From: "Fr John W Fenton" To: "Historic Preaching" Subject: HP: From Historic to Three Year Date: Monday, December 03, 2001 6:58 PM The question was asked: + Why did the LCMS + switch to the three year lectionary from TLH? Before answering, a little background is necessary. The Historic Lectionary has many selections that can be traced as far back as the 6th century. But like anything else it is not static, and so--for many different reasons--has undergone various slight revisions over the centuries. The version listed in The Lutheran Hymnal predates the Reformation and no doubt was what the reformers knew and had in mind when they confessed that "we also keep traditional liturgical forms, such as the order of readings..." (1531 Apology of the Augsburg Confession). This pre-reformation lectionary was revised yet again by the Church or Rome in the 1570 Tridentine Missal (the Roman Missal that appeared after the Council of Trent). It is significant to note that Evangelical-Lutheran churches never went along with these Tridentine changes, nor its subsequent revisions during the next 400 years. The Three Year Lectionary was devised by the Church of Rome as a direct result of the liturgical changes mandated by Vatican II in the mid 1960s. This lectionary was fully in place in 1969 with Rome's current Missal. American Lutheran churches, together with numerous American Protestant churches, almost immediately began using Rome's three year lectionary. In the LCMS, this use was "officially" encouraged by the field-test materials (which included the three-year lectionary) put out in anticipation of what became Lutheran Book of Worship. In 1982, the LCMS officially adopted a revised form of the three year lectionary when it approved Lutheran Worship. By then, however, it was a fate accompli since a great number of LCMS churches were already using some form of a three year lectionary. (As an aside, it should be noted that many European Lutheran churches have not, or have slowly, adopted a three year lectionary.) Currently, the LCMS (through the Lutheran Hymnal Project) is considering a revision of the three year lectionary. In doing so, they appear to be moving further away from the current three year lectionary used by the Church of Rome. The most common reasons given for adopting the three year lectionary are two: (a) the three year lectionary allows the public reading/hearing of a larger portion of Scripture during the Sunday worship; and (b) through imitation of the lectionary used by the Church of Rome and many other protestant branches, the three year lectionary brings the LCMS in line with a greater number of churches. (This latter ecumenical argument, however, is undercut by a version of the three year lectionary increasingly unique to the LCMS.) Other minor factors may also be in play, but these appear to be the two primary reasons why the LCMS switched to the three year lectionary. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Rev. Fr. John W. Fenton, S.T.M. Zion Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Detroit 4305 N. Military Ave. Detroit, MI 48210-2451 Voice: 313.894.7450 Email: zion@flash.net ZIONNEWS-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Web: www.flash.net/~zion ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Historic Preaching + The Historic Preaching list is devoted to preaching on the Propers of the Historic Lectionary as found in The Lutheran Hymnal (TLH) and Service Book and Hymnal (SBH). Subscribe? Send ANY message to: Unsubscribe? Send ANY message to: Respond? Click 'Reply' or write to For further information about this list, contact the list administrator at: Rev. Fr. Eric J. Stefanski or visit our website: + + + + + +