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?

2 comments:

Pastor Todd Hoeffs said...

Hi Alan. I agree, I like the 1 year better. I'm changing back from 6 years in the 1 year to the 3 year cycle (due to the new Sunday School curriculum and the 'Growing in worship' bulletins for kids). I'm getting a bit exited about re-visiting this cycle. I guess, as a Synod, we should all be using the same lectionary. I'm the only one who used the 1 year series in Edmonton. I made up about 3 years worth of children's messages based on the 1 yuear cycle, but no Bible Study. Todd Hoeffs.

Anonymous said...

You can find my response to McCain's survey here:

http://lutheranlogomaniac.com/?p=249