Eight Reasons Why We Love The Historic Lectionary
lec·tion·ar·y: noun,
portions of the Old Testament, Epistles, and Gospels appointed to be read at church
services throughout the church calendar year. (Click Here for an example.)
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1) The
historic lectionary does not allow for hobby horses.
Every
year I seem to bump into a family friend.
Let’s call him, Dan. Since Dan knows
that I am a pastor, the conversation often shifts to the church. After I share about the parish I serve, I return
the favor and ask Dan about his church. With excitement, he most recently
shared with me, “We are thrilled that our
pastor is preaching through the Book of Revelation. It is so exciting! People are really enjoying it.” What I find interesting is that it seems as
if Dan’s pastor has been teaching incessantly through Revelation for the last ten
years. Unless I am getting senile or
experiencing weird déjà vu, it seems as if this is the 3rd or 4th time that Dan’s pastor has gone through a year-long sermon series on Revelation.
Now,
is there anything wrong with preaching through the Book of Revelation? Yes and no.
It is never wrong to preach God’s Word; however, the problem arises when
pastors focus on hobby horses to the exclusion of everything else in the
Bible. Hobby horses can inadvertently cause
a church to be reductionistic.
Why
do we love the historic lectionary? The historic
lectionary prevents the pastor from preaching all the time on hobby horses; the
lectionary prompts the pastor to give the church a balanced diet from all of
the Scriptures.
_____
2) The
historic lectionary gives a balanced theological diet.
The
screen was blank except for a flashing cursor.
Pastor Banner scratched his head and sighed. He had 52 Sundays, plus an additional 12 services
for major Christian festivals, that he was hoping to plan out. Out of the 31,102 verses in the Bible, what verses
should he include in these 50-60 church services? What verses are the most important? And how could Pastor Banner ensure that he
was not subconsciously going the way of his hobby horses or perhaps missing out
on essential aspects of the Bible?
Dating
back hundreds of years, the historic church has had its own calendar. The church calendar has seasons and appointed
scriptures from the Old Testament, Psalms, Epistles, and Gospels.[1] And with the different seasons and selected
scripture passages, comes different Biblical narratives. Narratives such as the creation of the world,
the redemption of Israel, the birth of Jesus, the life of Jesus, the death of
Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, the beginning of the church, the second
coming, and so forth. Themes also
appear, such as judgment, grace, forgiveness, suffering, joy, persecution,
death, life, hope, etc. The point
being, the historic lectionary presents to the church approximately 250
portions of scripture from the whole Bible - the Old Testament, the Psalms,
Epistles, and Gospels. It is there to
help pastors – like Pastor Banner – to know what to preach during the 50-60
church services each year.
Why
do we love the historic lectionary? The
historic lectionary gives the church a balanced theological diet from the whole
Bible (over one year) resulting in the church receiving the whole counsel of
God.
3) The
historic lectionary does not shy away from challenging Scripture.
First Lutheran Church loves
to hear positive and uplifting sermons.
And their pastor, Pastor Thompson?
Well, he likes to be liked by his parishioners. As a result, it is easy for Pastor Thompson
to tell First Lutheran what they want to hear with only uplifting-easy-to-hear
Bible verses. And likewise, it is easy
for First Lutheran to encourage Pastor Thompson to tickle their ears with Bible
verses that avoid politically incorrect subjects.
The historic lectionary,
though, does not bend to the wishes of Pastor Thompson or First Lutheran
Church. In fact, since the approximate
250 portions of Scripture have been assigned to certain days within the church
calendar, the historic lectionary is not easily manipulated by what is and what
is not politically correct in culture. In fact, the lectionary contains many
difficult Scripture passages that a pastor and church may want to bypass.
Why do we love the historic
lectionary? The historic lectionary directs
the pastor to tackle difficult Scripture passages and preach to uncomfortable and
forbidden taboos.
4) The
historic lectionary prevents lame sermon series.
Pastor Joe feels a tremendous pressure to come up with something ‘new’ and ‘current’
for each Sunday that will captivate his flock.
Furthermore, when Pastor Joe develops so-called ‘relevant’ sermon series,
he not only has to build his sermon series from scratch but he also worries if
the series is as hip as the other sermon series at the neighboring mega-church. As a result, Pastor Joe invests countless
hours in creating, fretting, comparing, and marketing his sermon series in his church
and on social media, when in reality, most onlookers see his sermon series as
lame. Yes, lame. While the sermon series does not seem lame to
Pastor Joe or his church at present, five to ten years down the road, they
will blush when they look back. What is
culturally relevant today will be embarrassingly lame tomorrow, for culture
fads change but God’s Word is timeless.
Why
do we love the historic lectionary? The
historic lectionary keeps things timeless and simple for the church and the
pastor – the pastor does not have to fret, compete, or sell a sermon series
every week. And most importantly, the pastor
does not have to invent lame sermon series.
5) The
historic lectionary prevents the culture from setting the agenda.
Pastor
Jim is an enthusiast for politics, social ethics, and social justice issues. Furthermore, he is an avid watcher of a
nightly news show where lively debates occur over politics and culture. As a result, the vast majority of Pastor
Jim’s study time, conversations, and sermons seem to be reacting to the most
recent weekly news. While Pastor Jim is
very theologically astute, he lets the culture set the agenda for his local
church. That is to say; he is reactive
to culture by allowing the culture to define what he talks about in his sermons,
rather than being proactive from the Word.
Pastor Jim is failing to realize that the church is not captive to the
culture but speaks into and in spite of the culture. Furthermore, by being reactive, his church is
not receiving a balanced theological diet from the Word and is more often than
not, receiving Pastor Jim’s political and cultural hobby horses.
Why
do we love the historic lectionary? The
historic lectionary helps the church and pastors to be proactive from the Word
and not primarily reactive to the culture.
The historic lectionary sets the agenda rather than allowing the culture
to set the agenda for the church.
6) The
lectionary shows how all of the Bible is united.
When
I was a child, I used to think that the Old Testament was full of Law and that
the New Testament contained only Gospel.
As a whole, the Bible worked, but not in parts. The lectionary helps
correct this severe error. That is to
say; the lectionary shows how Jesus – as the eternal word and author of the
whole Bible – speaks Law and Gospel from both the Old and New Testament. For example, when the Old Testament, Psalm,
Epistle, and Gospel lessons are read on a Sunday church service, a clear theme
and coherent message are presented to the congregation from all four
readings. The congregation will hear
about Law, Gospel, mercy, judgment, suffering, hope, and so forth, from both
the Old and the New Testament.
Why
do we love the lectionary? The lectionary
shows how all of the Bible is united, having the same author from Genesis to
Revelation.
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7) The
historic lectionary allows pastors to build off of the past.
I’ve
been told by my musical friends that some of the most excellent musicians in
the history of the world were those who built off of previous great
musicians. The key word is ‘built.’ Yes, they built off of greatness that came
before them.
The
same thing happens with the historic lectionary. Since the historic lectionary has been used
by pastors and theologians for hundreds of years, a pastor can read sermons
from people such as the sixteenth-century Reformer, Martin Luther, or the great
Swedish theologian, Bo Giertz, or the early American Lutheran, C.F.W.
Walther. That is to say; the pastor not
only can build off of previous pastors and theologians who have come before
him, but the pastor can also build off of his previous sermons and studies on
the lectionary Scripture passages.
Why
do we love the historic lectionary? The
historic lectionary allows pastors to build off of great theologians and
pastors of previous generations.
8) With
the historic lectionary, less is more.
According
to David Kinnaman in his book, You Lost
Me, younger Christians in their 20s used to have regular church attendance
like those in their 60s. However, since
the 1960s, younger Christians began to show drastic disengagement from the
church, and that trend has continued to this day. As a result, church attendance among
parishioners is much more sporadic than it is consistent.[2]
As
a result, churches are faced with the reality that less is more. In other words, with consistent attendance in
church services and Bible studies, a pastor and church can cover a lot of
Biblical content and build on previous content.
However, when attendance is sporadic at best, the church will need to
zero in on what is most essential and then make sure to repeat it over and
over. This is where the historic
lectionary is so valuable. Since the historic
lectionary has approximately 250 portions of scripture and since these portions
of scripture are repeated year after year after year, the historic lectionary
ensures that even those who have less than stellar church attendance are still
receiving a balanced theological diet.
That is to say; if a person misses Trinity
Sunday and All Saints Day in the
year 2019, they will not hear Isaiah
6:1-7 and 1 John 3:1-3. However, if they
make it to Trinity Sunday in 2020 and All Saints Day in 2021, they will hear
both Isaiah 6:1-7 and 1 John 3:1-3.
Why
do we love the historic lectionary? While
encouraging more regular attendance among parishioners is always needed, the
historic lectionary repeated year after year will not only reinforce the core
teachings of the Christian faith to regular church attendees but will deliver
that core message to those with less consistent attendance. Less is more.
Why
do we love the historic lectionary?
The
historic lectionary is not the only way, but it is the best way.
[1]
The appointed scripture passages for a particular church service in the church
calendar is what is called the lectionary.
[2]
David Kinnaman, You Lost Me: Why Young
Christians are Leaving Church… and Rethinking Faith (Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Books, 2011), 45-46.
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