Shared treasure: the inclusive lectionary.

No one should denigrate the great ecumenical moments: The pope of Rome meets with the archbishop of Canterbury or with the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinopel. Statements of doctrinal convergence are issued by joint commissions for dialogue. But there are other moments of quieter ecumenism, concrete and pastoral--of regular occurrence and lasting importance.

One of these is the common use of the same schedule of biblical readings at the Sunday liturgy in neighboring congregations, Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and on and on. This common pattern for hearing the word of God is embodied in a common lectionary, now called The Revised Common Lectionary (Nashville: Abingdon, 1992). It is a list that is equally usable with the excellent New Revised Standard Version, the New American Bible, or older versions. The remarkable thing is that this agreed-upon list of readings--now spreading throughout the English-speaking world and under study by the churches of other languages--is basically the order established for the reformed Roman liturgy in 1969.

Among many instances of reciprocal influence in liturgical reform, this is a providential contribution of Vatican II. The council decreed that more scriptural readings should be introduced into the services of worship, whether sacraments or other services, even the briefest. But for the Sunday Eucharist, its chief concern, the council mandated "a more lavish opening up of the treasures of the Bible," with a better selection of passages read over a period of years.

It is hard to exaggerate the impact upon the hundreds of millions of Catholics who follow the Roman rite. The 1969 reform increased the quantity and quality of readings, and the use of a three-year cycle of reading gave it a distinctive character. Based on semicontinuous reading of Matthew, Mark, and, Luke--with John added to the year of Mark--the three-year list enables the Scriptures to be heard as written, without the artifices of scholastic, analytic, or even catechetical arrangements.

The revised Roman order was barely published when other churches in North America began to adopt the same arrangement, with certain refinements and adaptations (for example, changes dependent on different church calendars and traditions). The first launched was The Worshipbook-Services of the Presbyterian Church in 1970 (later accepted by the Disciples of Christ and the United Church of Christ), followed by Episcopal, Lutheran, and Consultation on Church Union lectionaries. These culminated in a joint effort--involving the collaboration of ICEL, the (Roman Catholic) International Commission on English in the Liturgy--toward a single joint list for trial use in 1983; this was reworked for the 1992 edition mentioned above. The project was sponsored by the (North American) Consultation on Common Texts; it is now promoted by the (international) English Language Liturgical Consultation.

Just hearing and celebrating the same readings with our Christian sisters and brothers every Sunday is a remarkable achievement. But there is more. The common undertaking also involves joint study groups, shared homily preparation by preachers, the same commentaries used in several churches, and even the use of the lectionary for religious education curricula. This is concrete, living ecumenism.

While the Common Lectionary is an adaptation closely based on the reformed Roman liturgical order, it is also a refinement. It smooths out rough edges and supplies omitted verses in readings; it adds otherwise neglected readings that speak of the women of the Bible. In particular, the ecumenical list offers sets of alternative Old Testament readings for the Sundays of so-called ordinary time. One alternative set contains a richer, semicontinuous selection from the Old Testament, including important narrative passages not heard on Sundays in the Catholic community. The Roman list is also provided as an option, a list that has been criticized for somewhat artificial or even far-fetched pairings of Old Testament and Gospel readings. That problem was noted by the Pontifical Biblical Commission in 1993, even as it praised the Roman lectionary and its wide ecumenical impact.

Ironically, the Common Lectionary as such has not yet been authorized in the Catholic community, although the National Conference of Catholic Bishops asked to experiment with it in the mid-1980s. Now, with the encouragement of the Roman Council for Promoting Christian Unity (in the 1993 ecumenical directory) and the Biblical Commission, there is greater hope that there may be ecumenical identity in the choice of Sunday readings if not translations. Despite recent controversies over those translations (see, Gabe Huck, "Rome Speaks" Commonweal, November 18, 1994), the wisdom of Vatican II in matters liturgical and ecumenical is clearly felt in the use of the basic Roman lectionary by so many churches. That we, Catholics and other Christians alike, can today hear God's word in a liturgical pattern that is substantially the same is a clear blessing for pastoral ecumenical activity. It is quiet ecumenism.