Joining Others Following the Lectionary

For the next little while, we are going to be jumping into the Lectionary.
For those who don’t know that fancy term, the Lectionary is basically a Sunday curriculum that organizes the main stories of the Bible into a three-year cycle.  Every Sunday, the lectionary gives four scriptures to use: 1) Hebrew Text [Old Testament], 2) Psalm, 3) Gospel [1 year for each synoptic], 4) Epistles [Letters & Revelation].

The idea for the Lectionary originally came from the Medieval Jewish community in Europe.  Their weekly Torah readings are standardized in a very similar 3-year schedule.  What we will be using is The Revised Common Lectionary which was assembled by North American Consultation on Common Texts (CCT) and the International English Language Liturgical Consultation and released for public use in 1994.  It is used by the Catholic tradition and most Mainline Protestant Denominations.

In addition to using the lectionary, I will also be utilizing the resources put out by the Presbyterian Outlook.  The Presbyterian Outlook is a PCUSA National Publication.  While the Presbyterian Outlook is not owned or run by the PCUSA officially, it is the officially sanctioned magazine of the denomination.  Every week, the Presbyterian Outlook publishes a worship liturgy based on the scripture in the Revised Common Lectionary.  These liturgies are original works written by PCUSA pastors from around the nation.  The Presbyterian Outlook publishes them for free as long as you credit the authors.  Occasionally, you many have seen Prayers of Confession or Pastoral Prayers attributed to other pastors by name.  This is an indication that I am not the author but have used the resources that the Presbyterian Outlook has made available.

In addition, the Presbyterian Outlook has a wealth of articles, thought pieces, book reviews and PCUSA updates that they publish regularly.  They have a magazine that you can order, or you can subscribe – like I do – to support their work.  Otherwise, I believe you can access three articles for a month before you hit a paywall.

All of that to say: by jumping into the lectionary, we are entering into the conversation that spans across our country and across the Christian world.  We will be joining in the words that others are saying and contemplating the same scriptures as other communities like ours… and unlike ours.  The one promise that I make to you all is that we won’t be reading all four scriptures on any given Sunday.  As when I plan sermon series, I will focus on one scripture - and maybe a second - if it is really necessary.  I know that some folks find the Lectionary repetitive after a while.  So, I also plan to check in with folks and see what they think.
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Blessings,
Pastor Chris