Calendars
The Anglican lectionary (and indeed the lectionary of all other churches) operates with two basic calendars; a lunar calendar centred on Easter (which is defined by the Passover new moon) from Ash Wednesday, forty days before Easter, through to Pentecost, fifty days after Easter, and Trinity Sunday a week later; and a solar calendar for the rest of the year. These move relative to each other with Easter occurring from late March to late April. But there are further lower-level calendars in use. Firstly, there is what one might call an agricultural calendar – the quarter days that have gained some religious significance (Christmas obviously at the midwinter solstice, but also Lady Day at the spring equinox in March, the feast of St John the Baptist at the midsummer solstice in June, and Michaelmas at the Autumn equinox in September) and between these festivals there are those that seem to have grown out of agricultural practices and possibly reflect ancient Celtic festivals but have again been given a Christian identity – Candlemas at the start of February (Imbolc), May Day (Beltaine), Lammas at the start of August (Lughnasa) and All Saints / All Souls (Samhain) at the start of November. Secondly we have post biblical Saints Days, usually celebrated on the day of their death and thus fixed to the Solar calendar.
With all of these, I have absolutely no problem – they are all in some way natural – indeed one might say God given and reflect the way the world is, and the days God chose to call his saints to heaven. But there is another low-level calendar reflected in the lectionary – that of church tradition. These are of two basic types – traditional church seasons and themes for particular Sundays that have their basis in fossilized church practice rather than scripture; and the identification of specific days for biblical saints, such as the apostles for whom no death dates are known, again fossilized through church tradition. With these calendars I do have significant issues – mainly because of their imposition on the more natural calendars, and the distortion of the lectionary that results from this, that, to my mind, obscures the telling of the biblical story and the proper appreciation of the overall gospel narrative., which I see as the prime role of any church lectionary. I will illustrate this by describing the period in the church’s year when I get particularly annoyed about this, from All Saints at the start of November to Candlemas at the start of February, which effectively mark the start and end of the winter season.
All Saints to Candlemas in the current lectionary
Table 1 shows the leading bible reading from the Lectionary and the themes of these readings (which are almost always the Gospel) for each of the three liturgical years, for Sundays and major festivals. The period covered is from All Saints to Candlemas.
In the run up to Christmas, Advent is a season of preparation for both the first and second comings of Christ. There are a number of “themes” that have been used over the centuries. The oldest are the traditional Advent themes are death judgement, heaven and hell. Sensibly to my mind, the modern lectionary looks at these themes, although not explicitly, in the period between All Saints at the start of November and the week before Advent Sunday at the end of November / start of December. For two of the three years (A and C), the gospels are the Blessings / Woes from Matthew and Luke, presumably describing “saintly” qualities. For year B however, the gospel, perhaps oddly, is the raising of Lazarus from John’s gospel. These days, All Saints is more frequently observed on the Sunday nearest November 1st, and the readings for the 4th Sunday before Advent are often not used because of this. For the 4th to 2nd Sundays before Advent, years A and C follow the apocalyptic discourses in Matthew and Luke, whilst year B has two rather random readings from Mark, before returning to the Markan apocalypse on the 2nd Sunday before Advent. The Sunday before Advent (around the end of November) is celebrated as the feast of Christ the King, a quite recent addition to the liturgical calendar from 1925, which for all the merits of the theme, does disrupt the sequence of readings. Year A continues the Matthean apocalypse with the parable of the Sheep and the Goats, which also matches the Christ the King theme, but Years B and C use passion readings from John and Luke – the kingship of Jesus being demonstrated on the cross. To complicate matters further the feast of St Andrew occurs on November 30th, with the leading reading being his call from St. Matthew’s gospel. On Advent Sunday, the apocalyptic theme returns in all years, with readings from Matthew, Mark and Luke. Overall, in years A and C, there is a coherent set of readings, whilst year B is a bit of a mish mash. Christ the King however badly disrupts the sequence in years B and C.
More recently the themes for the four Sundays in Advent have been enumerated as the Patriarchs, the Prophets, John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary and these form the basis for many “Advent candle songs” with verses describing each of these themes being sung at the lighting of the Advent Candle during Sunday services. More recently a set of more anodyne themes that might be thought more appropriate to our current age have become to be used – hope, peace, joy and love. And on top of all of these we have the current lectionary provision – the second coming on Advent Sunday, John the Baptist (his ministry rather than his birth) on Advent 2 and 3, and the Annunciation, the Visitation or the appearance of the angle to Joseph on Advent 4. Congregations are thus often left to sing an Advent carol song which has no relationship at all to whichever of the different themes are being used, so confusion is added to the utter lack of literary or musical merit usually found in these songs. They should be confined to a liturgical dustbin in my view. More seriously, the lectionary does not in any way reflect the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke, which have a well-defined structure and need to be read as a whole. In picking and choosing passages, and not including all the birth narratives of Jesus and John in Matthew and Luke, the current situation obscures the basic thread of scripture that describes the coming of the Christ child.
The Lectionary gives the two basic readings for Christmas itself as Luke 2.1-20 (the birth and the coming of the shepherds) and John 1.1-14 (the majestic reflection on the pre-existence and incarnation of Christ and the light overcoming the darkness). I have no issues with this. After Christmas, however, things get decidedly messy. December 26th and 27th are taken up with two biblical saints’ days for St Stephen and St John, and any clergy that have the energy to celebrate them after the pre-Christmas silly season, must rapidly change gear to completely different periods – those of the Acts of the Apostles, and the post resurrection appearances of Jesus. Then on the 28th, there is the feast of the Holy Innocents – well in advance of the Epiphany reading of the coming of the Magi which was the cause of the slaughter. This confusion is only ameliorated by the fact that these feasts are seldom observed due to the post-Christmas fatigue of clergy and congregations.
This confusion continues on the Sundays after Christmas. On the first Sunday there is a somewhat random set of nativity and infancy readings – the flight to Egypt, a repeat of the visit of the shepherds to the birth with verses added referring to the Circumcision of Christ, celebrated 8 days after Christmas on January 1st, and the story of the boy Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem, all of which defy any sensible chronological sequence. On the second Sunday after Christmas (which seldom occurs in reality), John 1 is again read in all years.
The feast of the Epiphany on January 6th arose in the eastern church in the second or third century. The main reading is the coming of the Magi to Jesus, but it has also gained associations with other themes – in particular the wedding at Cana in Galilee and the Baptism of Jesus – an infancy story and two stories from the start of Jesus’ ministry, giving a chronological nightmare, within the service itself. These days, Epiphany is usually commemorated on the first Sunday in the new year rather than on January 6th itself. The Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist is usually celebrated the Sunday after Epiphany and repeats some of the pre-Christmas material featuring the Baptist. On the next three Sundays, there is much repetition of these themes together with the other stories around the start of Jesus’ ministry – his teaching in Nazareth, and the call of the disciples, depending on liturgical year. In year B, there are again some rather random readings from St. Mark’s gospel. On 25th January, the feast of the Conversion of St Paul is scheduled – again requiring a liturgical leap between the early part of Jesus’ ministry and events that occurred perhaps 5 to 10 years later. The modern “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” is scheduled for this period just to complicate matters.
Finally, we come to the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Candlemas) on February 2nd. It is placed 40 days after the birth and as such represents the time between birth and purification in New Testament times – but in Lectionary terms, we jump back from the start of Jesus’s ministry to just after his birth. Confusion all around.
So all in all, the current lectionary is a bit of a mess, that doesn’t properly allow the gospel stories of the birth and early ministry of Jesus to be told. This largely due to what can be called the traditional calendar that, for reasons of church tradition places various events in a rather random order, particularly after Christmas, but with considerable chunks of the nativity story omitted and repetition of some material – particularly concerning John the Baptist.
But is there another way? I turn to that in what follows.
Table 1 Current lectionary provision
A revised lectionary from All Saints to Candlemas
In what follows I set out a lectionary scheme that, I believe, allows the gospel narrative to be heard clearly. It is really an exercise in vanity – I am not, and never will be, in any position to impose this on a congregation or on the wider church (for which I suspect there are many reasons to be grateful) but putting it together has been an interesting diversion. I make the following assumptions.
- The proposed lectionary shown in table 2 is, other than on Christmas Day, based entirely on Sundays – as in reality that is the only time when congregations gather in any number, and we count the Sundays as either before or after Christmas.
- Three gospel accounts are used – Matthew (year A), John (year B) and Luke (year C). The material in the gospel of Mark has been used and expanded by Matthew and Luke, and its inclusion would only lead to repetition.
- As far as possible, the gospel accounts are read in the order in which they occur in scripture. This means that the traditional placement of some of the pre- and post-Christmas material is changed, and that the traditional calendar is ignored completely.
- I do not include any of what might be called “community” services in the period considered – such as All Souls, Christingle, Crib and Carol services – which will take on forms appropriate to the communities to which they are offered, including parts of the nativity story. Rather I concentrate on the services appropriate to the regular, worshipping congregation.
- Some of the suggested gospel readings are longer than would currently be expected, and novel ways of reading them might be required – perhaps to have two gospel readings at the expense of Old and New Testament readings?
So let us now consider table 2. The proposed lectionary begins with All Saints on the 8th Sunday before Christmas, with the readings being either the Matthean or Lukan Beatitudes (as in the current lectionary) or a passage from John 15 where the writer urges Christians to love one another – all three setting out the behaviour of saints. The readings for the 7th to 4th Sundays before Christmas then follow either the Matthean or Lukan apocalypses, read in the order in which they are written, or John 14 and the early part of John 15. These thus allow the consideration of the traditional advent themes of death, heaven, hell and judgement, with the readings for the 4th Sunday before Christmas being suitable for what would be Advent Sunday. I chose the readings from John, as they set out the “realized eschatology” of that gospel, which is an important strand in the overall gospel story. The readings for the next two weeks, the 3rd and 2nd Sundays before Christmas, are the same for all lectionary years and allow the telling of Luke’s stories of the announcement and birth of John the Baptist, the Annunciation and the Visitation in an ordered way. The Sunday before Christmas is again the same for all years and includes the genealogy according to Matthew (which in my view is a vital, and usually neglected, part of the gospel story) and the appearance of the angel to Joseph. The readings for the last three Sundays before Christmas are all long and may need to be split – although the Magnificat and the Benedictus could be omitted in the provision of the 2nd Sunday before Christmas and used as songs / canticles of worship within the service. Taken together, the provision from All Saints onwards allows effectively a seven-week advent. It does, however, make a bit of a mess of the Advent candle and Advent wreath traditions, which would need reinventing if they are to be used within what is proposed.
The provision for Christmas Day (including the late-night service on Christmas Eve) is the story of Jesus’ birth from the first half of Luke 2. Immediately after Christmas, there is no provision for St Stephen, St John or the Massacre of the Innocents. Perhaps the major change to current provision occurs on the Sunday after Christmas, where the reading for all three lectionary years is the second half of Luke 2, which covers the Circumcision, and the Presentation in the Temple. Again, the Nunc Dimittis could be omitted and used elsewhere in the service. The reading for the second Sunday after Christmas is the visit of the Magi, the massacre of the Innocents and the flight to Egypt. Its timing is consistent with the timing of Epiphany, so the old order has not been completely overturned.
For the next three Sundays, there are separate readings for the lectionary years – from Matthew in year A, John in year B and Luke in year C as before. For the 3rd Sunday after Christmas, the readings are all accounts of the ministry of the Baptist and the Baptism of Jesus, and for the following two Sundays, they include accounts of events in the early ministry of Jesus – the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, the calling of the disciples, the early preaching in Galilee and the wedding at Cana – all read in the same order as in the gospel account. The Temptation reading is of course traditionally associated with the start of Lent (thus producing yet another chronological fault in the current lectionary) – we will consider this a little further below. The year C Christmas 3 reading is long – including both the passages on the Baptist and Baptism, and also the Genealogy. The latter is, however, an important part of the narrative and to some degree acts as an epilogue to the nativity story. Only one part of Luke’s account is omitted – the story of the boy Jesus in the temple (Luke 2.41-e). This could be included as a second reading for Christmas 2 but would result in an awkward mix of gospels for that day.
The final Sunday coincides with the timing of Candlemas, and the reading suggested for all three years is the majestic opening of John 1, with its meditation upon the themes of light and darkness, as a summing up of all that has gone before. The traditional candle ceremonies would be wholly appropriate here.
Table 2. Revised Lectionary provision
Other thoughts
Some other thoughts arise.
- In the proposed lectionary, I have made no attempt to include Old or New Testament reading, but there are many such that could be assigned which would fit the various themes. In particular sequences for the seven Sundays before Christmas based on Isaiah or the Advent antiphons would be appropriate.
- Having attempted to remove the festival calendar from the All Saints to Candlemas period, where should the displaced feasts go? Some of them (the Massacre of the Innocents and the Circumcision) have actually been incorporated into the scheme of readings, but there are also the biblical saints’ days – St Andrew, St Stephen, St John and St Paul – what should happen to these? I would suggest that a fresh approach to such festivals is required – the assigned dates are quite arbitrary in any case. One possibility would be a weekly lectionary of one saints day or festival per week that could be used at a midweek service (say between Pentecost and All Saints) at an appropriate time for a specific congregation.
- The traditional reading for the start of Lent is that of the Temptation, that has been used in mid-January, in its proper gospel context, in the proposed lectionary. I have never been a great fan of Lent (it being part of the traditional calendar), but if a period of reflection before the passion is required based on Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, then in my view the appropriate starting point for this would be the story of the Transfiguration.
Concluding remarks
In this post I have set out my irritations with the current lectionary provision, particularly for the Sundays around Christmas. In my view, the overlapping calendars that are in use, and the way in which a wide variety of different passages are read week by week, serve to obscure the gospel story and do not do justice to the narratives themselves. I have proposed something that I would find more appealing. However I suspect that not all would agree with my views, and that for many the current mix and variability of the readings are a glorious kaleidoscope of scripture through which God speaks to them. Such folk will of course, probably quite correctly dismiss all that I have written!
Engineering, history and ecclesiology 