Historical Question regarding book/document used in the Church of England

I was reading this passage from Wesley's diaries this past week:

"Sun. 7.—I entered upon my ministry at Savannah by preaching on the Epistle for the day, being the 13th of the first of Corinthians. In the Second Lesson (Luke 18) was our Lord’s prediction of the treatment which He Himself (and consequently His followers) was to meet with from the world; and His gracious promise to those who are content, nudi nudum Christum sequi: ‘Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left houses, or friends, or brethren, or wife, or children for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.’" (The Journals of John Wesley, Vp 1.179)

Wesley refer's to various Lessons (in the this case something called Second Lesson). He was currently serving as a missionary as a minister in the Church of England. I was wondering what this might refer to? Is this a way to refer to something from a Lectionary or the Book of Common Prayer, or a type of Sunday school lesson. I thought since we have British users who are members of the Church of England, someone might have a clue.

Thanks!

Philana

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David Wilson

Is this a way to refer to something from a Lectionary or the Book of Common Prayer

Yes and Yes: What he is talking about here are the scripture readings set out in the Book of Common Prayer, Table of Lessons, which prescribed which lessons were to be used in which services on which Sundays throughout the Church Year. Normally the First lesson was from the Old Testament and the Second Lesson from the New Testament. He was refereing to what was an early Lectionary in the Church.

The purpose of the Lectionary is two fold:

for the majority of churches following the lectionary (not specific to one denomination), you would be able to go to any such church on Sunday and expect the readings (and the sermon) to be based on the same set of scriptures, frequently continuing the Story from last week, so that it did not matter if you were home or visiting or travelling you would not miss out on what would have been going on elsewhere (also made weekday Bible studies a lot easier as everyone had covered the same ground the previous Sunday even if they were from different churches)
http://www.logos.com/product/8647/book-of-common-prayer-1979-sunday-lectionary (FREE book)
to ensure that all of the key passages in the Bible were covered at least once every three years (the lectionary being set out as Year A, Year B and Year C) so that priests/pastors could not focus on their favorite topics all the time and skip stuff they found "difficult" or prefered to avoid.

Those churches currently using the Revised Common Lectionary often have four scripture readings per service, an Old Testament Lesson (first lesson, a Psalm, and reading from an Epistle (second lesson) and then pride of place the Gospel (third lesson). The readings for any given Sunday usually have a common theme, and this theme is often the one chosen for the sermon. (Last Sunday for example was Fire/Water, the Holy Spirit and the baptism of Jesus)
http://www.logos.com/product/8748/revised-common-lectionary

Back in Wesley's time there were most likely only two lessons per Sunday service, but you were expected to go to two Services, one in the Morning and one in the Evening and there were two different lessons prescribed for each (total of four).

Logos have several sets of books to help provide guidance to preparing sermons on these themes:
http://www.logos.com/product/7818/the-lectionary-commentary-vol-1-the-old-testament-and-acts
http://www.logos.com/product/7819/the-lectionary-commentary-vol-2-the-acts-and-the-epistles
http://www.logos.com/product/7820/the-lectionary-commentary-vol-3-the-gospels

http://www.logos.com/product/4573/lectionary-reflections-collection

http://www.logos.com/product/15834/twelve-months-of-sundays-reflections-on-bible-readings-year-a

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to determine from the lessons he was quoting, which Sunday was he talking about ?

PS: You do not need to be a member of the Church of England to be able to answer this.

MJ. Smith

I was wondering what this might refer to?

Book of Common Prayer refers to the readings as Lessons ... as in Lessons and Carols in Advent which is more familiar to many Americans than the Book of Common Prayer.

David E Haeuser

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/453160#Comment_453160

Looking in my old The Lutheran Hymnal, which followed the historic lessons of the church, the readings for Quinquagesima Sunday, the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, the Epistle reading is listed as 1 Cor. 13:1-13 and the Gospel as Luke 18:31-43. I suspect the Book of Common Prayer would have had the same readings for that Sunday. The newer lectionaries, which often follow a 3 year cycle, were widely adopted after the Second Vatican Council in most liturgical churches, but in Wesley's time the historic one year series was the norm.

Philana Crouch

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/453160#Comment_453160

David and MJ,

Thank you both for your help in answering my question. I have looked at the Revised Common Lectionary before, but it used the term Readings, I also just saw the Book of Common Prayer (1979) readings in my Library (forgot I had that). I wasn't sure if "lessson" was being used in the same way or refered to a book used for Sunday school lessons or some type of instruction. The journal entry is for March 7, 1735 but Wesley, according to other notes in the journals, preferred the edition of the Book of Common Prayer from the time of Edward Vi instead of the one used in his day. He may have used both, he was in Savannah, Georgia at the time. I have just found it interesting reading about his devotional practices and wanted to make sure I was understanding what he was saying in his descriptons.

Blessings,

Philana

Rosie Perera

From the Oxford English Dictionary, definition 2 of lesson:

2. Christian Church. A portion of Scripture or other sacred writing read at divine service. Now chiefly applied to the portion of the O.T. ('first lesson') and to that of the N.T. ('second lesson') appointed in the Church of England to be read at Morning and Evening Prayer.