New Feature: Implement full lectionary support
MJ. Smith
MVP Posts: 54,532 
Yesterday, I responded (in negatives) as to why I placed a request for the return of the liturgical ribbon from the L7 home page in the Verbum forum rather than in the general forums.(See VERBUM 9 SUGGESTION re: "liturgical ribbon") So I thought today I should add (in positives) what I think is essential if FL is to truly support lectionaries. I am making some assumptions about pastors', religious ed directors', and faith formation directors' use -- I suspect I am wrong on some of them, especially across different faith traditions and parish sizes so please jump in and correct me:
VIEWS OF THE LECTIONARY
-In all cases below, treat "Sunday" as meaning "Sunday and Feast days"
-In writing a Sunday sermon, one needs context so a lectionary view showing this Sunday, the previous Sunday, the upcoming Sunday is needed; if the Sunday has multiples service, including a vigil, all the services for the day must be a lectionary view.
-In writing a Sunday sermon, if one is using the RCL daily lectionary, a lectionary view showing the readings from the previous Wednesday to the upcoming Tuesday is required as they are thematically related
-Outside Ordinary Time, the ability to see the entire season - Sundays only, full season including daily Note this should handle optional seasons such as the Season of Creation.
-For weekday sermons one should be able to see the weekday preceding and the weekday following as well as the current day
-Make it easy for the user to override their default lectionary as religious orders, dioceses, church name, current events all may adjust the calendar/lectionary. This should also allow for the use of short lectionaries overriding the standard lectionary as is done in the Season of Creation.
-To the extent possible, offer all the (English) Bible translations that are allowed for use with a particular lectionary - yes, for some churches this is a long list for others it is very restricted.
-Nice to have but not essential: ability to see what passages are and are not included in books given semi-continuous readings
-A nice to have: where there are options in the readings, allow the users options to be retained and shown by something such as bold print
-Nice to have: a pericope viewer based on lectionary pericopes
LECTIONARY PASSAGE GUIDE MODIFICATIONS
-Using resources such as Treasures Old and New: Images in the Lectionary by Gail Ramshaw for the RCL based lectionaries, create a Liturgical Theme/Image section that parallels the preaching theme sections. Sites such as https://episcopalchurch.org/library/article/lectionary-and-theme also carry thematic information.
-Add a section that highlights other times the Bible passage is used (a) in your preferred lectionary, (b) in historical/alternative lectionaries in your tradition, and (c) in all lectionaries - in historical or theological stream order
-Add liturgical date as a selection criteria for the Sermons section - yes, this requires a basic ability to account for the differences in liturgical date names across time and traditions
-Allow one to enter a liturgical date/lectionary id to generate a passage guide. This requires two changes: (a) allowing non-contiguous passage notation which Verbum/Logos converts to a single, continuous passage (b) open each of the passages in a passage guide that either allows you to tab through all the readings OR display them side by side.
-A section of links to sermons sites chosen by the user e.g. generic sites such as The Text This Week and denomination sites such as Torch: The Dominican Friars - England & Scotland. This provides some of the same functionality as the sermon sites in Logos but puts the choice of sites in the users hands.
-Nice to have: a compare text function that compares the pericope in the lectionary to the pericope in the appropriate Bible translation
-Nice to have: a section for history of the liturgical calendar/explanation of lectionary resources that lists references to the liturgical date.
SERMON TOOL MODIFICATIONS
-Add liturgical date to the metadata
-Allow auto-entry of lectionary readings
-Allow identification of preaching text - note some lectionaries include preaching texts outside the usual lectionary (lesson) texts esp. in the European Lutheran tradition IIRC
LAYOUTS:
-Allow the building of layouts that (a) have a fixed portion for lectionary level data and (b) have a portion for each reading that overlays ... this gives quick access to the layout for switching back and forth between readings
NICETIES:
-clip art that allows one to build a Sunday calendar for kids showing them the liturgical year
-clip art can also double on church bulletins
-create workflows for multi-passage Bible study and Sermon writing
-make it easy to identify the correct milestone format so that notes can easily be added to a liturgical date and the readings associated with it.
Okay, it's your turn to shoot holes in the above and to add to it ... I've probably missed as much as I included.
VIEWS OF THE LECTIONARY
-In all cases below, treat "Sunday" as meaning "Sunday and Feast days"
-In writing a Sunday sermon, one needs context so a lectionary view showing this Sunday, the previous Sunday, the upcoming Sunday is needed; if the Sunday has multiples service, including a vigil, all the services for the day must be a lectionary view.
-In writing a Sunday sermon, if one is using the RCL daily lectionary, a lectionary view showing the readings from the previous Wednesday to the upcoming Tuesday is required as they are thematically related
-Outside Ordinary Time, the ability to see the entire season - Sundays only, full season including daily Note this should handle optional seasons such as the Season of Creation.
-For weekday sermons one should be able to see the weekday preceding and the weekday following as well as the current day
-Make it easy for the user to override their default lectionary as religious orders, dioceses, church name, current events all may adjust the calendar/lectionary. This should also allow for the use of short lectionaries overriding the standard lectionary as is done in the Season of Creation.
-To the extent possible, offer all the (English) Bible translations that are allowed for use with a particular lectionary - yes, for some churches this is a long list for others it is very restricted.
-Nice to have but not essential: ability to see what passages are and are not included in books given semi-continuous readings
-A nice to have: where there are options in the readings, allow the users options to be retained and shown by something such as bold print
-Nice to have: a pericope viewer based on lectionary pericopes
LECTIONARY PASSAGE GUIDE MODIFICATIONS
-Using resources such as Treasures Old and New: Images in the Lectionary by Gail Ramshaw for the RCL based lectionaries, create a Liturgical Theme/Image section that parallels the preaching theme sections. Sites such as https://episcopalchurch.org/library/article/lectionary-and-theme also carry thematic information.
-Add a section that highlights other times the Bible passage is used (a) in your preferred lectionary, (b) in historical/alternative lectionaries in your tradition, and (c) in all lectionaries - in historical or theological stream order
-Add liturgical date as a selection criteria for the Sermons section - yes, this requires a basic ability to account for the differences in liturgical date names across time and traditions
-Allow one to enter a liturgical date/lectionary id to generate a passage guide. This requires two changes: (a) allowing non-contiguous passage notation which Verbum/Logos converts to a single, continuous passage (b) open each of the passages in a passage guide that either allows you to tab through all the readings OR display them side by side.
-A section of links to sermons sites chosen by the user e.g. generic sites such as The Text This Week and denomination sites such as Torch: The Dominican Friars - England & Scotland. This provides some of the same functionality as the sermon sites in Logos but puts the choice of sites in the users hands.
-Nice to have: a compare text function that compares the pericope in the lectionary to the pericope in the appropriate Bible translation
-Nice to have: a section for history of the liturgical calendar/explanation of lectionary resources that lists references to the liturgical date.
SERMON TOOL MODIFICATIONS
-Add liturgical date to the metadata
-Allow auto-entry of lectionary readings
-Allow identification of preaching text - note some lectionaries include preaching texts outside the usual lectionary (lesson) texts esp. in the European Lutheran tradition IIRC
LAYOUTS:
-Allow the building of layouts that (a) have a fixed portion for lectionary level data and (b) have a portion for each reading that overlays ... this gives quick access to the layout for switching back and forth between readings
NICETIES:
-clip art that allows one to build a Sunday calendar for kids showing them the liturgical year
-clip art can also double on church bulletins
-create workflows for multi-passage Bible study and Sermon writing
-make it easy to identify the correct milestone format so that notes can easily be added to a liturgical date and the readings associated with it.
Okay, it's your turn to shoot holes in the above and to add to it ... I've probably missed as much as I included.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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