements of the overall Christian experience. Those who come from Catholic, Orthodox, and certain Protestant backgrounds (orthodox Lutheranism and the Restoration Movement among them) tend to value the regular celebration of the Eucharist because they have been catechized in the meaning of both the acts of worship with which we surround the Sacrament and the meaning and significance of the Sacrament itself. They look back to Scripture and see the examples of regularlly celebrating the Supper which permeate the New Testament, and in a desire to remain faithful to that example, they incorporate a Sacramental aspect to worship on a regular basis.  We cannot expect those from other denominations to understand the significance of this when they have not been instructed in it.

Second, we need to consider how Christian congregations practice Communion. In keeing with the ancient principle of 'lex orandi, lex credendi' (the law of prayer is the law of belief), the way we celebrate the Lord's Supper will instruct the people just as much as any catechetical class or pastoral conversation ever will. Celebrations of the Sacrament that feel like 'optional extras', which are carelessly led, or which are somehow separated from corporate worship (i.e., 'if you want Communion after the service, please go to the small chapel and wait there for the pastor') will all lead individual believers to develop a similar mindset concerning the Supper.

Communion is, at times, seen as something that can be dropped or cut back for the sake of time. During the summer, while on vacation, we attended a congregation on what was arguably the hottest day in a decade in the town we were in. They had a wonderful worship bulletin with everything laid out. Just before the service began, the pastor came out and said, "Good morning. As you can tell, it's terribly warm this morning, and because of the threat of thunderstorms, we can't really open the windows. As a result, we will be omitting certain parts of the service today."  We still sang every verse of every hymn. The pastor's sermon was still about 25 minutes long. And yet one reading, the Psalm, the Creed, and most all of the Communion portion of the Liturgy were hacked out on the fly. In the end, after the collection was taken (during a hymn with nine verses), the pastor went to the Altar, uncovered the vessels, said the customary verses and responses before the Eucharistic prayer, and then just read the Words of Institution and began delivering the Sacrament. By cutting out the Preface, Sanctus, Prayer of Consecration, and Lord's Prayer, he saved himself about 3 minutes... perhaps four depending on the musical setting of the Sanctus. The Sacrament was the easy cut, because its celebration wasn't as important as making sure that the sermon was full length and that every verse of every hymn were sung. (In other words, at least in my humble opinion, the pastor was willing to exchange his words for the Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ.)

Whenever Communion is celebrated - whever the frequency - it must be a vital, living part of our worship experience. It must be a heartfelt, significant reason for joyfully recalling all that our Lord has done for us. We must instruct people on the blessings of the Supper, and we must be honest about how to prepare for its celebration. We who celebrate on a regular basis must never give the appearance that we are doing something out of a rote apathy, but must show the change that regularlly communing with our Lord works in us. It is only these actions which will ensure that we have any collateral to lay down in the discussion about the benefits of weekly Communion. It is, indeed, a temptation to simply retort "Yea, perhaps we should stop preaching every week while we are at it!", but in the end it is only the transformational quality of weekly Communion and strong, Biblical teaching on the Sacrament that will soften hearts and bring them regularlly to the Holy Table of our Lord.

The Week that Was

It's late on Saturday night, and I am up with little Clare for the first shift of the evening while Kristen gets some much needed rest. Today was our first day on our own, as Kristen's mother left this morning to go visit some other family. We had a very good and balanced day. And now, as things are quiet in the house (well, mostly, I just started some laundry and dishes), I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on the week that was, and particularly on what I have learned in that week.

This week I have learned...

that there are worse things in the world than being pooped and peed on

that Grandma makes great cookies, and an even greater encourager
that babies, while delicate, aren't quite as fragile as a soap bubble

that, as odd as it feels to have a real family surrounding me, it's an amazing experience
that even wiping spit from a baby's mouth can be a moment of pure joy
that our dog is amazingly tender toward Clare

that you have to be able to think outside the box with your baby, no matter how demerited you are to do things a particular way

that mothers are the most awesome people on the planet

that my wife is even more beautiful than the day I met her

And the most important thing I have learned this week...

"Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap." (Luke 6:38a NLT)

God has filled me with a great joy in my little one and my wife. May those of you who are parents, or who hope to become parents, find his joy and his blessing in your lives as well.

Welcome Home, Clare Adele!

Clare is now home... mother and daughter are doing fine. Photos are now available at this link.

I cannot express to all of our family and friends how joyful and happy we are, and how thankful we are for their prayers, love, and support. God has been gracious to us beyond our deserving, and has blessed us with this wonderful gift. Please continue to pray for Clare's health and growth, and for our being good parents.

Not much else to say now... we are both very tired, and I think we are giving some consideration to sleepy time for ourselves.