The Revised Common Lectionary

Throughout the world, Christians meet every week on the Lord's Day, Sunday, to praise God and to study his Word.

Many Christians - Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Methodists - have chosen to read the same lessons aloud each Sunday to emphasize their sense of being one community united in Jesus Christ as they journey together through the church year. This set of lessons is called the lectionary.

Each lesson (Old Testament, New Testament, Psalm, and Gospel) is chosen for its appropriateness for that day and season - Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, or Pentecost - and the four lessons for the day have a common theme and are interrelated.

The lectionary for the Year of Luke may be found in the Calendar of the Church Year. Last year's lessons are of course still relevant, and they may be found under the Calendar of the Year of Mark. The previous year may be found in the Calendar of the Year of Matthew.

The hymns of the worship service are chosen to reflect the theme of the lessons, and the pastor also uses the theme as the basis for his sermon.

The Revised Common Lectionary is a joint effort of the mainline churches published by the Consultation on Common Texts.

A good activity with the children is to take a large map of the world and let them put small crosses (you can find stickers at the Bible book store) on each country where there are Christians reading the same lessons from the lectionary each Sunday.

Their awareness of Christians around the world joined in the same activity every week can lead them to a real sense of awe.

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