When the Revised Common Lectionary was compiled in the early 1990s by The Consultation on Common Texts, it became the most recent embodiment of a system of assigned scripture readings that has been in place for generations. The current format includes a three-year cycle, following a commonly defined church year that begins with Advent. The three-year cycle permits more portions of the Scriptures to be used in a rhythmic cycle of readings, and at the same time permits us to hear more continuous week-to-week readings from the same book, varying from year to year in the cycle.

As an ecumenical venture, it represents a remarkable attempt to practice some unity in what we hear each week in our different congregations and locations, and in how we mark the events and seasons of the Christian life each year. But you will also find many alternate readings, to allow for different denominations or congregations to pursue their particular pieties or practices.

For some time now, I have used the Vanderbilt Divinity Library’s online lectionary as a handy reference tool. They have just revamped the site (June, 2009) to make it even more navigable, and to include new materials related to each week’s reading, including suitable prayers and representational artworks.

I have received the permission of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library to include links to their website in my posts, and will attempt to include them each week. Clicking on a link in any post will take you directly to the lesson that is cited; from there you may navigate to related prayers, artwork, or lessons for other weeks.

If you’re new to the Lectionary, I encourage you to explore it a bit. The Vanderbilt lectionary’s home page will place you in the current week, with navigation aids to other years, seasons, and weeks in the left sidebar. If you explore you’ll discover how the seasons are shaped, or how different cycles includes more continuous readings. For example, you will see how the Season after Pentecost features the gospel of Mark with a few readings from John in Year B (summer, 2009), but uses readings exclusively from Luke in year C (summer, 2010) and from Matthew in Year A (summer, 2011).

I know that there are mixed reactions to any lectionary, and that some people, clergy and laity alike, feel that it is too rigid, too forced, too confining, or too difficult to navigate. I like many things about the lectionary, and about using the lectionary:

• - I am a musician, so I think rhythm is fundamental, and the lectionary gives a good rhythm to our life together, year in and year out.
• - I like that the lectionary does give us a way, in our separate congregations and denominations, to agree to read, hear, and study common texts on any given day, so that even in our separateness we share something in common.
• - I like the spiritual discipline of it, so that we agree to read a larger portion of the Scriptures than we would likely read on our own whims, guarding against the danger of selecting more of the passages we like to hear and avoiding the ones that are hard to hear.
• - I admit that I trust the collective wisdom of a group of elders more than I trust any individual. That includes the selection by the Consultation of which Scriptures are important for me to hear on an ongoing basis in the course of our worship together.
• - I like the spiritual discipline of letting a portion of Scripture speak to our current events, and not letting our current events filter the Scriptures to what we would like to hear.
• - I have been amazed at how frequently the assigned readings have spoken very powerfully to current events, even though they seem to be randomly assigned by the calendar. It happens on both a large scale (such as the readings that were assigned for the Sunday following September 11, 2001) and small (such as the calming of the seas on the weekend following torrential rains and flooding).
• - I like how this discipline of the lectionary requires me to do more opening up of my ears and heart, and less closing back in on what is most familiar, comfortable, and of my own choosing.
• - And, on a more practical matter, I like how this structure allows us to look ahead, anticipate, and make more effective plans for how we might enhance the worship of God in the days to come.