Jim, how good to hear from you again. I remember when we often talked before or after worship in our University days before I used the commoon lectionary in preaching. This is what I learned since then.
In 1983, 26 years after ordination, I was allowed a six-month sabbatical for study and writing. Three months were spent at Princeton Seminaray. For the final 15 years of my ministry I preached from the lectionary in the morning service and mostly taught from the Confessions in the evening.
I experienced freedom and discipline in a new way. Each week I started with the four texts given by the ecumenical church instead of my choices of the "right texts." That plunged me into the discipline of preparing to preach from less than familiar texts than I would have chosen. I also learned the discipline of taking "contemporary situations" or congregational tragedies and setting them in the context of the text(s) for the day to listen for the Word. And, knowing my own limitations and the "light" that a given text yields. I also learned when and how to "punt," meaning, when to depart from the lectionary as a servant for the day.
I also enjoyed hearing a parishioner who, having missed worship in our church on a Sunday, report that "We heard a sermon in Georgia on Sunday from your lectionary text."
Thanks, Jim. How abouat lunch on High Street Again?
Posted in: “Something Other Than the Lectionary”
Jim, how good to hear from you again. I remember when we often talked before or after worship in our University days before I used the commoon lectionary in preaching. This is what I learned since then.
In 1983, 26 years after ordination, I was allowed a six-month sabbatical for study and writing. Three months were spent at Princeton Seminaray. For the final 15 years of my ministry I preached from the lectionary in the morning service and mostly taught from the Confessions in the evening.
I experienced freedom and discipline in a new way. Each week I started with the four texts given by the ecumenical church instead of my choices of the "right texts." That plunged me into the discipline of preparing to preach from less than familiar texts than I would have chosen. I also learned the discipline of taking "contemporary situations" or congregational tragedies and setting them in the context of the text(s) for the day to listen for the Word. And, knowing my own limitations and the "light" that a given text yields. I also learned when and how to "punt," meaning, when to depart from the lectionary as a servant for the day.
I also enjoyed hearing a parishioner who, having missed worship in our church on a Sunday, report that "We heard a sermon in Georgia on Sunday from your lectionary text."
Thanks, Jim. How abouat lunch on High Street Again?
Roger