The question remains: are there more options for celebrating today’s feast than there are people in our Church to celebrate them?
A New Zealand Prayer Book He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa, being the General-Synod-agreed (1989-2005 editions, phyisical) prayer book for the Anglican Church of Or, provides the following readings on page 655:
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 |
The Prayer Book’s “St Peter [alone]” version has, this year, become the first column in the lectionary booklet. That is the online 2020 [what I am calling “draft”] Prayer Book page 723.e for Saint Peter and Saint Paul.
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.
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 B – 2021 (page 2)
CW provides 18 different combinations for Eucharist readings. And, as we have calculated, the Prayer Book provides 66. This gives us heading for 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:
1st EP of SS Peter & Paul
Ps 66,67
Ezek 3:4-11 Gal 1:13 – 2:8
It is positive that this year the lectionary booklet includes the provisions of our Prayer Book. The last time this happened was 1999.
My commentary on the collect for the feast of Sts Peter & Paul
