Monthly Archives: August 2007

The Revised Common Lectionary

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If you are a lector (read the lessons at the services), you’ve probably noticed that we have switched this year from the lectionary in the Book of Common Prayer to the Revised Common Lectionary. Several people have asked me about this change recently.

In the first place, the lectionary lays out what scripture texts we use each Sunday. It consists of a three year cycle. We are currently in Year C, and on the first Sunday of Advent this December, we will begin Year A. The most important differences among the three years is that Year A focuses on the Gospel of Matthew, Year B on Mark, and Year C on Luke. The Gospel of John is read intermittently, especially during Lent and Easter.

The Revised Common Lectionary which is used by most Protestant Churches that follow the lectionary is different in some important ways from the lectionary in the Book of Common Prayer. Most importantly, it allows for the continuous reading of sections of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) on the Sundays following Pentecost. For example, this year we have been hearing the stories of the prophets, beginning with Elijah and Elisha, and following through Amos, Isaiah, and now Jeremiah. This gives the preacher the opportunity to make connections from Sunday to Sunday. By contrast, the Old Testament readings in the Book of Common Prayer lectionary were chosen for their connection with that Sunday’s gospel, so it was difficult to see the text in its literary context. In Year A, the Old Testament lessons will come from Genesis-Judges; in Year B, largely from Samuel.

There is also a purely mercenary purpose for our switch to the RCL. Most preaching resources are being prepared for the RCL, so when we begin working on our sermons, we can easily find commentaries on all of the texts in the same place (kind of like Cliff Notes for preachers; but no, that’s not plagiarism). Among the web sites that I draw on for sermon preparation are: the text this week and the Center for Liturgy. These sites are intended for everyone, not just preachers and they provide a wide variety of material reflecting on each week’s readings.

God's Creation–Ministry?

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Did you see the article in the Greenville News today about the Easley pastor who is subsidizing the cost of gas for a couple of hours? One just has to laugh that it comes from a church named “God’s Creation Ministry.” How about putting that money towards the use and production of sustainable fuels, or towards mass transport, or well, any number of things that might benefit God’s creation. Read it here: “We just want to give back,” someone said. But certainly not give back to God, from whom we have the created world on loan, if you will, and are destroying it.

God and Empire

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I was able to attend one of John Dominic Crossan’s presentations at Furman’s Pastors’ School this week. Crossan, a retired New Testament professor at DePaul University, has been at the forefront of New Testament scholarship for many years. He made a name for himself as one of the leaders of the Jesus Seminar and has published many books on the historical Jesus and early Christianity. He was prominently featured on the PBS documentary “From Jesus to Christ” which I often use when teaching Bible.

Given what I took to be his radical approach to the historical Jesus, I was curious to see what he would have to say to an audience of pastors. The presentation I heard was largely taken from his most recent work, God and Empire. His main focus was on the role of violence in human civilization and the way in which the Bible supports and undermines that culture of violence. He contrasted two notions of divine justice in the Bible. One is retributive in which God is understood to punish evildoers. The other is distributive, in which there is a vision of God offering equality to all. One of his tag phrases was “God does not punish, but there are human consequences for our actions.” He used the example of someone sitting down on an interstate highway. If they die, it is not because of God’s punishment, but because of their choice to behave in that fashion.

In the later presentations I’m sure he went on to argue that Jesus’ proclamation was one of distributive justice; that is to say that the Kingdom of God as envisioned by Jesus included all people and treated all equally. He further argued that because Christians view Jesus as the incarnate word of God, his vision ought to be the criterion by which we judge other biblical (and non-biblical) notions of justice. In other words, while there are two understandings of divine justice in the bible, one distributive and one retributive, one non-violent and one violent, because Jesus articulated the former, Christians have the obligation to view that one as authoritative.

It was an interesting, challenging, and humorous presentation. Look for a Discovery Channel documentary featuring him to play at Christmas.