Way Beyond the Lectionary
In the summer of 2017, while searching the internet for Revised Common Lectionary resources, I stumbled across a book titled Beyond the Lectionary by David Ackerman. It describes a fourth year of readings to guide preaching and worship on Sunday mornings following the same liturgical seasons, i.e. Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Ordinary Time. I decided to follow Beyond the Lectionary from Advent 2017 through to the end of Ordinary Time in November 2018. I did make some modifications and occasional diversions from Pastor Akerman's prescribed readings along the way. However, I used about 80-90% of his suggestions. You can view most of my sermons from that year by clicking here.
As the liturgical year end approached during October and November of 2018, I began to contemplate where my preaching might go from December 2018 through November 2019. I decided to develop a hybrid of readings during the two Ordinary times of the year. During the "extraordinary" seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany & Baptism of the Lord Sundays, Lent, Easter, the Day of Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday I'd follow and be guided by The Revised Common Lectionary, Year C. During the Ordinary Times of January 27 through March 3, and June 23 through November 24, 2019, I'll develop my own readings which are not contained in any of the three years of The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) or the one year covered by Beyond the Lectionary (BtL).
Below is my attempt to go Way Beyond the Lectionary (WBtL) with thanks to Pastor David Ackerman for the inspiration. My list is not liturgical in nature but instead is primarily thematic. For the first Ordinary Time period I will focus on the Old Testament Book of Nehemiah. It is relatively short at 13 chapters. It is never used in either the RCL or BtL. I'll not cover all of Nehemiah during the six weeks. However, I should be able to communicate the full flavor of the events and challenges it covers within its pages.
We will end on what is traditionally Transfiguration Sunday (March 3, 2019). We've been ignoring this liturgical date for a number of years at KCPC as we've developed a mid winter tradition we call Fat Sunday. The end of Nehemiah lends itself well to fit in with the Fat Sunday "flavor" we've developed the past few years. Click here if you'd like to learn more about KCPC's Fat Sunday. As I have time this winter and spring, I'll develop themes and readings for the second period of Ordinary time which begins in late June. For now, please take a look at the section below for guidance during our winter Ordinary Time.
Pastor Bob Merrill
January 2, 2019
Pastor Bob Merrill
January 2, 2019
Way Beyond the Lectionary during the Summer of 2019
Because of the positive response to the series of sermons on Nehemiah during the winter, I asked the congregation what would be their choice in my preaching Way Beyond the Lectionary during the summer of 2019. I offered three choices; 1) Parables not included in the RCL, 2) The Book of Revelation not covered by the RCL, or 3) Joshua and Judges. There was little interest in option three. However Parables and Revelation basically tied with only one vote difference. For this reason I split my time between the two.
I must admit, preaching the less familiar parables found in the Bible was relatively easy. It was actually fun to introduce the Old Testament parables and challenge folks with the very unfamiliar ones from Jesus. I felt as if I grew by tackling these unfamiliar passages. The response from the congregation was overall very favorable.
Preaching from Revelation was another matter altogether! With only 6 Sundays, I attempted to concentrate on the opening and middle portions. I had to be selective in what I covered and found it challenging to know what to skip. The work on the worship bulletins, as well as the prayers and other pieces of liturgy was time consuming. All in all it took a considerable amount of work to preach and lead worship during the six weeks of Revelation.
The reaction from the congregation was mixed. Some were very enthusiastic, others fell in the middle of "take it or leave it," while others felt as if they were enduring torture each week. My guess is that some stayed home because of my foray into Revelation. I do believe attendance in August was slightly off because of the emphasis being on this challenging last book of our Bibles.
Finally, I hope to add my worship resources as PDF files for these Sundays. Maybe they can be helpful and useful to other pastors and preachers who venture beyond the confines of the Revised Common Lectionary. Look for them at the bottom of the page. I'll try to add them before the end of 2019.
Pastor Bob Merrill
September 16, 2019
I must admit, preaching the less familiar parables found in the Bible was relatively easy. It was actually fun to introduce the Old Testament parables and challenge folks with the very unfamiliar ones from Jesus. I felt as if I grew by tackling these unfamiliar passages. The response from the congregation was overall very favorable.
Preaching from Revelation was another matter altogether! With only 6 Sundays, I attempted to concentrate on the opening and middle portions. I had to be selective in what I covered and found it challenging to know what to skip. The work on the worship bulletins, as well as the prayers and other pieces of liturgy was time consuming. All in all it took a considerable amount of work to preach and lead worship during the six weeks of Revelation.
The reaction from the congregation was mixed. Some were very enthusiastic, others fell in the middle of "take it or leave it," while others felt as if they were enduring torture each week. My guess is that some stayed home because of my foray into Revelation. I do believe attendance in August was slightly off because of the emphasis being on this challenging last book of our Bibles.
Finally, I hope to add my worship resources as PDF files for these Sundays. Maybe they can be helpful and useful to other pastors and preachers who venture beyond the confines of the Revised Common Lectionary. Look for them at the bottom of the page. I'll try to add them before the end of 2019.
Pastor Bob Merrill
September 16, 2019
