Lectionary:
One of the things I relish about being a parish pastor is my weekly deep dive into the readings from the Bible that I’ll be preaching on. The readings are laid out for us in a three-year cycle, the Revised Common Lectionary (http://www.elca.org/Our-Work/
After more than 15 years of regular preaching, you’d think these readings would become old friends, even a little over-familiar.
Each Monday, I’m looking at the readings, and the notes I made about them when I created my overview of the liturgical season. And every week, I discover that while they’re often old friends, they are also surprising and challenging and unsettling. I read the lectionary texts, and then I walk with them through the week as I visit people, attend meetings, make phone calls, chase children and cook dinner. The cries and laments of the prophets, the honest prayers of the psalms, the urgent cajoling of the epistles go with me into hospital rooms and care centers, the food pantry and the clothes closet. And always, always, the words and stories and actions of Jesus. “Sufficient unto the day is the worry thereof” “A sower went out to sow . . “ “There once was a man who had two sons . . “ and again and again “The kingdom of heaven is like . . “ How can I not be looking out for the kingdom of heaven? How can I not hear the cries of the poor and abandoned the prophets preach about? How can I not call out to God with the psalmist?
So by Saturday, the events of the week and the words of the Scriptures have bumped up against each other, jostled one another, struck sparks . . and something goes down on paper, and I call that the sermon.
Submitted by: Pastor Elizabeth Larsen, St. Mark's Lutheran Church
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