I have a deep appreciation for the Revised Common Lectionary. Using the Lectionary takes a chunk of the human word out of sermon and worship planning and allows more divine Word to be heard.
The Revised Common Lectionary was revised and began to be used in 1994 based on the Common Lectionary which came into use in 1983. The Revised Common Lectionary has the support of the Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal, Methodist, Prebyterian, Lutheran, United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ. It spans a three year period with the general rule being that for every Sunday of the year there is a prescribed reading from the Hebrew Scriptures, the Psalms, the Epistles and the Gospels. Over a three year period virtually all of the Bible is touched.
The major principle behind the lectionary is that on a Sunday members of congregations should be able to hear the voice of each writer week by week, rather than readings being selected according to a theme. Thus, in any given year the writer of one of the first three gospels will be heard from beginning to end. Likewise the rest of the New Testament is heard, in some cases, virtually in total, in others in large part.
As I said, this takes much of the human word out of the picture and keeps us from preaching what we think ought to be preached. The pulpit is no place to grind an axe or to release the frustrations of a pastor. It is the place from where the Word of God should rightly proceed. Thematic preaching is helpful, necessary and often quite illustrative of the great truths of the scriptures. The Lectionary is sometimes set to the side when themes need to be preached to a particular congregation because the Lectionary is itself an implement for preaching and not a rule that must be followed. Still, the Lectionary can save the congregation from preachers intent on getting THEIR point across. For that reason alone it is a useful instrument.
The Lectionary also instills a discipline on the preacher. It causes us to examine the whole Bible and not just the parts we like the most. It challenges the preacher to find within its prescribed texts the Word of God the congregation needs to hear. It is difficult, though not impossible, to manipulate the Lectionary to one's own purposes. As a discipline the Lectionary invites the preacher into each portion of the scriptures and then asks the preacher to listen for the Word of God rather than reading it into a text.
I don't always like the Lectionary. Sometimes the prescribed texts are difficult to preach or don't speak to my listening ear. There are times when I get stuck trying to hear. But, I will most likely always be primarily a Lectionary preacher. It puts me in the proper place in the pulpit.
