Marking Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year

Ses s i on 3: Keep i ng the Rhy thm of the Sp i r i t 83

key dates, the services tend to return to occasional themes based on the pastor’s best judgment of what ought to be the congregational focus!

6. This “tyranny of the pastor’s sermon file” speaks of two ongoing possibilities.

a. If the pastor is historically grounded and contemporaneously wise, s/he will give sermons and teaching that reflect both the biblical history as well as the issues of the day.

b. If the pastor is not historically grounded, s/he will give sermons and teachings based purely on their own judgment, with no sense that his/her congrega tion is either part of the ancient faith or the global Christian community.

7. The Church Year can protect us from arbitrary, idiosyncratic emphases that ignore or neglect the richness of the mystery of Christ from Incarnation to Second Coming!

E. It is evangelically ecumenical : It connects us to the global Christian movement’s worship, spirituality, and biblical preaching and teaching.

1. The Revised Common Lectionary is a Bible reading program drafted specifically in order to help congregations who participate read through the major sections and stories of the Scriptures over a three year period.

2. The lectionary is designed to run in three-year cycles; the Gospel of Matthew determines the Gospel readings in the first year (Year A), the Gospel of Mark in the second year (or Year B), and the Gospel of Luke in the third year