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Contents
Foreword by Amy K. Butler
Using This Resource
YEAR A
Advent/Christmas Series: A Geography of Salvation
Six Parts: First Sunday of Advent through First Sunday of Christmas, including Christmas Eve
The path to Bethlehem with landmarks from the book of Isaiah.
KATHERINE WILLIS PERSHEY
Epiphany Series: New Year, Same Promises
Six Parts: First Sunday after Epiphany through the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany
Our resolutions fade, but Godās promises last forever.
KATHERINE WILLIS PERSHEY
Lenten Series: Boot Camp for the Soul
Six Parts: First Sunday in Lent through Palm Sunday
Lent as preparation for a greater challenge still to come.
WINNIE VARGHESE
Easter Series: Closer and Closer
Seven Parts: Easter Sunday through the Six Sundays of Easter
The resurrection means deeper relationships with God and one another.
WINNIE VARGHESE
Summer Series 1: Godās Creative Connection
Six Parts: Pentecost through Proper 9
The creative work of the Spirit on Pentecost began way back in Genesis.
JACQUELINE J. LEWIS
Summer Series 2: BrokenāGood News for Tough Times
Six Parts: Proper 10 through Proper 15
Hope and encouragement in difficulty with Paulās letter to the Romans.
JACQUELINE J. LEWIS
Fall Series 1: No Fair!
Three Parts: Proper 18 through Proper 20
Godās idea of fairness is fortunately very different from ours, the Gospel of Matthew shows.
BRIAN ERICKSON
Fall Series 2: The Enemies of Gratitude
Five Parts: Proper 21 through Proper 25
A stewardship series exploring the things that keep us from being content and grateful.
BRIAN ERICKSON
Fall Series 3: The Good News about Death
Four Parts: All Saintsā, Proper 27 through Proper 29 (Reign of Christ)
Facing a difficult topic as people with resurrection hope.
BRIAN ERICKSON
YEAR B
Advent/Christmas Series: Coming Soon
Six Parts: First Sunday of Advent through First Sunday of Christmas, including Christmas Eve
The expectation and arrival of the Messiah is a grand, movie-like epic.
THERESA CHO
Epiphany Series: Jesus, Man of Mystery
Six Parts: First Sunday after Epiphany through Transfiguration Sunday
Who is this Jesus, who tries to keep his identity a secret?
THERESA CHO
Lenten Series: Covenant
Six Parts: First Sunday in Lent through Palm Sunday
Trusting in Godās everlasting covenant with us.
PAUL ROCK
Easter Series: Belong, Behave, Believe
Six Parts: Easter Sunday through the Sixth Sunday of Easter
Reversing the typical order of entry into faithāyou belong even before you believe.
PAUL ROCK
Summer Series 1: God at Work
Six Parts: Proper 4 through Proper 9
Godās gracious actions as seen through the lives of Samuel and David.
MIHEE KIM-KORT
Summer Series 2: No Longer Strangers
Six Parts: Proper 10 through Proper 15
The keys to living as a community of faith, shown by the letter to the Ephesians.
MIHEE KIM-KORT
Fall Series 1: A Faith That Works
Five Parts: Proper 17 through Proper 21
The book of James shows us how to live our faith in action.
MAGREY R. DEVEGA
Fall Series 2: The Upside-Down Kingdom
Four Parts: Proper 22 through Proper 25
Shocking reversals lead to true discipleship, the Gospel of Mark tells us.
MAGREY R. DEVEGA
Fall Series 3: Gifts of Love
Four Parts: Proper 26 through Proper 29 (Reign of Christ)
A stewardship series on giving from the heart.
MAGREY R. DEVEGA
YEAR C
Advent/Christmas Series: Living āIn Betweenā
Six Parts: First Sunday of Advent through First Sunday of Christmas, including Christmas Eve
We wait in the liminal state between Christās first and second comings.
ROBERT S. DANNALS
Epiphany Series: A Light to Enlighten the Nations
Nine Parts: Epiphany through Transfiguration Sunday
Christ shines as a light beyond Israel, to the whole world.
ROBERT S. DANNALS
Lenten Series: God on the Move
Seven Parts: First Sunday in Lent through Easter Sunday
Exploring Godās work through the travels and teachings of Jesus.
JESSICA LAGRONE
Easter Series: Surprise! The Unexpected Acts of God
Seven Parts: Second Sunday of Easter through Pentecost
The unlikely, ironic, and surprising stories in the book of Acts.
JESSICA LAGRONE
Summer Series 1: Intervention
Four Parts: Proper 6 through Proper 9
We serve a God who sees, cares, andāat timesāintervenes in human affairs.
CLEOPHUS J. LARUE
Summer Series 2: Action Required
Four Parts: Proper 10 through Proper 13
God has done so much for us. Lukeās Gospel shows us what God expects of us in return.
CLEOPHUS J. LARUE
Summer Series 3: Pillars of Faith
Four Parts: Proper 14 through Proper 17
What does it mean to have faith, to trust in things not seen?
CLEOPHUS J. LARUE
Fall Series: What Disciples Do
Twelve Parts: Proper 18 through Proper 29 (Reign of Christ)
Christās followers are known not as much by what they believe as what they do.
MARTIN THIELEN
Calendar of Sundays
Contributors
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Foreword
When I was engaged in discerning my first call to lead a congregation, I remember being consumed with thoughts about how to answer the committeeās interview questions, reading bylaws and constitutions, researching appropriate compensation for a change in cost of living, and thinking about how my family would adjust to a new location and congregation.
What I do not recallānot at allāis thinking about preaching. Sermons. The activity I would engage in almost every single week of the year, the vehicle by which my new congregation would come to know my perspective and trust my leadership, the most effective vehicle for teaching and leading a congregation.
Why this was, I donāt really know, except to say that in my previous experience as an associate pastor, preaching was an occasional task, usually assigned for the weeks after Easter and Christmas and the least-attended Sunday of the year, most often sometime toward the beginning of August.
I also remember the feeling of panicāOK, dreadāthat settled over me about three weeks into that first pastorate. I said to a friend, āI just canāt believe they expect me to get up there and say something every single week! I already said everything I learned in Sunday school, vacation Bible school, and seminary!ā
She answered, āThatās what the text is for.ā
What she meant, of course, was the Bible. Even most mediocre preachers know that the sermon every Sunday is not meant to showcase what you know; itās meant to delve deeply into Holy Scripture, to engage a text that has guided people of faith for centuries, and to bring the deep and eternal truths of that text to bear on the realities of our lives and our world. But how?
Iām now engaged in round four of preaching the three-year cycle of texts assigned by the Revised Common Lectionary. This cycle of assigned texts is used by much of the Christian world to guide the rhythm of the church year and in planning worship. Naturally, the possibility for coherence, synergy, and unity is enhanced when the preacher jumps on the bandwagon too.
I chose to use the lectionary to guide my first few years of preaching for the reason I mentioned above: every week I found myself at a loss about where to even begin crafting a sermon. What Iāve discovered in the years since that initial decision are other, powerful reasonsāboth for myself as a preacher and for the congregations Iāve servedāto continue this conversation with the passages of the Revised Common Lectionary.
The first is the truth effective preachers struggle to remember: preaching is not about me. Were I to choose topics reflecting my current interest or passages I randomly prefer, Iād soon veer from the challenging discipline of engaging an assigned text and discerning its resonance for the context I serve. Second, while some might find a tedium in the cycle back to the same texts every three years, this experience has taught me in practice a very real truth of our Holy Scripture: there are depths to be mined, the richness of which I will never fully explore in my lifetime.
Connection with co...
