Calendar, lectionary & collects

Calendar, Lectionary and Collects

Calendar, Lectionary and Collects was the first part of Common Worship to be authorised and printed (in 1997). This was done in order to define the shape of the Christian year in the Church of England as the ground upon which liturgical change would grow.

Every church has a lectionary, and every church has a calendar! From the earliest days of the church there has been some rationale behind the choice of readings, and certain calendar dates took on great significance. In our own day, even churches with no `calendar and lectionary' still have principles upon which bible reading is based.

The Common Worship Calendar

…stands firmly in the inherited traditions of the universal church, and ends certain experiments from the ASB which didn't catch on. The church year now starts on Advent Sunday! We have also reverted to "Sundays after Trinity".

Seasons – The Holy Days

There are three elements to the `special days' of the Christian year.

The Paschal Cycle: Lent, Holy Week, Easter and the Great 50 Days, culminating in the Festival of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost)
The Incarnation Cycle: from Advent, through Christmas and Epiphany, ending with the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Candlemas, 2^nd February)
The Cycle of Holy Days, including saints and other special days throughout the year.

Ordinary Time

The rest of the year (ie before Lent and Pentecost – Advent) is ‘ordinary time’ – which has ‘Sundays before Advent’ as a way of dealing with November. The Sunday before Advent is called Christ the King (echoing but not fulfilling the call in The Promise of His Glory for a `kingdom season). Bible Sunday is now in October, so Advent can be Advent again.

Point to note! Sundays in ‘seasons’ are now called Sundays ‘of’ rather than ‘after’.

Is the Calendar important?

People work by rhythms, and the seasons define our living (even in these days of year round strawberries). If the church calendar didn't exist, someone would have to invent it. As it happens, the calendars of church and world are inextricably linked, and are in tension with each other. Christmas beginning in October is only one example.

Michael Vasey called the Christian calendar ‘one of the most profound expressions of Christian mission’ – here we give shape to our living. However, the calendar is only important if it works, and to impose it with no regard for our surroundings is the worst example of Christians occupying their own ghetto.

Point to Note!
It may be worth reflecting on what the key celebrations in your area are. You might put resources into Mothering Sunday, Harvest, Remembrance and Valentine's Day, as well as the classic Holy Days.

The Common Worship Lectionary

…is well covered in many publications, referred to below. It derives from the Revised Common Lectionary, which is now used widely across the world.

The key points are:

it has a three year cycle, based on the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke
readings in ordinary time are semi-continuous (the major change from ASB)
John's Gospel is used during seasons in all three years.
In ordinary time Old Testament readings are either continuous (independent of the gospel reading) or related to the gospel. The psalm is related to the Old Testament Reading (so there is a choice in ordinary time).
In seasons the Old Testament Reading is linked to the gospel.
The New Testament Reading is always independent of the gospel
In seasons the readings are chosen for the season. In ordinary time they are semi-continuous.
In Eastertide there is a strong steer to use Acts instead of the Old Testament Reading.

Things to remember

This is a Sunday Lectionary. Daily Readings come later.
There is no weekly theme – the readings don't necessarily relate to each other. This is especially true of ordinary time.
You have to choose your `track' for the Old Testament in ordinary time – continuous or related. Don't swap each week.
Looking ahead pays dividends.

A Revolution! During Ordinary time you have permission to dispense with the lectionary and do your own thing.

What is on offer?

There are actually three lectionaries:

the Principal Service Lectionary (described above)
the Second Service Lectionary (probably your evening service)
the Third Service Lectionary (perhaps a shorter Morning office)

Health Warning!

The idea is that you are consistent in using each Lectionary. Use the Principal Service Lectionary for your principal service, even if it changes from Holy Communion to Morning Prayer from week to week. It sounds obvious, but commercially printed lectionaries don’t always make it clear.

The three lectionaries complement each other, so you could do Matins, Holy Communion and Evensong and be richly provided for each Sunday

The Common Worship Collects

These texts are unique to the Church of England. Each Sunday has a collect and post communion prayer. The Collects derive much of their influence from the Book of Common Prayer, whereas the post communions are generally new prayers.

Collects are attached to Sunday names. In seasons they fit with the readings, but in ordinary time (which has to be flexible because Easter moves about) collects stay with the Sunday, not with the readings.

In the main volume, and in many of the resource books, the Sundays are given a date (for example: ‘The Sunday between 31^st July and 6^th August’). This is how you find the readings, but you have to check with the calendar as to which Sunday after Trinity it is to find the collect. If in doubt, let someone do it for you! (the best way is to get the ‘dated’ Calendar Lectionary and Collects from Church House Publishing each year.)

There are no introductory or post-communion sentences, another ASB experiment now dropped.

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Good Resources

Calendar, Lectionary and Collects, Church House Publishing, 1997 (The annual edition is called Advent 1999 to Advent 2000 [and so on], and does the hard work for you.)

Service Planning, Prayers and Sermons

Diana Murrie & Hamish Bruce, Worship Through the Christian Year, Church House Publishing, 1998
Susan Sayers, Living Stones, Kevin Mayhew, 1998
Kitchen, Heskins & Motyer, Word of Promise, The Canterbury Press, 1998
International Commission on English in the Liturgy, Opening Prayers (The ICEL Collects), The Canterbury Press, 1999

Hymns and Music

RSCM, Sunday by Sunday. Published quarterly to members
A. Luff et al, Sing his Glory: Hymns for the Three Year Lectionary. Canterbury Press, 1997

Readings

Brother Tristam, The Word of the Lord, Canterbury Press (readings for Sundays)
Brother Tristam, Exciting Holiness, Canterbury Press, 1997 (readings and collects for holy days)
Robert Attwell, Celebrating the Saints, Canterbury Press, 1998
Robert Attwell, Celebrating the Seasons, Canterbury Press, 1999

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