The Old Ways Were Not Best
The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity.
The Collect.
O GOD, who declarest thy almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity; Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy commandments, may obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle. 1 Corinthians xv. 1.
BRETHREN, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
The Gospel. St. Luke xviii. 9.
JESUS spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Today in the Lectionary is Proper 18, the 12th Sunday after Pentecost. By the Church’s older calendar, in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, today is the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity. Before the current prayer book, the propers for the day were printed in the book. One simply turned to the right page for today, no need for a Lectionary sheet in the bulletin.
Unlike today’s Revised Common Lectionary, the old lectionary was a one year cycle; we read the same lessons every year, and only the Epistle and the Gospel. Today’s lectionary is on a three year cycle with a discernible pattern, primarily reading from Matthew in Year A, Mark in Year B, and Luke in Year C. Today we also read through the Old Testament books in a pattern, and also orderly through the books of the New Testament. With enormous variety, our new lectionary is challenging and exciting for both the congregation and the preacher. It is a product of the ecumenical movement in which Roman Catholic, United Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, United Church of Christ, Moravian Church and perhaps others share the same lessons each Sunday. Is this a good thing? Perhaps so, in that several mainline Christian denominations achieve a measure of the unity toward which we pray. If we in the churches don’t work toward unity, we work against our own prayers. Unity and union are not the same: we are working for unity -- unity in sprit and unity of mission in the Lord Jesus Christ.
In ecumenical dialogues though, the Episcopal Church and several others are going farther, with the concept of being “in communion” with each other. We are “in communion” with the American Evangelical Lutheran Church and with the two bodies of the Moravian Church. This can include not only fellowship at the Altar and pulpit, but exchange of clergy. With consent of the local bishops, for example, a Lutheran pastor can be called as the rector of an Episcopal parish and an Episcopal priest can be called to be the pastor of a Lutheran parish; this has been done in several places.
Our new lectionary with the three year cycle is an immense improvement over the old way. We read more of the Bible and we read it orderly. Growing up I sometimes had the rebellious sense that since everything was in the book all one really needed to do was leave a note in the church telling God which pages to turn to. Church today is not as lulling as before, and it’s far more exciting.
The Collect above, by the way, wasn’t scrapped: it will show up again soon, appointed for Proper 21, the Sunday closest to September 28.
TW+