December 1, 2015 Lectionary Usage: The Living Word of Scripture and Holy Week are just a few celebrations of the And how from childhood you have calendar. Beginning each year at Advent, the cal- known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through endar is divided between: faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is in- Festival Sundays—those Sundays that fall spired by God and is useful for teach- in the seasons of Advent/Christmas/Epiphany ing, for reproof, for correction, and for and Lent/Easter/Pentecost; and training in righteousness, so that every- Ordinary Time—(ordinary meaning “the one who belongs to God may be pro- ongoing divine providence around us”) those ficient, equipped for every good work. Sundays that fall between the seasons following —2 Timothy 3:15–17 NRSV Epiphany and Pentecost. The Sundays are num- bered and have the term Proper, as in Ordinary What Is a Lectionary? Time (Proper 4), to facilitate the location of a par- ticular Ordinary Time Sunday in resources used We have all heard lectures, maybe given by throughout the Christian world. someone standing behind a lectern. In the old days, a lecture was usually read. In fact, the lec- The Liturgical Year turer was called a lector. And if he (it was usually a Decem “he”) read a passage of scripture, he was reading a ber ber m lection. Today we often call them lessons. All these ve Ja o nu N a “lect” words have the same root word as lection- r y r e ary; they all are based on the Latin word lectus, b F o e which means “read.” A is a schedule of t lectionary b c r scripture lessons to be read in worship on specific O u a r y occasions or for a given length of time. r e b Proclamation is one of the central elements M m a of Christian worship. The reading of scripture ex- e t r c p h hibits the centrality of God’s word as revealed in e S A the scripture: the Word in Jesus Christ. To sup- t p s r u i l g port that commitment, Community of Christ u A M a y has adopted the most widely used lectionary to- y l u J J u n day—the Revised Common Lectionary (Nashville: e Abingdon Press, 1992). Based on the Christian Advent calendar, the Revised Common Lectionary is a table The season encompassing the four Sundays of scripture passages prescribed for weekly wor- before Christmas begins with the Sunday fall- ship during a three-year cycle. During the course ing on or nearest November 30. This is a time of that cycle, we remember the events and minis- of preparation and penitence before Jesus’ birth try of the life of Jesus while we hold up our own and/or the Second Coming. lives for analysis. During that cycle, all the other major themes of the Bible are also explored. Christmas Christ’s birth is celebrated during the 12 days How It Works from December 25 through January 5. The Christian calendar is an organized list of Christian religious commemorations that en- Epiphany able us to focus on the birth, ministry, death, and January 6 is Epiphany Day. The length of resurrection of Jesus Christ within the space of a Epiphany varies, depending on the date of Eas- year. Christmas, Easter, Advent, Lent, Pentecost, ter, and ends on Tuesday (Fat Tuesday) before Ash 11 Lectionary Usage: The Living Word of Scripture Wednesday. The Epiphany theme of “appear- or C, and begins with Advent—not only with the ance” or “manifestation” usually includes the anticipation of Jesus’ birth at Christmas but with story of the wise men, the star, and the flight into the anticipation of the Second Coming—and is Egypt. Another major focus of this season is on regarded as the beginning of the Christian year. the growth, life, and teachings of Jesus. At the end of three years, the cycle repeats. Each of the three years is distinguished by Lent one of the Gospels: the book of Matthew in Year Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (40 days be- A, Mark in Year B, and Luke in Year C. John is dis- fore Easter, not including Sundays) and ends on tributed throughout the three years with a heavy Easter Eve. This is a season of personal reflection emphasis during Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and and inward soul-searching and repentance as we Easter, and in Year B because Mark is a shorter remember Christ’s sacrifice. book. During Ordinary Time, the Hebrew Scrip- Holy Week tures from the Mosaic tradition are read in Year This week includes: A, the Davidic sequence in Year B, and the major Palm/Passion Sunday: Christ’s trium- prophets in Year C, with selections from some phal entry into Jerusalem minor prophets. For example, in Year B the Old (The term Passion Sunday is used when no Testament readings are from the Davidic narra- other Holy Week services will be scheduled. Pas- tive because of Mark’s concern to present Jesus as sion Sunday focuses on all the events of Holy the Son of David. Week, starting with Palm Sunday and ending on It is traditional in Christian worship to have Holy Saturday.) three texts read each Lord’s Day. Most lectionar- Maundy Thursday: remembering the Last ies suggest three lessons: Supper • Old Testament or Hebrew Scripture Good Friday: remembering Jesus’ suffering • New Testament—usually from an epistle, and death Acts, or Revelation Holy Saturday: a day of fasting, reflecting • Gospel on Jesus’ rest in the tomb The text from the Psalms is often not con- sidered a “lesson.” It was originally intended to Easter follow the Old Testament reading as the congre- The Easter season begins Easter Sunday and gation’s response to that text—praising God in celebrates Christ’s resurrection for 50 days. Easter the words of the ancient prayer book and hymnal Day is always the first Sunday after the first full of God’s people. Psalms are prayers presented in moon falling on or after March 21 (falls between various ways: sung, paraphrased, chanted, and March 21 and April 25). used in other ways as part of the service. While Pentecost the other scriptures are to be heard and obeyed, Pentecost means “50 days” and is 50 days the psalm is itself our response. past Easter, including Sundays. It focuses on the There are two basic methods of scripture coming of the Holy Spirit to the early church. selection. Both are used in the Revised Common Lectionary: Ordinary Time 1. Readings selected according to the day, sea- The time from Pentecost until Advent stress- son, or occasion in the Christian year. es Jesus’ teachings and other major themes of the 2. Continuous or semicontinuous readings, us- scriptures. ing the layout of the books of scripture as Because of the movement of the holidays in the system, producing a reading of passages the calendar, the Christmas and Easter seasons in sequence. The Revised Common Lection- “float” in relation to each other; therefore, the ary has sequential readings, but they are not number of Sundays between them changes. always continuous, sometimes jumping cer- Each year of the cycle is labeled either A, B, tain passages. 12 Lectionary Usage: The Living Word of Scripture On the Sundays during the Christmas and which the church membership was being led. An Easter seasons, the readings form a set with annual theme was then supported by monthly themes related to the days or seasons. The Gospel themes and weekly themes, used as the basis for text is central with the other readings selected weekly congregational worship. In addition, the to illuminate the meaning of the Gospel pas- church also continued to develop its own special sage. During this time, the Old Testament lesson emphasis days, such as Racial Justice Day, Youth is chosen to inform the New Testament text. An Ministries Day, World Hunger Emphasis, and example of this is the use of Isaiah lessons during Heritage Day. All the hymns, readings, scriptures, Advent. and other resources were chosen for their ability During Ordinary Time, readings are semi- to speak to the theme. continuous with no necessary connection During this time, the church’s involvement among the lessons. This can often produce seem- with the global and ecumenical community in- ingly disparate scriptures to use in one service. creased as did its call for increased competency However, this is to provide the opportunity to from its priesthood. The church began to recog- experience all of the most important passages of nize that it had moved away from scripture-based scripture with the original poetry, history, and preaching. There was a need for its members to theology of the text. It is in the sum of all the be knowledgeable of their own canon and to be passages, after all, that the fullness of the scrip- able to teach and preach from it. ture message is found. During a three-year pe- Beginning in the late 1970s, the Saints Herald riod, about 95 percent of the New Testament is published weekly themes with suggested scrip- used, as is about 60 percent of the Old Testament tures, hymns, and short worship suggestions. In (Hebrew Scripture). the 1980s and early 1990s, one suggested service Lectionaries have also been devised for dai- per month was also provided. During that time ly use, usually on a two-year cycle with longer the church began to explore increased use of the scriptures for personal meditation.