The question is: are there more options to celebrate today’s feast than there are people in our Church to celebrate them?
To my knowledge, The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) does not provide for saints’ feast days, so it is surprising that the readings in NZ’s Anglican Lectionary booklet for 2020 (above) are attributed to RCL. A New Zealand Prayer Book He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa, being the prayer book for the Anglican Church of Or, provides the following readings on page 655 (physical book) OR page 656 (online).
Psalms 75; 119:41-48
Readings
TWO YEAR SERIES
| Ezekiel 34:11-16 Or Ezekiel 3:4-11 1 Corinthians 3:18 – 4:1 Or 2 Timothy 4:1-8 John 21:15-19 Or Matthew 16:13-19 | The good shepherd A prophet’s endowment of strength Servant of Christ I have fought the good fight Peter’s death foretold The great confession |
THREE YEAR SERIES
St Peter
| Psalm 34:1-10 | Acts 12:1-11 2 Timothy 4:6-18 Or 6-8,17-18 Matthew 16:13-19 |
You can celebrate today’s feast with OR without the Eucharist. The minimum requirement for readings at the Eucharist is the Gospel reading, which is from Matthew OR John. Not counting where one uses it in the service, there are three options for the psalm (75; 119; not have one) in the Two Year Series. Three for the First Testament; three for the New Testament. This gives 3x3x3x2 options = 54 options for the Two Year Series. Similarly, there are 12 options for the Three Year Series.
The Lectionary booklet (imaged at the top) increases the Orness of the feast day by providing further readings – taken, it says, from RCL. But, I for one, as I have explained, cannot find this feast in RCL.
But wait, there’s even more OR!
The Anglican Church of Or today celebrates St Peter with OR without St Paul. The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia agrees that the feast day today celebrates “Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Apostles, Martyrs” page 655). It does (as I show above) have a “St Peter” Three Year Series “Or”. But our lectionary booklet extends this by presenting mother Church of England’s Common Worship option as well.
Common Worship is not part of the agreements of the Anglican Church of Or (it has not even been “received” – the lowest status of agreement in our Church – by General Synod Te Hinota Whanui). Nonetheless, the lectionary booklet has decided that
On a few occasions where provision is not made in RCL or in ANZPB/HKMOA, material has been included from Common Worship, an adaptation of the Revised Common Lectionary for use in the Church of England (CW).
THE LECTIONARY TE MARAMATAKA Year A – 2020 (page 2)
The Lectionary booklet provides about 36 different combinations for Eucharist readings. And, as we have calculated, the Prayer Book provides 66. This gives us about a hundred different combinations for Eucharist readings for today. I will leave you to calculate further, remembering every option (Eucharist with Morning and Evening Prayer; Morning Prayer alone; Morning and Evening Prayer without Eucharist; etc). Not forgetting to include the options provided in the Lectionary booklet of a First Evening Prayer:
Other Readings Evening
Ps 50
1 Sam 28:3-19 Luke 17:20 or
1st EP of SS Peter & Paul
Ps 66,67
Ezek 3:4-11 Gal 1:13 – 2:8
My commentary on the collect for the feast of Sts Peter & Paul
Glad to see you are still active there in my old homeland. After moving to China more than 12 years ago, I ended up working with a Catholic parish in the North-West where I somehow broke tradition in getting baptised in a small agape meeting (mass) by the cathedral parish priest and sharing words of encouragement often at the youth masses. We even wrote and performed dramas with students.
The baptism was to satisfy the secular authorities but gave me a “new beginning”. Glory to God. Foreigners speaking or praying in China’s official churches is a no-no (and only priest give homilies in RC churches anyway). Then again I broke tradition in NZ also in administering the Eucharist without a formal licence but the blessing of the hierarchy. We are now in Tajikistan where there are no Anglican groups and a small very conservative [and Marian] Catholic church. The African nuns in the Mother Teresa order are lovely … but we do so miss singing songs that might have been written in the last thousand years.