His interest piqued by the Rev. Dr. Eric Parker’s recent comments on the 1928 Lectionary vs. the 1945 Lectionary, a friend of mine put together this analysis of several lectionaries based on time spent in Genesis (a good barometer). As you can see, the 1928 lectionary, which is the original lectionary of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, is substantially more in line with the BCP tradition than the 1945 (as, it should be noted, is the 2019).
The common critique of the ’45 lectionary is that it skips the “icky” bits of scripture, but that isn’t all: it’s much lighter on the amount of scripture read altogether. We also see a bit of Marcion’s shadow, as the ’45 shifts the weight of the lectionary heavily towards the New Testament. You can go look for yourself; it’s not just Genesis.
But why? Bayard Hale Jones, one of the architects of the 1945, readily explains it in his book “The American Lectionary.” He claims that it was the increasing prominence of Holy Communion as the only Sunday service that did it, as the Propers are considerably shorter than the Daily Office lessons, and that the laity were “chafing under the tediousness and irrelevancy” of certain passages. What he neglects is that up until the 1940s even advanced Anglo-Catholic parishes would have Mattins every Sunday in addition to Holy Communion, so that the full breadth of Holy Scripture would be encountered. Jones also brushes aside Cranmer’s lectionary, and its children, as being “liturgically imbalanced,” applying an almost pseudo-scientific rubric to how long a lesson should be and whether boring parts should be included. He proudly states that the average lesson had gone from 25 verses to 13.
Perhaps here is where we see the real problems begin to set in with PECUSA, as the laity loses its grasp on the Word of God within a generation, and it can’t provide the bulwark against the liberalism coming out of the seminaries that it once did. Here is also likely where Episcopalians get their reputation for not knowing their bibles.
A rather prominent clergyman in the ACNA (who is currently on sabbatical) recently commented that the Daily Office readings of the 2019 “feel a little too long” and that he missed the readings of the ’79. This was stunning to me. As the last century has shown, the Protestant churches that remain orthodox and retain membership are the ones who place scripture at center of their ministries. Full stop. Language of reducing the amount read should be given no quarter.
The craziest thing is: people are hungry for the Word of God. They always have been, and they always be. Why do you think people hopped from the Mainline to the Evangelical churches in the 60s? It wasn’t because they liked grape juice. As Anglicans, we have a special heritage, the Book of Common Prayer, that makes scripture so easy and elegant to encounter, and not only that but in a community of people who will read and say it with you. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.