14 September 2026

Following Vatican II, the Roman Catholic Church produced a three year lectionary replacing an annual cycle which surprisingly enough didn’t include the Old Testament. The American Presbyterians incorporated a version of this lectionary into their ‘Worship Book’ (1970) and  Common Order (1994) embraced it too. It was a remarkable ecumenical achievement.

There are deficiencies expressed by those who adhere to the Directory’s suggestion that ‘ordinarily, where the reading in either Testament endeth on one Lord’s day, it is to begin the next.’ But the Kirk allows ministers  freedom  to enter and exit the lectionary at will.

The influence of deepening ecumenical relations  increased the observance of the Christian Year. This has brought colour, focus and joy to Sunday worship. Candles are lit in Advent Wreaths and Paschal Candles. Seasonal pulpit falls, stoles, banners and art  utilize artistic gifts. As Roman Catholics became more Protestant, the Kirk became more Catholic.

The Christian  Year was expanded to include the Season of Creation, initiated by Patriarch Demetrios  in 1989, adopted by the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland in 2008 and by the Roman Catholics in 2016. It is now a season stretching from 1 September until  the Feast of St. Francis.

Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestants are united in our concern for the earth. But it was a kirk minister who observed that the Christian Year didn’t mark God, the Father. The ‘Peterhead Lectionary’, devised by the Revd. Allan McArthur seventy years ago, follows the pattern of the creed and begins with ‘Creation and Providence’.