The ever-alert Sed Angli points us to these Liturgical Thoughts and Notes by the rector of St. Mary the Virgin, in New York City:
My reason for the return is very straightforward: the 1979 lectionary was developed for use with the Eucharistic Rite of the new Prayer Book; the new Episcopal edition of the Revised Common Lectionary was not—and it shows in many ways. The 1979 lectionary is not perfect by any means, but it was shaped by and for Episcopal Church worship. We have the opportunity to use it and I think we should.
I will not have the resources or background knowledge to study these issues adequately, but even an organist notices that the excision in the middle of this week's Gospel lesson is a bit odd.
The Revised Common Lectionary has:
The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. [here the lection omits v. 35-52]
When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.
While the 1979 prayer book lectionary contains the whole story of the feeding of the 5,000:
The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat." But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?" And he said to them, "How many loaves have you? Go and see." When they had found out, they said, "Five, and two fish." Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. And all ate and were filled; and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.
Labels: BCP, Episcopal Church, lectionary, St Mary the Virgin (New York)
I've been thinking a lot about the Sunday just past, and I think we as a church have a problem.
The Episcopal Church does not call the last Sunday of the Church year “Christ the King.” In our Prayer Book it is simply “The Last Sunday after Pentecost.” Yes, our prayers and lessons are about the kingship of Christ. At Solemn Mass and at Evensong we will sing some of the greatest hymns on this theme. I think our Episcopal Church’s particular decision merits wider and greater appreciation.Since its earliest days the Church has had a feast of the kingship of Christ. It’s Epiphany, which along with Easter, Pentecost and Christmas are the great ancient celebrations of the Church. Note that aside from Trinity Sunday, the liturgical tradition does not have thematic Sunday observances. Our celebrations are rooted in the historical events of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. Our days and our lives find their meaning in his life, in his gospel.
"From the Rector: Commitment to Christ" St. Mary the Virgin, New York, Volume XI, Number 52, November 22, 2009
I have a modest proposal: that we stop slapping the words "Christ the King" or -- the silly attempt at neutral language -- "Reign of Christ" on our service leaflets without thinking why we are doing so.
Might "Christ the King" join the ranks of "Good Shepherd Sunday" and "Laetare Sunday" and "Gaudete Sunday" as a nickname, and not a feast unless this is what the church really wants?
Absolutely that's what the lessons are about, but aren't we robbing Epiphany of it's full meaning?
Our 1979 Prayer Book lists Epiphany as a Principal Feast -- yet how many parishes fail to celebrate it at all?
Rather than over-solemnify a name given to this Sunday by the Revised Common Lectionary let us carefully ponder the theological importance of what we are doing and reclaim the full celebration of Epiphany as one on par with the other six Principal Feasts of the church: Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday and All Saints.
Labels: Epiphany, Episcopal Church, lectionary, liturgy, St Mary the Virgin (New York), theology
Super-hip music critic Alex Ross runs into James Kennerley at St. Mary the Virgin in New York City:
Before a Tuesday-evening service, I heard a brief recital that included Buxtehude’s chorale prelude "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern." Shimmeringly varied timbres, evocative of starlight, made me want to know more about the player, who was listed as James Kennerley. He turned out to be a bespectacled British lad, aged twenty-four, a Cambridge graduate and a former organ scholar at St. Paul's Cathedral. He was appointed music director of St. Mary's last month."I'm incredibly happy to have this instrument," Kennerley told me, seated at the console. “It has this fantastic range of sounds, from high stops to reedy French trompettes to the colossal bass”—he pressed a low C with his foot, frightening a few tourists in the nave below—"and it takes on great beauty in the height and width of this space." While I looked on, he let loose a fast-figured, at times piercingly dissonant improvisation, with reposeful tonal chords to close.
Ross, Alex. "Cheap Seats". The New Yorker, 2 Feb 2009.
Labels: Alex Ross, organ music, St Mary the Virgin (New York)
©MMXVII Sinden.org: a site for fun and prophet