Why Every Preacher Should Try the Revised Common Lectionary

Try the WHAT?

That’s the question I asked a colleague many years ago.

I was serving in my first pastorate at a small New England Congregational Church. After a few months I was struggling to come up with a new sermon week after week. Having left seminary with a long list of topics I wanted to preach about, as the Sundays rolled by the list of sermons was becoming quite a bit shorter. I had already hit all the big ones – God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Salvation, Belief, Faith, Repentance, Forgiveness, Prayer, Miracles and my favorite…the Second Coming of Christ. Now I was repeating them, just sort of reframing the topics with new illustrations – and jokes. Nothing spices up an old sermon like a new joke.

But I was frustrated. Looking ahead to a lifetime of ministry, how in the world can a preacher come up with enough sermon subjects to cover the hundreds of weeks of a 40 year pastorate?

So I confided my preacher-anxiety to a friend.

“Try the Revised Common Lectionary,” she said.

“Try the WHAT?”

Now I may have missed the seminary Preaching Clinic class that covered this lectionary, but I had no memory of it. My colleague appeared a little amused by my ignorance, but gently replied, “I know. The seminary I attended didn’t teach about it either. But a few years after graduation I attended a preaching workshop where the speaker called the Revised Common Lectionary one of the best tools for preparing sermons. So I gave it a try, and I’ve been using the RCL (Revised Common Lectionary) ever since. It’s been 15 years now and I haven’t run out of messages yet!”

Sparked by the idea of a such a preaching resource I decided to find out more about the Lectionary. So I read some articles and decided to give it a whirl. It took some time but the RCL revitalized my preaching. Where once upon a time I dreaded preparing sermons, I eventually came not only to enjoy the preparation, but to love it.

I’ve been using the RCL for over 40 years now. I have an archive of over 800 lectionary-based sermons that form the substance of this website – www.martysingley.com. Just as my friend tipped me off to the usefulness of the RCL, I hope I can inspire you to give it a try. I think you’ll find benefits like these:

  • You’ll stop preaching topics and start preaching the Biblical texts
  • Preaching the Biblical texts will actually reveal topics that help people grow
  • You’ll expose your congregation to the whole Bible, not just a favorite verse or two
  • You’ll take your listeners on a journey through all four Gospels every three years
  • Each week you’ll be able to choose one or more of the scheduled texts – Old Testament, Psalm, Gospel, Epistle, Other Readings
  • You can share ideas or questions with countless other preachers who will often be preparing the same text
  • Your sermons can flow through the liturgical calendar – Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost
  • You can break free from any of the scheduled texts to address current events or concerns

Please understand that the RCL is not a Biblical Commentary. It does not tell you what a passage means or provide any exegetical resources. The Lectionary is simply a calendar of readings. You have to do the work of  breaking the texts apart, studying, etc. The primary benefit of lectionary preaching is the discipline it requires to explore the whole biblical story. You’ll leave behind the hit or miss,  a verse here, a verse there, approach to preaching and discover the richness of sharing the whole sweep of scripture. You will also be challenged to preach on passages you’ve never dealt with before.

Although there are a number of lectionaries available, I personally use the Revised Common Lectionary from Vanderbilt University. It’s free, well-organized and easy to use.

Why not give it a try?