THEOLOGICAL CLUE

Two major changes were made in the rationale of the Easter season in virtually all of the new lectionaries: the first was dropping the Latin names for the six Sundays between Easter and Pentecost, as was done in Lent. Since these names come from the introits, the psalms, rather than the gospels, and established the theoretical and real themes of the Sundays, something of Easter was often lost in the process. For example, the Fourth Sunday after Easter was Cantate and became known as Church Music Sunday in some parts of the church, a day to promote singing in choirs, etc. "Singing a new song to the Lord," in response to the resurrection, was lost, more often than not, in this special emphasis, which even included turning this Sunday into a day for cantatas and concerts whi…