Making the most of the Lectionary by Thomas O'Loughlin

Making the Most of the Lectionary: A user's guide

This book has a very simple aim, to move Anglicans and Catholics from the near universal indifference to their current Lectionary to a place where it is encountered and its presentation of scripture enriches their worshipping lives.

Lectionary provision is oddly one point where Catholics and Anglicans have shared much common ground, with the BCP and pre-Vatican II Lectionaries being largely aligned (albeit a week adrift).  Therefore the adoption of Vatican II's Revised Lectionary as a basis for the Revised Common Lectionary in the US and for the Common Worship Lectionary in England is a continuation in a happy vane.

But why try and celebrate the Lectionary at all?  Firstly O'Loughlin deals with some general issues about the Bible and the relationship many Christians have with it - this might be old news for many readers but it is a key foundation to the book - it will equally be a radical challenge to the understanding "The Bible" of others and causing some never to get to the end of chapter 1.  There is also important distinctions made between the liturgical reading (and hearing) of scripture and "Bible Study" or a whole range of other modes of engagement.

This general discussion takes up about half the book - and having taken on board the message of this first half the examination of the Lectionary itself becomes pretty self explanatory - I made me feel a bit like the first half was a waste of time, however on reflection I see that I would not have got the second half if I encountered it alone.

O'Loughlin, in the second half, sets out the aim of those who put the Revised Lectionary together, it is a revelation that there were such strong aims given the output has become so widely accepted inter-denominationally (to often it is the bland that becomes universal - and with the Lectionary I think the assumption of many is because it is universal it must be bland). Even with new insights on the structure and the message of the Lectionary, what remains a challenge is the sheer scale of the encounter given its three year cycle, how many of us, even the most regular of church goers, can really hold three years worth of  liturgical experience in tension before us? However I think I will look with fresh eye at the reading before me Sunday to Sunday - and also when I now argue against the setting aside of Lectionary readings for this or that 'special' service I can arm myself with reason rather than just my reactionary spirit.

Salvage by Gee Williams

Salvage

For the most part this is a highly engaging story, each part is told by a different character, the one in part musing about the next, this is really effective and leads you into the depths of the story.
The other really interesting thing about these different viewpoints is that you build up a picture of events in the round, each one shares their understand of what has happened - and you end up with the realisation that the "truth" has perhaps escaped them all (or perhaps truth just does not exist in abstract at all...). 

That it is set in Chester was also an interest for me, as my parents over the past 8 or so years have lived there.  I think this mean I know Chester well enough to validate the descriptions of it as authentic but not so well that I would spot the slight geographical anomalies that are bound to be present. That Parkgate features is also a little delight (the seaside town which is no longer by the sea - as the estuary has silted up and a grassy marsh has replaced the beach) it is a surreal place and so a great setting for some of the more surreal moments of the story.

I began by praising the work only for "the most part" - it is perhaps only the last dozen pages or so for which I have qualified my statement. I think the story could have been left unresolved but Gee does a bit of unnecessary tidying up - added a devise where one of the characters is a writer and you are lead to believe that some if not all of what came before is this writer's fictionalisation of events which may or may not have happened.  This adds a pointless layer of complexity to the story and I felt devalues the journey which I had been on with the characters - my advice is enjoy this but stop at around page 200... 

The Eucharistic Liturgies by Paul F. Bradshaw and Maxwell E. Johnson

The Eucharistic Liturgies: Their Evolution and Interpretation

One of the great delights of membership of the Alcuin Club is the arrival of its annual "Collection" - of which this is the 87th volume - they range widely over Liturgical Studies and so challenge you to read and think about areas which might not always be you first preference.

The arrival of this volume was a little intimidating, at 350+ pages it looked little something of a "tome", while the stated ambition in the introduction to have written the standard text book for the study of the Eucharist added to the sense of gravitas.  I doubt I would have picked this book up myself preferring something a bit more "sexy" therefore it was pleasing to find this a highly readable and engaging work.

The 'myth' of the linear development from Jewish Passovers to the Last Supper and on into the Christian Eucharist is deeply embedded in our psyche as a worshipping community, but Bradshaw and Johnson gently and skilfully in pick this myth and show the much more complex and therefore much more fansinating story.

This is written as a text book and so most of the content is drawn from the work of others, but while the work may not be original the ability to bring the full scope of 2000 years of mainstream Christian Eucharistic practice (both Western and Eastern) into a single view is a great and valuable achievement.