The Lectionary: Why Use One?

Traditionally, the scripture readings for worship services were not selected by any of the worship leaders. Rather, churches used a lectionary: a book which lists the readings for worship services. In contemporary use, there are in fact multiple lectionaries for Sunday and holy day worship, for daily Eucharistic worship, and for the daily office. My comments here will apply to some extent to all of these, though of course you only use those lectionaries which work for the services you have.

Why use a lectionary? Let us look at two apparent weaknesses of using lectionaries, before looking at some other strengths.

A lectionary forces me to read more Scriptures than I preach about
The idea that you can read too much of the Bible strikes me as absurd in itself. But I know that many Christians have the idea that if a passage of Scripture is read, it must be explained. But this is not so. Much else happens in worship that is not explained. The point of reading the Bible during worship is to let the Bible speak to those present. The further proclamation of a sermon or homily is necessary, not so that the people can understand a passage of Scripture (because many passages of Scripture have too much meaning to be understood fully in a single setting anyway), but so that the people may understand some particular aspect more clearly.

Even if you do preach on a given passage, those at the service may get something different from the reading anyway. So including other passages doesn't change anything in this regard; it only means that the worshipers will be exposed to more passages, and therefore have more chances to have their lives changed.

I want to preach on a given topic, and the lectionary won't give me a Scripture to base it on
A variation on this criticism is, "I want to do a sermon series on a topic, and the lectionary isn't arranged so that I can do that." This second version is simply the first applied to one topic over multiple services.

Here is the problem with this criticism, as I see it. Essentially, you are saying, "I will decide what to preach on" rather than "I will listen to what God has to say to me, and what God wants me to say". Yes, preaching topically allows you to address topics of particular concern to your congregation or at a particular time. But usually, other avenues exist to discuss these topics: a pastor's column in a newsletter, a church blog, Sunday school classes, or bible studies, for example. These media also make it clear that what is being said is the pastor's informed opinion, and not necessarily the voice of God. By using a lectionary, the preacher is no longer allowed to follow his or her own fancy, but is subject to a discipline such that both preacher and congregation have to listen to topics regardless of their own whims or preferences.

There are other reasons to use a lectionary.
I want to expose the congregation to as much of the Scripture as possible
Then use a lectionary! While they are not perfect, and criticisms of current lectionaries exist, modern lectionaries use a substantial part of the Bible, far more than most pastors will remember to use otherwise. About the only alternative is reading straight through the Bible. This strategy is a lectionary of its own, really, only one which may be started arbitrarily and is not set up by any church authority.

I want my congregation to hear the same passages as other congregations
Then use a lectionary! There are three main lectionaries in us in U.S. Christianity, and they are quite similar. The Roman Catholic Lectionary is used by the Roman rite of the Catholic Church and is the basis for the other two. The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) is used by many Protestant churches. It replaces Old Testament readings in the Catholic lectionary which are taken from books not in Protestant Bibles. The Episcopal Lectionary is a similar effort, which was devised in the same way as the RCL, but shortly before, and disagrees with the RCL only slightly.

I want to be able to use sermon preparation aids
Then use a lectionary! There are several aids to sermon preparation available, from exposition of passages to anecdotes and illustrations. Many of these are keyed to various lectionaries. By preaching from a lectionary, finding relevant sermon preparation aids becomes easier.

One final note: while a lectionary is set up for traditional-style liturgies, one can be used with other styles of worship: just read the passages where you already read Scripture. Lectionaries are about Scripture passage selection, not about positioning or surroundings or style of proclamation.

Questions? Comments? Criticisms? Let me know in the comments, please.