Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The One-Year Lectionary, Historic and Otherwise

The Rev. Paul McCain from Concordia Publishing House sent out a survey for users of the One-Year Lectionary. This post shows his understanding of the results. CPH won't resource the One-Year Lectionary, except that it has printed a lectionary book--which, incidentally, costs twice as much as the lectionary books for the three-year cycle. Apparently the cost of assembling such resources would not be met in demand for said resources.

Though the results weren't surprising, they were disappointing. I preach at a number of congregations in the greater New Orleans area, and about half of them use the One-Year Lectionary. I've used both the three-year cycle and the one-year cycle for a complete cycle and more, and I prefer the one-year cycle. While you don't cover quite as much of the Bible, I've found that it's easier to go deeper into the text with each successive year.

I've asked this elsewhere, and I'll ask it here: What can be done to resource the one-year cycle? At the bare minimum, I'd like to see a Bible study done for the readings in each Sunday of the one-year cycle. I already do something like this for when I fill in for congregations down here that use it, but I'd like to have better Greek and Hebrew scholars in on such a project.
What else would you like to see in terms of one-year resources?

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Family news

Today we received an official diagnosis for my son: autism. This came as no surprise to us, as we've been pursuing and receiving therapy as if we were already sure. Nonetheless, there is both a bit of relief and a bit of worry that comes with the official word.

Michael turns three in less than a month (as does his sister, Molly). On that day he officially ages out of the program called "Early Steps", through whom we have been receiving much of his therapy. With the official diagnosis, we should be able to maintain at least some of that therapy, but we'll be working with the school system for the rest. This is not exactly comforting, as Louisiana has the worst education rating in the United States. But we're hoping that what we'll be keeping will be making up for what the school system lacks. (Of course, a Call to somewhere with a better school system and more options for therapy would be nice.)