A recent comment asked why Lent 5 (this coming Sunday), the Sunday before Palm Sunday, was previously called “Passion Sunday”. Was there at some stage of Christian history a reading of the Passion on this day? The Church of England continues to call this “Passion Sunday”. The NZ Lectionary also calls this “Passion Sunday” and the (now-nearly-never-used- does-anyone-at-all-still-us-it?) NZ home-grown “Two Year Series” of readings also calls Lent 5 “Passion Sunday” (with the theme “the cross”) NZPB page 579. I have looked in some books, looked around online, and tweeted the question, but have not received what I regard as a sufficient explanation. Personally, I’m with the renewed lectionary that sees Palm Sunday as Passion Sunday and each year has a different reading of the passion story on Palm/Passion Sunday. This aside, in this post I’m more interested in the history of calling Lent 5 “Passion Sunday”. Please add in the comments what you know.
Tag Archive for 'lectionary'
I have not previously put a link from this site to this year’s online lectionary from the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.
Click here to download a PDF of this year’s lectionary (4 MB)
Read – reflect – respond (in prayer, silence, possibly a comment)
Lectio Divina – sacred reading
Matthew 5:43-48
43 [Jesus said] “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
O God, by your Word you marvelously carry out the work of reconciliation:
Grant that in our Lenten fast we may be devoted to you with all our hearts,
and united with one another in prayer and holy love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
George Herbert, Priest, 1633
Our God and King,
who called your servant George Herbert from the pursuit of worldly honors to be a pastor of souls, a poet, and a priest in your temple:
Give us grace, we pray, joyfully to perform the tasks you give us to do,
knowing that nothing is menial or common that is done for your sake;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Temple: The Poetry of George Herbert (Christian Classic)
Hymns
Read – reflect – respond (in prayer, silence, possibly a comment)
Lectio Divina – sacred reading
Matthew 6:7-15
7 [Jesus said] “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;
15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Grant to your people, Lord, grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh ad the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow you, the only True God; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr of Smyrna, 156
O God, the maker of heaven and earth, who gave to your venerable servant, the holy and gentle Polycarp, boldness to confess Jesus Christ as King and Saviour, and steadfastness to die for his faith: Give us grace, following his example, to share the cup of Christ and rise to eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
For all I know some readers of this post may wonder where I have been living all this time, or maybe that I move in far too small circles! Recently I was reading some comments of a woman who was taking for granted that all her readers knew what the “SOAP” Bible-reading method was. Well I had never heard of it. So I got in touch with her and she explained it stands for:
Scripture – pick your passage, follow a system, use a lectionary
Observation – what particularly touched you in the scripture passage?
Application – how can you apply your observation to your life?
Prayer
Recommendations are that all this be written in a journal – starting each section S, O, A, P
In my correspondence with her I mentioned how it has similarities to the great tradition of Lectio Divina, “Spiritual Reading”. She had never heard of that 
Lectio Divina has four movements
Lectio – read the passage
Meditatio – reflect on the passage
Oratio – respond in prayer
Contemplatio – rest in God
Previously I have written some more on Lectio Divina
There is also a good introduction to Lectio Divina here.
One comment I found suggested that the SOAP method started here.
A website for storing your SOAP is here.
A couple of final points: SOAP and Lectio Divina do not replace serious academic study of the scriptures – it prayerfully complements study. IMO the Christian spiritual life flourishes when there is a regular balance and variety of prayer styles: Eucharist, lectio divina, intercession, Daily Office, silent prayer,… There is a danger when only one or few from this list are present to nourish our spiritual life.
Comments below, as well as responding to this post, might include other ideas, websites, and resources.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll
I think the word “orthodox” might be in trouble. Let’s try and save it from losing its meaning.
I am seeing a lot of people calling themselves “orthodox” Christians and using the term to put down others as “unorthodox”, “heterodox”. But actually I don’t think these particular people should be allowed to use the term “orthodox” – as they are changing its meaning (and hence emptying its meaning IMO). They are perfectly welcome and free to start a new movement, start a number of new movements, but these particular people are not orthodox – there is a perfectly good word for them: they are homodox.
Orthodox, first of all, means “right worship” (ortho – right; dox – like doxology – worship). If you call yourself orthodox, at the very least it should mean that most Christians for the first 1500 years or so of Christian history should be able to walk into your worship and pretty much feel at home. Augustine, Teresa, Ambrose, Luther, Francis, Hildegard, Basil, Julian, Justin, etc. should be able to walk into your worship and recognise you are following a lectionary inherited from the Synagogue, have the basic shape of worship inherited from the earliest church, a Eucharistic Prayer, and responses that go back to the Last Supper and beyond, to a thousand years or so earlier…
Orthodox, would also mean, right beliefs. At the very least that would surely be affirming the important doctrines and disciplines of the seven ecumenical councils of the united church of the first thousand years or so. Should that not include the church’s structure that along with its liturgy and scriptures evolved fairly quickly in the earliest period of the church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. (Some might call themselves “orthodox” but could probably not name the councils, let alone state anything they teach, or justify why they reduce them to, for example, four, or claim to hold to them but would balk at, for example, calling Mary “Theotokos”)
Homodox means “having the same opinion”. Many people who are misusing, abusing the term “orthodox” are in fact not orthodox at all, they are homodox (let me preempt the comment now: it does not mean worshipping gays ) They want everyone to think exactly like them (yes, often particularly about gays). Orthodox can cope with diversity, do not need everyone to agree about everything, celebrate diversity, honour difference: In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis libertas, in utrisque caritas. (In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.)
So next time you see someone putting down others, and calling themselves “orthodox”, pause, check whether they really are orthodox or whether that word is being abused and emptied of its meaning. And then, if they pause momentarily from their tirade, and you have even an inkling they might be prepared to listen to someone else, take a deep breath and very politely tell them they aren’t orthodox but homodox. Of course if they listen to you, and are prepared to change their mind,… maybe they aren’t.
In the NZ lectionary today (December 17), without any explanation, is titled O Sapientia. It is not in our NZ calendar. Until 1990 every day from now until Christmas Eve had such a title (O Sapientia, O Adonai,…) – and one would hope that clergy, at least, were trained to understand the reference. 1991 – all gone – these titles for those days disappear without explanation. Until, suddenly in the 1999 lectionary the solitary O Sapientia appears on this date and does so right into the 2010 lectionary. Nothing for tomorrow, or Saturday,…
From at least the eighth century the antiphon before and after the Magnificat at Vespers (Evening Prayer), for the seven days leading up to Christmas Eve, has greeted Christ with a title starting with “O”. These became the basis of the popular carol “O come, O come, Emmanuel”. The initials, when read backwards, form the Latin “Ero Cras” which means “Tomorrow I come.”
They are now also used, in shorted form, in the Alleluia verses before the days’ Gospel readings.
Here are reflections and musical settings (sung by the Dominican student brothers at Blackfriars in Oxford) for these wonderful antiphons that you can use day by day until Christmas Eve:
O Sapientia – O Wisdom – 17 December
O Adonai – O Lord of might – 18 December
O Radix Jesse – O Root of Jesse – December 19
O Clavis David – O Key of David – December 20
O Oriens – O Dawn – December 21
O Rex Gentium – O sovereign of the nations – December 22
O Emmanuel – December 23
I have just purchased the Lectionary for the 2010 Church Year of The Anglican Church in Aotearoa (comma) New Zealand (no “Oxford/Harvard comma“) and Polynesia, better known as “The Anglican Church of Or”. (With a carefully thought-through official title one would think similar great care would be taken in the common prayer that holds it together as an Anglican province, but…)
This Lectionary states, “The colours suggested for each day… are not mandatory but reflect common practice in most parishes.” (page 4). So let’s take the example in the image above for Sunday November 14. The colour for the day is Green, or… ummm… Red, or…. White, or… ummm… Violet. The day before can be Green or Red. And the day before that can be Green or white or Red. Unless of course you wanted to use Violet on that day – remember colours are not mandatory. (You are starting to see why it is called the Anglican Church of Or). Page 104 expands the options (in case you don’t think there are enough) so that on our example of November 14 you might also use “Best” or Gold or Yellow or Blue or “Lenten colour” or unbleached linen, or a deep blood red.
Some senior clergy I’ve spoken to have suggested that Gw in their day meant a Green altar frontal but a white stole! That’s fine for Green and white, even Green and violet might go together, but what happens when the colours clash 
Yuck! And what does it mean a few days earlier November 8 where it is Gr[R]? … that must mean: Green or red or… ummmm… ummmm… Red! Of course – it’s obvious.
One suggestion: Why didn’t they save ink and just write the colour you shouldn’t use? Of course: far too prescriptive (you should never use the word should)!
What do we call that Sunday? (Let’s just stay with the English-language options currently) 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, or Proper 28, or 25th Sunday after Pentecost, or 2nd Sunday before Advent, or Remembrance Sunday, or the Feast of Christ in All Creation (unless, of course, you want to call it something else).
Now to the readings: Let’s stay with November 14 as our example. I count 18 readings you can choose from suggested for a morning service. Woops – I forgot to count the ones for the Feast of Christ in All Creation which is an option. The readings are not provided in the Lectionary (why not?!) For those you have to go to the church’s General Synod Website. The readings are provided under “C” as Wisdom 13:1-9 Or Isaiah 45:9-12 Romans 8:18-25 Or Colossians 1:15-20 John 1:1-5,10-14,18 Or Mark 16:14-20. OK – that brings the total number of suggested readings to choose from for the morning service to 24. This is a competition: if you can find more than 24 readings for any part of the day in the lectionary – please point that out in the comments. Don’t forget – in NZ if you don’t like the suggestion – you can choose your own.
This, remember is a relatively tiny province. There will probably be around 30,000 people in church on the Sunday using those readings. The second competition question is: is there any other province which has so much choice??!! My guess is that any province of any reasonable size is kept unified with a sense of common prayer by having quite a limited number of options. Most fix the readings, the colour, the collect, and give a choice of a few Eucharistic Prayers. In New Zealand you can choose the collect from a wide variety of sources (someone in the comments might like to give the number of collects provided on NZ’s digital Living Liturgy). And if you don’t like the collects provided, you can find another or produce your own.
As to Eucharistic Prayers – I have lost count how many Eucharistic Prayers NZ’s General Synod has authorised. It must be around a dozen. And if you don’t like any of those – General Synod has authorised that you can use any Eucharistic Prayer authorised anywhere in the Anglican Communion – anyone got a guess of the number (please add it in the comments)? Maybe a couple of hundred? And if you don’t like any of those you can write your own using any of the frameworks authorised anywhere in the Anglican Communion (I can think of three). And if you don’t like that, just use a reading from 1 Cor 11:23ff – we all know communities that do this and are they ever called to account?
(I have not taken into account that for the 2009 Church Year the lectionary provided online was significantly different to the hard-copy version, with different readings and different titles for Sundays – we await this year’s online version to see if even more options are provided).
30,000 in church that Sunday; at least 30,000 different combinations possible. Common Prayer?
I previewed the Mosaic Bible a little over a month ago. In the mean time I received the copy I ordered. There is actually very little that I need to add to my preview. It is magnificently produced, the images are stunning, the choice of material very wide (it is quite fun to see my own name there several times!) I was looking forward to seeing what the Hebrew and Greek word studies are like. In fact there are less than six pages on Hebrew words and similarly for Greek. The original script is not used – solely transliteration. I disagree with some analysis, eg. it states that ekklesia does not mean “called out of” (p.1198). Kudos to them for acknowledging hilasterion can mean expiation and translating appropriately.
Do not overstress the connection of this Bible to the lectionary. This works wellish in the main seasons (Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter) but in Ordinary Time don’t expect to find much if any connection – even the system of counting is eccentric. In summary my position hasn’t changed much from my preview. If you are seeking one Bible and one Bible translation this is not the one I recommend (that will be subject of another post). If you use several Bibles and several translations – certainly seriously consider adding this to your shelf. I am happy I spent the money to get this.
Liturgy as language (part 5)
There are those who look at thriving, fruitful, vibrant worshipping communities, see they are not “using liturgy” and suggest comments like, “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it”, or “introducing liturgy will destroy this – you will be on a hiding to nothing.”
I disagree.
First let’s clarify. Liturgy, by definition, is doing worship together. Each of those words is important.
- doing – liturgy is an activity. People too quickly associate liturgy with set words, books, etc. Liturgy is action – often accompanied by interpretive words, yes, but liturgy is action – “the work of the people”.
- worship – is an active verb. It is not passive. Liturgy is not a spectator sport. We are a gathered congregation, an active assembly – not spectators or an audience. It is not watching an orchestra – it is being the orchestra.
- together – liturgy is a community event. It is not individualism. Not even congregationalism. Most liturgical texts are plural, “we confess… we believe… Our Father…”
People sometimes use the term non-liturgical worship. Generally that is an oxymoron. Like saying a non-marriage wedding. Liturgy is doing worship together. Non-liturgical worship might be worshipping alone – but even when we worship alone that is done as part of the church, the body of Christ, with Jesus – even alone we can still pray “Our Father…”
So we have this thriving, fruitful, vibrant worshipping community. I believe it can only be enriched by incorporating the insights from the series Liturgy as language:
Introductory post; Kiwi Anglican history 1, Kiwi Anglican history 2, Liturgy as language (part 4)
Where do we start?
In fact working with a thriving, fruitful, vibrant worshipping community may even be a better place to start than trying to get an unsuccessful, dry, colourless, dour, individualised community, that is going through the motions of liturgical texts, to move forward to some vibrancy.
Where might be some places to start? Well if there is some dialogue between leader and assembly, for example as the service starts, that might be energetically channelled through some biblical greeting and response. The deep sense of prayer might be enriched by the leader, early in the service, suggesting a general point for prayer and the whole community praying for a good period in deepening silence, and then the leader collecting this gathering silent prayer by proclaiming a collect to which the now-fully-gathered community responds heartily with the biblical “Amen.” The readings can be drawn from the Revised Common Lectionary - with people growing in a sense of belonging to the world-wide Christian community and made aware of the many many resources that come with this enriching their lives not just at the service but throughout the week. Some communities will be stretched as they risk just listening to a reading, God’s Word, “neat” – without every text being filtered through the leader’s interpretation. If communion is celebrated the community might be enriched by using the biblical tradition of blessing by thanksgiving and using the great Jewish-Christian prayer structure going back to Jesus’ prayer at his last meal and beyond. There are many many excellent Eucharistic Prayers and outlines that cannot but enrich a thriving community’s life.
These are but some suggestions. Readers may have other insights, even from their own experience of deepening and enriching the worship life in a community.
O God,
the Maker and Redeemer of all believers:
Grant to the faithful departed the unsearchable benefits of the passion of your Son;
that on the day of his appearing they may be manifested as your children;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
We seem to give them back to you, dear God,
who gave them to us.
Yet as you did not lose them in giving, so we have not lost them by their returning.
Not as the world gives, do you give, O Lover of Souls!
What you give, you do not take away.
For what is yours is ours always, if we are yours.
Life is eternal; and love is immortal;
and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing but the limit of our sight.
Lift us up, strong Son of God,
that we may see further;
cleanse our eyes that we may see more clearly;
draw us closer to yourself that we may know ourselves nearer to our beloved who are with you.
And while you prepare a place for us,
prepare us for that happy place, that where they are, and you are,
we too may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
source of the horizon prayer
History of All Souls Day
The origins of All Souls date to 1048 when Abbot Saint Odilo of the monastery of Cluny declared this celebration to commemorate departed Christians. In the course of several hundred years the feast spread across Europe to England and finally in the fourteenth century Rome made it an official feast on November 2.
“This millennium-old celebration is an expression of the Christian belief in the Communion of Saints, the mystical solidarity uniting all of the Body of Christ living on earth with those who have died and are now one with God. This web allows spiritual energy to flow between the living and the dead by way of prayer, various good works and especially Holy Communion, which unites the Head and all the Body of Christ.” (Edward Hayes, The Old Hermit’s Almanac, p. 312)
Various cultures have taken on this celebration and keep it with different observances. In many places, cemeteries are given special attention so that graves might be decorated with candles or flowers. In Latin America, this day is known as “Dia de los Muertos” or the “Day of the Dead” and is an occasion of great festivity. Bakeries sell sweets and cakes in the shapes of skulls, skeletons, and coffins. In Mediterranean cultures, children receive gifts of candy. It is also common to set up shrines to remember those who have died.
With Roman Catholic-Anglican relations currently so newsworthy, it is particularly appropriate to note that this Sunday and next week Roman Catholics and Episcopalians (Anglicans) again pray the same prayer. Catholics will pray:
Almighty and ever-living God,
strengthen our faith, hope, and love.
May we do with loving hearts what you ask of us and come to share the life you promise.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Anglicans will pray:
Almighty and everlasting God,
increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity;
and, that we may obtain what you promise,
make us love what you command;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Both are translations of:
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, da nobis fidei, spei, et caritatis augmentum:
et ut mereamur assequi quod promittis, fac nos amare quod praecipis.
The reflection on this week’s collect/opening prayer is found here.
Not all Anglicans and not all Roman Catholics will be praying this prayer, certainly. But at this time I would encourage more to – and for others to join in.
Let us widen the circle that prays this prayer together this coming weekend and week.
The New Zealand Anglican Lectionary, an annual publication, has a habit of changing things without any explanation or introduction. This year, one of the changes is that the 2008 year Western tradition (well give or take a bit) of celebrating St Luke in Red has in this 2009th year been changed to White. No explanation. No introduction.
A priest friend rang me up about it last night, asking my explanation. He says one of our bishops read an article suggesting this – and we are now leading the world in this new development!
Colours are not mandatory in NZ Anglicanism. In fact this same Lectionary 2009 states “[Colours] are not mandatory but reflect common practice in most parishes.” Well, in this case: Yeah Right! If colours are descriptive not prescriptive, then the colour for Luke would be,…. should be,… Red. Because until this year – that is what EVERYBODY used.
When our 1989 Prayer Book was produced, Luke’s feast day took precedence over the Sunday propers. In other churches the Sunday takes precedence over the feast of St Luke, unless of course that is your patronal feast. Recent alterations, as is normal in our church, have increased flexibility. You can now choose yourself. So today you can wear Green (the Sunday), White (the suggested colour in the lectionary), or Red (as a liturgical rebel like me will do – following the 2008 or so years of Western tradition!). You are, in NZ, of course, permitted to wear Violet – particularly if it matches and enhances your complexion.
ps. Matthew and Mark’s colours have similarly been changed in the NZ Lectionary from Red to White.
pps. Luke’s martyrdom is disputed. Only John is traditionally White amongst the evangelists because of the four of them, his non-martyrdom is not disputed.
Once again, Sunday October 11 and the week following, Anglicans (Episcopalians) and Roman Catholics are praying the same collect/opening prayer in the Eucharist and in Daily Prayer.
The Latin original is:
Tua nos, Domine, quaesumus, gratia semper et praeveniat et sequatur, ac bonis operibus jugitur praestet esse intentos.
Anglicans pray this as:
Lord, we pray
that your grace may always precede and follow us,
that we may continually be given to good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Roman Catholics pray this as:
Lord,
our help and guide,
make your love the foundation of our lives.
May our love for you express itself
in our eagerness to do good for others.
You can read more about this prayer here.
That Anglicans, Roman Catholics, and others share the same lectionary is well documented. That, from time to time, Anglicans and Roman Catholics pray the same collect on the same day was explicable with the shared pre-Vatican II liturgies, but has, other than on this site as far as I am aware, not been noted or explained.
Let us widen the circle that prays this prayer together this coming weekend and week.
Here is a list of resources to understand the Bible better. These scriptural resources are free and online. This site provides similar lists for lectionary resources, for music resources and so on, and invites you to add so that together we are sharing good resources we find. So if you know a similar biblical resource, please add it in the comments below.
There are well over 50 translations of the Bible into English made during the last century.
I recently read the following in a review of a particular translation (adapted in an attempt to avoid embarrassing the author):
When I want to decide if I like a translation of the Bible, I look at [mentions three specific passages] I do not read Greek or Hebrew, so I cannot ensure “accuracy” of the translations, but I just go on “gut” feeling and what SOUNDS to me like clarity, truth and beauty.
This expresses it well. So many translations appear to me not to be an honest translation of the original, but an expression into English of what the “translators” wished that the original had said! Hence, I am seeking to provide here a list of online tools to help people check what the original actually says. And remember: don’t believe anyone who says that translation is not interpretation. Translation is always interpretation.
More significantly, more than helping you win one of those tiresome theological debates generally at the level of angels on pinheads – delving into the original biblical languages enriches our lives. It is not the few parts of the Bible that we disagree about that should be our focus – but the central core of it that we DO agree on. There is much more that unites us than divides us! There is One who unites us, and can unite us…
Thanks to all those who have helped me so far in this collating – especially my twitter followers.
Usual disclaimers: Links here do not necessarily mean I agree with the translation, interpretation, theology, blah, blah, blah…
The NET Bible “offers the most comprehensive set of free resources available online, including commentaries, articles, word studies, original biblical languages and cross references”
Reader’s version of Greek and Hebrew Bible (does not work with IE) You can set the word frequency for which definitions are provided and choose whether you want the part of speech, morphology, or frequency displayed. Optional popups provide additional lexical info. Parts of speech can be colored as you wish. Fonts and size can also be selected. Thanks to John Dyer.
Bible Web App – another wonderful resource from John Dyer.
Septuagint.org The Bible in Greek, with lots of parsing information.
Greek Bible Study You open an account and then can keep notes etc. of your studies
Search God’s Word study resources
Blue Letter Bible “in-depth study of God’s Word through an on-line interactive reference library continuously updated from the teachings and commentaries of selected pastors and teachers who hold to the conservative, historical Christian faith”
Bibel Wissenschaft Online Greek, Hebrew, LXX
Tyndale Toolbar I have not tried this out yet – please comment below if you have
Online Hebrew Interlinear Bible
A collection of links for studying the Hebrew scriptures
Another collection of links for studying the Hebrew scriptures
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