A new lectionary being adopted by the Church in England, Scotland, and Wales from Advent Sunday 2024. Texts of the psalms for the new lectionary are now available from the Liturgy Office, upon application, to enable musicians to prepare resources. As well as the video, above, I have prepared a short piece to introduce the changes we can expect from Advent Sunday, initially with regard to Responsorial Psalms.
The first change which we will all notice is that the numbering of the psalms is now based upon the Hebrew rather than Greek numbering, hence “The Lord is my shepherd” is now Psalm 23 (22), instead of Psalm 22 (23) as it is now. Miserere mei, Deus, “Have mercy on me, O God”, is now Psalm 51 (50), instead of Psalm 50 (51).
The text is based upon the Grail Psalter with which we will all be familiar, but in the version produced by the Benedictine Monks from Conception Abbey, Missouri, and hence now known as the Abbey Psalter. There is much that is familiar, and several of the current responses and verses remain unchanged. However, there are several changes, some small, and some more substantive, in the responses and, indeed, in the verses themselves. By way of illustrating some of the changes, I thought that it might be useful to look at two psalms in the current lectionary which we have used recently, and to compare them with the new.
On the Feast of Corpus Christi, at the beginning of June, we sang Psalm 115 (116) or, as it will become, Psalm 116 (115)! Our response was “The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord’s name”. In the new version, this will become “The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the name of the LORD”. Very similar and the musical setting which we use at the Cathedral requires only a slight tweak for the new version.
In the verses, there are some slight changes, too, including exactly the same textual change where the response text itself is contained within one of the verses. Later on, “Your servant, Lord, your servant am I” becomes “Your servant am I, the son of your handmaid” whilst “A thanksgiving sacrifice I make” becomes “I will offer a thanksgiving sacrifice” which, arguably, works better poetically with the following line “I will call on the name of the LORD”, which remains unchanged.
As I write, we have just celebrated the Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, when we sang Psalm 92 (91). Again, there is a slight change to the response from “It is good to give you thanks, O Lord” to “It is good to give thanks to you, O LORD”. There are, again, some slight changes to the text in the verses with “to proclaim your love in the morning” becoming “to proclaim your loving mercy in the morning” and “The just will flourish like the palm tree” being replaced by “The just one will flourish like the palm tree”, for example. The bigger change is in the layout of the verses. At the moment, we have verses 2 and 3 together, in a block of four lines, followed by verse 13 alone, as two lines, followed by verses 14, 15, and 16 as a four line block. The new version has verses 2 – 3 together, followed by verses 13-14, and verses 15-16, each resulting in a block of four lines, which will likely prove to be easier to set to music.
Permission is required from the Liturgy Office if settings of the new lectionary are going to be sold, eg in published volumes whether printed or for download. For local use, without charge, there is no need to gain such permission. What will be being checked, as I understand it, is the integrity of the texts, ie that these have been used correctly, rather than the quality of the musical setting! Incidentally, you may have noticed that I have very deliberately used the word “Lord” when quoting from the current version of the psalter, and “Lord” when quoting from the new. LORD in small capitals indicates that, in the original Hebrew text, the divine name of God is used. Where other Hebrew words are used for Lord, this is shown without small caps.
There has also been a move towards inclusive language, such that, in the psalm for the Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year B), “These men have seen the Lord’s deeds” becomes “These have seen the deeds of the LORD.”
As you might expect, the copyright information which needs to be included in printed versions of the psalms will also change, being slightly more complicated than the current formula, and being slightly different according to whether the response is being reproduced alone, perhaps in a newsletter, or if the response and verses are to be used. Details are included in the pack from the Liturgy Office which follows a request for the psalm texts.
At the moment, in Middlesbrough, I mainly compose my own psalms for use at the Cathedral, sometimes using those of my predecessor, Tim Harrison, where I have them, or adapting or using ones from earlier in my career. Some of our parishes use the same psalmody as we use at the Cathedral, which I share freely with them via an online folder. I intend to make a version of the new psalms freely available, similarly, to our parishes, if any wish to use them, probably initially year by year.
As we are aware, the new lectionary must be used from Advent Sunday 2024, and may be used, if the Parish Priest wishes, from September 2024 onwards. There is, however, a note at paragraph 144 of the Composers’ Guidance document which states that there is a 3-year transition period with respect of the responsorial psalms, “in order to afford time for review and planning”. As a result, we must use the new lectionary psalms from Advent 2027, and may use them, with the agreement of the parish priest, from September 2024.