Now is a good time to order this inexpensive new commentary on Year D's suggested texts for Advent. Enough fresh texts here for several adult Bible study or Sunday school sessions. Order one per student; put your own questions to text, commentary, and conversation partners.
This one is for the Year B volume in Liturgical Elements for Reformed Worship. When Heaven Stands Open was the first of the four volumes to appear. If you don't have it yet, there is still half a year's worth of the current liturgical year to go. And the lectionary, being what it is, will come around again, sooner than you think!
O LORD of heaven, come down! Let your lightning flash and scatter the darkness! Send out your arrows and rout your enemies. Stretch out your hand from on high, and set this people free from those who speak lies and those who love violence. For you, O LORD, are above all and your testimony is true! Your Son, whom you have sent, has spoken the words he has heard from you, our heavenly Father. May he give to each of us, and to your church, your Holy Spirit without measure.
It is the Lord your God who has fought on your behalf, keeping your foes and enemies at bay. It is Christ Jesus himself, the Son of God, who has done all things well, and fulfilled God’s promise of a Savior. Therefore, hold fast to the Lord your God, and be very steadfast to observe and do all that he has commanded you, for by the grace of Jesus Christ we are forgiven and saved.
You, O God, are the builder of the all things, and Christ Jesus, your Son, the faithful builder of your house, even as he serves as its head and cornerstone. Help us, O Lord, as partners with Christ, to be the house in which you dwell, that we may hold firm to faith and hope until the end, with boldness and unwavering confidence in you. Show your holiness, O God, to this assembly, among this people where your glory abides, in Jesus' name.
O LORD our God, we confess that we have been slow to believe your promises, and quick to drift away from you. We have paid far too little attention to your word, to your testimony, to your miraculous signs and wonders, and far too much attention to selfish concerns. We have held back from you our very best, even though you gladly and graciously sent us your beloved and only begotten Son. Forgive us, O God, for our sinful thoughtlessness! Let us never again neglect so great a salvation as you have provided for us in Jesus Christ!
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
The LORD shows himself loyal to those who show themselves loyal, but with the crooked he shows himself perverse. The way of God is perfect. The promise of the LORD proves true. He is a rock for all who take refuge in him. You who have confessed and cried out to the LORD, know that you are delivered and forgiven, and be at peace.
FEATURES OF NOTE: On this very First Sunday of Advent, you will soon notice a peculiar feature of Year D. Some of the selections are quite long, and therefore you need to plan ahead if you wish to shorten the readings. Psalm 18, for example, is a rich and wonderful psalm with many unique spiritual and historical insights, but it is also much longer than the usual Psalm selection for a Sunday service. It falls to you to either make room for such a long psalm and cue the congregation that it will be a lengthy, or to make a shorter selection of key verses that you wish to accentuate. In this instance, Year D "narrows" the selection, but does not make the final cut for you. You must do this yourself. The Assurance above, for instance, makes use of the provocative, but intriguing language of Psalm 18:25-26, which contains (I suspect) an important perspective on the human experience of evil and a clue to the mysterious and troublesome doctrine of theodicy. These words will no doubt strike some as controversial, but to others, they issue a summons to self-examination and personal responsibility. The one undeniable thing is this: there they are ... in Scripture! May the Spirit inspire your study and planning!
Hearty thanks are due to the entire Consultation on Common Texts, esp. Taylor Burton-Edwards and David Gambrell for graciously hosting and coordinating this interesting conversation on "Patterns of Proclamation" at the Interchurch Center on Monday, April 25, 2016. Thanks as well to fellow presenters Will Weedon, Msgr. Alan Detscher, Fritz West, Martha Simmons, and Karoline Lewis for their respective presentations and their parts in the concluding forum. Here is my bit on The Year D Project, which I later discovered blew way past the time limit, since all the side comments I had edited out somehow crept back in.
One particular note of clarification. I did not mean to say Presbyterian polity requires use of lectionaries, though it sort of came out that way on my way to saying that the Directory for Worship charges Presbyterian "teaching elders" with responsibility not only for biblical material covered by RCL, but also for that which lies beyond its three-year cycle, i.e., for the rest of the canon or "the fullness of Scripture." (W-2.2002, 3) That is where, at this juncture, I think we need more guides, resources, and scholarship, albeit suggestive (not legalistic) in nature, to which I hope Year D can serve as an invitation or an overture of sorts.
In case you are wondering, the hat tip to my colleague Matt Schlimm was a reference to his wonderful new book, This Strange and Sacred Scripture.
With Year B fast approaching, allow me to reiterate, yea, demonstrate, that I have long found the Revised Common Lectionary a very helpful, valuable, and inspiring tool, not just for preaching, liturgy, and prayer.
But I encourage you to compare the Table of Contents and the titles here with the Sunday lections in Year B:
... and the track list here to the Sundays of the Christmas cycle (Advent through Transfiguration).
UPDATE: I see the prequel / sequel to The Spirit at Work is now available, appropriately entitled The Word at Work. It follows the same format: a one-year Bible reading plan with brief devotional commentary on selected texts. This one starts the second Sunday of Easter, but with a bit of subjective adjustment, can be taken up any time of year.
_____
Students have often asked me if the Daily Lectionary is not sufficiently comprehensive, but in fact its two-year reading plan does not actually cover the entire canon. Here is a source, however, that does include the whole canon in a single year. It also approaches the reading of the Psalter (three per day) in the way I have done (and recommended others do) on numerous occasions. Interestingly enough, though it spans a calendar year, it starts on Pentecost Sunday, so perhaps this would be a good time to try it. [May 28, 2014]
