One Year vs Three Year Lectionary

everbecoming2007 · Feb 15, 2019

The blog article linked at the bottom of this post references a Lutheran one year lectionary that keeps the historic gospels and epistles in their one year lectionary, but they are combined with an Old Testament reading that has a theme relatable to the gospel reading. This sounds like a reasonable revision that I would have liked to have seen occur in the Episcopal Church.

Do you have a preference for a one year verses a three year eucharistic lectionary? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

I have spoken to one Anglican who grew up with the one year lectionary. She said the readings became very familiar.

Pastoral Meanderings: Three or One -- a Tale of Two Lectionaries

Paidiske · Feb 15, 2019

I've only ever worked with a three-year lectionary, and I would be reluctant to move to a one-year because you would have to cover much less ground in Scripture.

With the OT readings, I have had years where I've worked with the thematic readings and others where I've worked with the sequential readings; what I found is that when using the thematic readings, I preached much less often on the OT reading. The thematic readings tended to be shorter, and since they were chosen to relate to the gospel, to offer less in the way of complement and contrast to the NT readings. I've gone back to sequential reading of the OT for that reason.

Naomi4Christ · Feb 16, 2019

We don’t use a lectionary at all. We have sermon series.

Deegie · Feb 16, 2019

everbecoming2007 said:
Do you have a preference for a one year verses a three year eucharistic lectionary? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

I definitely prefer a three year lectionary. For starters, one of the things Cranmer was rather upset about (read the preface to the first BCP) was that not enough Scripture was being read in the practice of his time. With the current RCL, we get most of the NT read over the three-year cycle. Second, from a preaching perspective, I prefer having triple the variety -- it would be harder to write a sermon on the same texts every single year. Finally, hearing many of the same stories in all three synoptic gospels allows each writer's voice to be heard on its own terms. Each of the writers had his own characteristic themes and linguistic preferences, and I would hate to lose them. I suppose one could read just one account and compare/contrast the others from the pulpit, but that doesn't really do justice to the author in my mind. These were real people with real concerns and real experiences, and the three year lectionary is the way to let that shine through. (Except for John, of course...he gets relegated to special seasons and days.)

PloverWing · Feb 16, 2019

Deegie said:
(Except for John, of course...he gets relegated to special seasons and days.)

Interesting that it's not a 4-year lectionary, now that you say it, one per gospel.

Arcangl86 · Feb 16, 2019

PloverWing said:
Interesting that it's not a 4-year lectionary, now that you say it, one per gospel.

I think that's mostly because of how short Mark is. We get a lot of John in the year of Mark, because there wouldn't be enough material otherwise.

Athanasius377 · Feb 17, 2019

everbecoming2007 said:
The blog article linked at the bottom of this post references a Lutheran one year lectionary that keeps the historic gospels and epistles in their one year lectionary, but they are combined with an Old Testament reading that has a theme relatable to the gospel reading. This sounds like a reasonable revision that I would have liked to have seen occur in the Episcopal Church.

Do you have a preference for a one year verses a three year eucharistic lectionary? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

I have spoken to one Anglican who grew up with the one year lectionary. She said the readings became very familiar.

Pastoral Meanderings: Three or One -- a Tale of Two Lectionaries

Since I have experience with both one and three year lectionaries perhaps I can answer your question. When I was attending an Anglican parish we used the 1928 BCP and the historic one year lectionary. The readings were limited to a Psalm(s), Epistle and Gospel reading without an OT reading for most Sundays. Keep in mind it was our practice to hold Morning Prayer before Communion that did include an OT lesson. I would agree that the readings become more familiar so one gets used to the rhythm of the church year. In fact there are collects from the BCP I still have memorized to this day as a result of using one year lectionary. Since we moved and are no longer close by an Anglican parish my family attends a Lutheran parish where the three lectionary is used. The readings are more varied so on the surface one hears more scripture read. While I appreciate the OT lesson every Sunday and the amount of Scripture that is read but I can't help but miss the older lectionary. I used to know just about every Sunday what to expect based on what Sunday after Trinity it was for example. The one year seemed better at teaching the faith than the three year in my opinion. So if you ask me I would say the One year.

FYI: Today is Septuagesima Sunday in the One Year Lectionary.

everbecoming2007 · Feb 17, 2019

Athanasius377 said:
Since I have experience with both one and three year lectionaries perhaps I can answer your question. When I was attending an Anglican parish we used the 1928 BCP and the historic one year lectionary. The readings were limited to a Psalm(s), Epistle and Gospel reading without an OT reading for most Sundays. Keep in mind it was our practice to hold Morning Prayer before Communion that did include an OT lesson. I would agree that the readings become more familiar so one gets used to the rhythm of the church year. In fact there are collects from the BCP I still have memorized to this day as a result of using one year lectionary. Since we moved and are no longer close by an Anglican parish my family attends a Lutheran parish where the three lectionary is used. The readings are more varied so on the surface one hears more scripture read. While I appreciate the OT lesson every Sunday and the amount of Scripture that is read but I can't help but miss the older lectionary. I used to know just about every Sunday what to expect based on what Sunday after Trinity it was for example. The one year seemed better at teaching the faith than the three year in my opinion. So if you ask me I would say the One year.

FYI: Today is Septuagesima Sunday in the One Year Lectionary.

I think holding Morning Prayer before the communion service would indeed be a great solution to including an Old Testament reading. I wish my parish did this. As it is I show up to the church early and recite Morning Prayer before the eucharist, but I must do so alone.

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One Year vs Three Year Lectionary

everbecoming2007

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Paidiske

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Naomi4Christ

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Deegie

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PloverWing

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Arcangl86

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Athanasius377

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everbecoming2007

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