Pastoral Letter is coming to you on Wednesday instead of a Tuesday thanks to a busy week and some computer issues in the office.
What I really wanted to talk to you all about this week is not happening for a few weeks, but I wanted to share it with you so that you know about it when it comes up.
Every Sunday we have a set of readings that we use and hear in worship, and we call that a lectionary in church-speak. The current lectionary we use is called the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) and it goes on a three-year cycle with each year focusing on one of 3 gospel writers: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. What about John you might ask…John gets splashed in here and there throughout all three years. The readings start over every Advent. Now since I have been with you for only a year, I cannot say with certainty, but I would guess that you have been using the RCL for quite some time.
What we’re going to do is we are going to switch to a different set of readings called the Narrative Lectionary (NL). The NL was developed by professors at Luther Seminary (one of our ELCA seminaries). It has been out for several years now, and I have used it before in previous congregations.
Here is what is different about the Narrative Lectionary:
1. It is a 4-year cycle so all four gospels get their own year.
2. The year starts in September (the 11th this year) instead of Advent
3. During the fall and up until Advent/Christmas the primary or focus text is the Old Testament. This is one of the reasons they call it the Narrative Lectionary. The readings take you from the beginning of the Old Testament and then works its way to the New Testament finishing up with Easter and Pentecost. Each year covers different stories and themes in the Old Testament (it would be rather hard to cover all of them each year).
4. There are only two readings each week. The primary text is typically longer since there aren’t 3 readings and a psalm each week.
The reason I love the Narrative Lectionary is that it takes all of us on a narrative journey from the Old Testament into the Gospels, and then into the Acts and letters of the early church. It does a wonderful job of bringing God’s story and our story together into the big picture of God bringing about God’s kingdom as seen from the beginning to today.
I am excited for us to take this journey together and I pray that you will enjoy these new sets of readings in worship and all that they can do to build up our faith and understanding of God and the way God is a part of this beautiful creation and everything in it.
Thanks for listening to me ramble about this new part of worship that we will start on September 11th
You can learn more about the Narrative Lectionary by visiting this webpage. Click Below>>>
Blessings,
Pastor Brian
