What is the “lectionary”?

Do you remember a class having an assigned reading list? The church has one, it’s called the lectionary.

Lectionaries pre-date Christianity. Judaism used lectionaries, or assigned readings from Scripture. These readings do have certain purposes—to help us make sense of Scripture by going through highlights of the Old Testament, the gospels, and the letters.

During the Reformation, many protestant reformers stopped using the lectionary and started preaching through books of the Bible. If you start reading sermons from the Reformation era they are long—because most people don’t realize that John Calvin and Martin Luther were preaching every day—so those sermons were usually preached over a series of days.

When you hear people talking about the church seasons—Advent, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Ordinary Time—the readings will often focus on uniquely redemptive aspects of the life of Jesus. Where’s how this works, in the Old Testament reading, there will be a promise and in the Gospel reading, Jesus will fulfill that promise. Ultimately, the readings are helping us to experience the rhythm of Jesus’ life.

At First Church of Clyattville, we’re returning to the most popular lectionary, the Revised Common Lectionary. The RCL takes us through a three-year cycle. Barbara Brown Taylor said, “The beauty of the lectionary is that it leads us places that we otherwise might not go . . . By leading us to them, the lectionary makes sure we do not read only the parts of the Bible we like and close the covers on all the rest.”

There is also a sense of connection with other churches and Christians. Many of our Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational, Roman Catholic, and Lutheran friends will be reading and studying these verses as well.

If you are interested in seeing what the upcoming reading are, check out lectionarypage.net