The Narrative Lectionary, Explained
Year 1 of the Narrative Lectionary includes the Gospel of Matthew
A lectionary is a collection of pre-set Bible readings a pastor puts forth each week in worship.
When Pastor Mark arrived in Waitsfield, he was pleased to know that our congregation was already familiar with the Narrative Lectionary, and had been using it for some time. He had previously completed seven cycles of the Revised Common Lectionary and was looking forward to something new!
The most famous lectionary is the Revised Common Lectionary, put out by the World Council of Churches in different versions for the last 50 years or so. This lectionary is on a three year cycle - Year A, B, and C - with each of the years having a core set of readings from Matthew, Mark, and Luke, with John sprinkled in amongst the three.
The Narrative Lectionary was started at Luther Seminary in 2010, and bases its readings on a four-year cycle - Year 1, 2, 3 and 4 - Matthew, Mark, Luke & John gets his own year.
The 9 month Narrative Lectionary follows the school year.
From September through Advent, the lectionary starts with stories from the Hebrew Bible that follow the arc of the history of Israel.
From Advent through Easter, the lectionary includes Gospel readings.
Finally from Easter to Pentecost, the lectionary finishes with readings from Acts and other letters.
The Gospel readings are paired with readings from the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament based on a common set of themes … from the complex biblical story.
In 2022-2023, the core readings of the Narrative Lectionary are from the Gospel of Matthew. If you want to read ahead, you might do so here:
https://www.workingpreacher.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/narrative_lectionary_matthew_2022-23.pdf