Someone told me that General Synod of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia has authorised 38 “special Sundays”. IMO, the General Synod is irresponsible in its liturgical governance and leadership.
I strongly support the three year lectionary in its RCL and RC forms. And I notice that this doesn’t work as well when people are constantly looking for themes. Or abandoning the Sunday readings for a “special Sunday”.
It is difficult for me to understand, for example, why, in New Zealand, National Bible Sunday gets its own readings which, rather than encouraging systematic reading of the scriptures actually models the opposite by departing from the RCL’s systematic reading of the scriptures!!!
By all means, add a special intention into the prayers, or pick up a focus in a hymn, or make a connection between the set readings and such a focus, or have a visiting preacher from a particular organisation, or add something to the pew sheet, or alter the worship environment, … but don’t force the service into a constraining theme; and don’t depart from the three year lectionary, in a community that meets weekly, without good cause.
Here are some of the “special Sundays” that spring to mind:
AAW SUNDAY (1st Sunday in February)
ASIA SUNDAY (nearest Sunday to 20 May)
Te Pouhere Sunday – Second Sunday after Pentecost
DISABILITY AWARENESS SUNDAY (3rd Sunday in June)
REFUGEE SUNDAY (1st Sunday in July)
Sea Sunday (2nd Sunday in July
NATIONAL BIBLE SUNDAY (3rd Sunday in July)
Social Services Sunday (4th Sunday in July)
RELIGIOUS VOCATION SUNDAY (3RD Sunday in August)
ANGLICAN COMMUNION SUNDAY (last Sunday in August)
BATTLE OF BRITAIN SUNDAY (Sunday nearest 15 September)
Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation
if date unknownFeast of Dedication or Consecration
TIKANGA YOUTH SUNDAY
REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY (2nd Sunday in November)
Feast of Christ in All Creation
Aotearoa Sunday
Do you think, Bosco, that the problem might be that we have come to rely too much on a single Sunday service – and that one always a communion service in most Anglican churches? Would it help if our priests all went back to doing the daily office, daily, including Sundays?
I think the special Sundays might have been meant to provide an opportunity for parishes to reach out beyond their regular congregants to the vast pool of non-churchgoers who might be interested in the Church – if they could see its relevance to their own lives. Perhaps individual parishes should give some thought only to those themes that might have some relevance to the area in which they are located (e.g. Sea Sunday if there is a port or a naval base in the locality)? Perhaps they should offer a special service for the special occasion in addition to, rather than replacing or redesigning, their usual Sunday service?
Other than that, I entirely concur with the sentiments expressed in your post. (I came, I saw, I concurred.)
Roscoe, I love your “I came, I saw, I concurred”!
I think General Synod’s removing of the requirement to pray the Daily Office was a mistake. And I think that General Synod’s inability to decide which Daily Office to endorse is a mistake. I think the Daily Office should be seen as a norm for all Anglicans – not just clergy. I’m not sure how this would affect special Sunday services as you suggest.
I am not sure if people attending special, different services are then naturally drawn into non-special, ordinary services. I think this is a similar issue for moving from Sunday School, or “Fresh Expression” or other differently-styled services to Parish Eucharist. That is quite a significant other discussion.
I think you are right that we are expecting too much from the 1 hour of Parish Eucharist if we want it to be outreach, and fellowship, and teaching, and time for contemplation, personal prayer, and a week’s worth of intercession, etc. That, also, needs a much bigger discussion.
Thanks for pointing towards these related issues.
The Daily Office IS seen as a norm for all other Anglicans. And my Office sites have a million hits to prove it.
People do need to be taught the classic ways like the Office to get closer to God; but once discovered, they go viral.
Your Synod can’t decide which Office to endorse? Pick any form that’s out there – then dissolve the Synod.
Amen to all you say, Josh. And thanks again for all you offer. I have more than once encouraged people from here to your wonderful Daily Office site. Also, there’s the Chapel on this site. To clarify: A New Zealand Prayer Book has a good set of offices. But there is also Celebrating Common Prayer NZ. This is made much of in our Anglican lectionary. So we have those two plus any number of other options going (would be an interesting survey – Theology House are you listening? – I know someone currently doing a thesis which includes the Office – I might suggest it to them…) plus the removal of the requirement. I understand there is a correlation between not being residentially trained/formed and not praying the Office… But there may be other correlations also…
I think that the thought I was trying to express was that if we all had an ongoing, daily involvement in the liturgy, then it would make more sense to have ‘special’ services on Sundays. As it is, with everything compressed into one hour (as you so well articulate) there isn’t much room for any more special things.
But I’d still pick and choose the most relevant special Sundays and look at the possibility of marking them with a separate special service – not necessarily in the church. And, because I’m not an evangelical, I would leave it to God to prompt the non-churchgoers to come back for more. Or not, as He and they saw fit.
Hope this is clearer but you’ll have to make allowances – I’m part-Irish.
Kurt and Roscoe – I think we are on the same page. I received an email today in relation to this – apparently the recent General Synod meeting has added “Earth Hour Sunday” to the Special Sundays. Some of these comments connect to recent reflections on worship and entertainment here. Let worship be worship, and let’s live transformed lives in the world, and let God act through that to bring people….
I’ve often bemoaned this same issue in our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in the US. All kinds of mailings cross my desk or stuff my inbox to celebrate certain “special Sundays” for assorted groups, organizations, and other ministries within our church body. My practice has been to stick with the liturgical day and readings from the lectionary, and sometimes offer a petition for the “ministry du jour,” maybe include a bulletin insert if one has been provided. But otherwise, I don’t go out of my way to highlight anything other than Christ and his gifts offered in the Divine Service.
Well put, Bosco. And as Nike would say…
Just do it!