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So Old that It's New:
A Note on a Few of the Changes in Our Liturgy
February, 2007
Some things are so old that they seem new. This is strange but true. (I know that some of you are thinking, “Well, Pastor, I wish I was that old!”) There's a book that I've had on my shelf for years, a classic, and for a while I forgot that I had it. It was so old that is was forgotten, so when I came across it the other day it was like getting a new book.
Martin Luther was Accused of Inventing New Teaching. There are things in the church like this. When Martin Luther began preaching the Gospel with a clear voice, preaching faith alone apart from the works of the law, his opponents accused him of teaching a “new doctrine.” But his doctrine was not new, it was the ancient teachings of the Scriptures, but they had been forgotten and laid aside for another teaching. The Gospel was so old that it seemed new.
This can also happen in the Lord's Church. There are things that are so old that they seem new. We've made a few adjustments in our service in the past few months. Many of these adjustments to our liturgy are new to us, but very old in the Lord's Church.
The One Year Lectionary
The Lectionary is the series of readings that are heard in the Lord's Service. There were assigned readings in the synagogue before Jesus' day, and these were kept by the church in its infancy. As the apostles added their inspired writings to the Scriptures they were also added to the schedule of readings. By the early middle ages a series of readings from the Gospels and Epistles had established itself in the churches. This is commonly called the “historic one-year lectionary.” Luther used and preached on these readings, in fact, for hundreds of years almost the entire church heard these readings in the Sunday service. The “historic one-year lectionary” is what we find in the propers in the front of The Lutheran Hymnal (pages 54-94, or see the chart on pages 159-160).
For a long time the readings at Hope have followed a three-year series. From whence did the three-year lectionary come? Our synod's website explains it like this:
“The three-year lectionary was developed as a result of the Second Vatican Council, initially appearing in 1969. Within a few years, a number of Protestant denominations in North America adopted this lectionary with a variety of revisions. The three-year lectionary was introduced to Lutherans in North America in 1973 with the publication of Contemporary Worship 6. This lectionary was later included in Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and, with minor revisions, Lutheran Worship (1982).” [www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=863]
Not quite forty years ago the Roman Catholic Church gathered in council and, among other things, made some major revisions to their liturgical tradition. Some of the reforms were good, for example saying mass in the vernacular. Other changes were more suspect. Out of these discussions came the new three-year lectionary. For different reasons this three-year lectionary was received among almost all liturgical traditions, our own Lutheran Church included. It can be found in the front of Lutheran Worship. Many found the three-year lectionary refreshing, hearing a greater variety of texts from the Scriptures. Others thought that using the same lectionary as the Romanist and the other historic churches is important. Hope Lutheran has been hearing the three-year lectionary some years ago.
Last year at Ash Wednesday we began using the historic one-year lectionary again. This is so old that it seems new. Most people had become so used to the three-year readings that the old readings seemed new. Rest assured that this is nothing new.
Now the question must be asked, why change. There are many benefits with both the three-year and the one-year lectionaries. Both deliver the Lord's Word to His people, and we are free in the Gospel to hear any portion of the Lord's Word in the service. Here are some of the benefits of the one-year series that prompted our change back to it:
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Because the historic one-year has much more history there are more resources for preaching, prayers and music. The collection of sermons that Luther wrote and preached are all on the assigned texts of the one-year lectionary.
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Because the historic one-year was the only lectionary when The Lutheran Hymnal was written, many of the hymns are matched to its readings.
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The one-year lectionary is bound to the church year, pairing up the feasts with the readings.
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There is always a benefit in receiving with joy the great heritage that has been handed down to us from our faithful parents. Many of our families have been Lutheran for generations. When we hear the readings from the one-year lectionary we are hearing the same Scriptures on the same day as our parents, grand parents, great-grandparents, and even farther back. We are eating the same diet of Scriptures that sustained our church for the last six centuries.
There is, of course, no sin in using the three-year series. As a young preacher I have found great value in being able to hear Luther preach on the texts to which I've been appointed, and this, for me, has been the greatest benefit of using the historic one-year lectionary.
What in the World is “Pre-Lent”?
With the three-year lectionary came an adjusted church-year. The most obvious example was the change of the summer Sundays from the Sundays after Trinity to the Sundays in Pentecost. Last summer, you might have noticed, we celebrated the Sundays after Trinity.
Another adjustment to the church year was the lost of the Sundays in Pre-Lent. The reforms surrounding Vatican II extended the season of Epiphany all the was to the edge of Lent, so that Transfiguration Sunday immediately preceded Ash Wednesday. The older custom was to celebrate “Pre-Lent.” There were three Sundays between Transfiguration Sunday and Lent that were “preparatory” for the great penitential season of Lent. These Sundays, it seems, are so old that they seem new.
These Sundays were sometimes called the “Gesima” Sundays from their Latin names:
Septuigesima- “Seventy Days”
Sexigesima- “Sixty Days”
Quinquagesima- “Fifty Days”
These Sundays are a kind of countdown to the forty days of Lent. This Year the “Gesima” Sundays will fall on the first three Sundays of February. (The propers for the Gesima Sundays can be found on pages 60-61 in the Lutheran Hymnal.)
Reading the Scriptures
Last month I began reading all the Scripture readings. While most of you remember it, it has been a while since the pastor has done all the readings in the Lord's Service. This again might be a practice that is so old that it seems new.
I believe that this is the best understanding of St Paul's injunction to pastor Timothy, “Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” [1 Timothy 4:13] This understanding is also reflected in our hymnal, “Then shall the Minister read the Epistle” [The Lutheran Hymnal, p. 20] and “The Minister shall read the Gospel for the Day,” [The Lutheran Hymnal, p. 21]. The church has understood the Scripture lessons as part of the service, and assigned the reading quite naturally to the “called and ordained servant of the Word.”
It is my great joy as your pastor to read, teach and preach the Scriptures to you, the Lord's people. In fact, when ever anyone asks me about the congregation of Hope, I say, “Hope is a wonderful place, the people of Hope love to hear the Gospel.”
In the end we rejoice that the Lord Jesus continues to gather us in His Name to give us His gifts of life and salvation and the forgiveness of sins. This is why we come to the Lord's Service, to know that the blessings of God are for us. May the Lord continue to send us His Holy Spirit, so that all that we do in our services would bring God glory and give us the comfort that we need in the midst of our trouble. Amen.
The Lord's Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Wolfmueller