A Little Lectionary Lesson

What is a lectionary?

A ‘lectionary’ is a set cycle of readings. In the Church, a lectionary is a series of Bible passages chosen for every Sunday of the Church Year.

Where did the lectionary come from?

In the early Church, the celebration of the great Festival Days of Christmas and Easter developed first. Over time, other days of special observance were gradually added. Eventually, Bible readings that supported the ‘flow’ of the Church Year were identified and used in worship. Originally, this was a one-year cycle, meaning that the same readings were used each year. For example, every year the readings for the First Sunday in Advent would be the same.

Do we still use a one-year lectionary?

From 1570 until 1969, the Roman Catholic Church used a one-year lectionary that seemed set in stone. During those centuries Lutherans honored a version of the same lectionary that stemmed from Reformation times.
In 1969, the Roman Catholic Church published a revised lectionary that took a three-year pattern. Presbyterians and Episcopalians in the United States began using their own versions of it in 1970. It came into use in the Lutheran Church with the publication of the Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW) in 1978, and was picked up with little to no alteration in Lutheran Worship (LW), published in 1982. The readings were carefully selected by the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship.

What are the advantages of a three-year lectionary?

· It widens the range and variety of Scripture heard by congregations.
· It promotes historical knowledge of the Bible
· It enriches the church’s preaching.

It must be noted that there are some Lutheran churches that continue to use a one-year lectionary (and are free to do so). A one-year lectionary carries with it ancient precedent, along with the strengths and weaknesses of repetition.


The content of this summary is taken from James L. Brauer’s “The Church Year,” published in Lutheran Worship: History and Practice (CPH, 1993).