Monday, August 12, 2024

It is the 12th of August 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

A very happy Monday to you- I am currently en route to Minnesota- to a Mt. Carmel camp on the banks of one of the thousands of lakes in the state called? The land of a thousand lakes.

But all stays the same- and I have a pressing question in the mailbag that comes from Dan in Lake Forest… what… that’s right- I’m answering my own question… Lake Forest, California- nestled in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains, home to Oakley, Del Taco, the country's largest public skatepark, and the CHA studios.

Here’s my story: For the past two weeks, I have preached at two different churches- but both use the same lectionary (even though they are different denominations). Except the first church used the alternate Proper, and my sermon was based on the Old Testament reading we hadn’t read aloud. And the second sermon does in fact follow the primary propers- and that was the story of Absalom- the handsome usurper with all that hair. Nonetheless, a wild few weeks as I navigated different churches, and I thought- where does the Lectionary come from? Well, the website I saved… uh… it’s a Catholic thing… I couldn’t answer myself. So….

All right- let’s go back to what we know of Jewish worship- especially in exile or after the destruction of the temple. Without the sacrifice what made up the core of their service? Remembering and re-telling the story. As we get into the intertestamental era, we see the growth of the synagogue as the place where the Scriptures were read and explained (see Jesus when he goes to the Temple in Luke’s Gospel). The earliest Christians continued to read from these “Scriptures” in their earliest services and began to supplement them with the circulating epistles and gospels.

In the earliest churches we read of them, “[they] gather together in one place, and the memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.”

And we know, that as the jewish year revolved around festivals so too did the Christian church- we know that figuring out a time to celebrate Easter- together- was important and the rest of the church year flows from that.

To oversimplify- we develop western and eastern rites to unite the liturgy of the churches. These churches will use “missals” that would include the readings- they would typically follow a one or three year cycle as was also the custom with Jewish lectionaries.

Of course, some churches use different calendars and others don’t use the church calendar at all (which is fine, its about preference not an ordinance).

So, to my question: where did the lectionary, that is currently confusing me, and that I read from on most weekdays for this show… where did it come from?

The Answer- well it’s the “Revised Common Lectionary”- I see that whenever I go to these various sites. You have a one and three year option. The three year option is currently in year “B” where I am. But how ancient is this “common lectionary”? My research shows…. 1983. I’m older than the Common Lectionary? Well- the practice is obviously ancient- and used since the earliest churches.

 But it was the spirit of Vatican II within the Roman Catholic Church and similar impulses in Protestant churches lead to an ecumenical group called the “Consultation on Common Text” and when I say “ecumenical” holy cow! I’ve got Missouri Synod Lutherans and Wisconsin Lutherans- and then the ELCA and the PCUSA and the Brethren and the Episcopal church. If they all can agree on something, maybe its a good idea.

The committee makes suggestions, and individual church bodies can choose to manipulate the schedule as they wish, but the standard in the Western Church is the recent product of an ancient practice of reading an Old Testament text, a Psalm, from an Epistle and the Gospel.

There is no requirement to use the lectionary- but if you do, consider it likely the most ecumenical thing you will do all week, and that’s a good thing.

  

 

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary from… the Revised Common Lectionary Daily readings- the semi-continuous Old Testament Reading (that is- open set of the readings tries to go through the Old Testament chronologically while other sets of reading try to do it to match with the Gospel reading…. Sorry, this is from Psalm 57:

 

My heart, O God, is steadfast,
    my heart is steadfast;

    I will sing and make music.

Awake, my soul!

    Awake, harp and lyre!

    I will awaken the dawn.

I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;

    I will sing of you among the peoples.

For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;

    your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;

    let your glory be over all the earth.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 12th of August 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who certainly knew all of this as a graduate of the Fort- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who promised not to embarrass his own son in the Absalom sermon by pointing out the length of his hair- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.