There have been lots of questions about what a lectionary is and whether our Pastor uses it and why. Some web resources offer the following information.

The term "lectionary" refers to a system that organizes Bible readings which include

• an Old Testament reading, sometimes called a Lesson
• a Psalm
• a reading from the New Testament, commonly referred to as Epistle Lesson, a New Testament reading other than from one of the four books of the Gospel
• reading from one of the four gospels, the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, referred to as the Gospel Lesson.

In a lectionary, the readings are organized in such a way that

1. the Bible is covered throughout every two or three years. There are options for Lectionary years A, B and C or years I and II.
2. there is commonality among the messages in the three readings for each day. Many churches do not use the Psalm in their services or only use a portion.
3. it ensures harmonization between scripture readings and the seasons of the church year: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Ordinary Time (the Sundays after Pentecost and before Advent).
4. it challenges pastors who follow a Lectionary to preach on the entire good news in the Bible.
5. it is a good tool for ongoing in-depth Bible Study and discussion among many pastors' Bible Study groups as these pastors would be reading and preaching on the same scriptures from the Lectionary.

Most "main line" Protestant churches not only use a lectionary, but they use the same one. This is called The Revised Common Lectionary. There also are other lectionaries which are geared more to Catholic and Orthodox churches.

It is ideal for people to not only know what the readings will be for each Sunday, but to also have read them before the Sunday service. Better still is an opportunity to encorporate the same Lectionary readings into a person's daily Bible reading.

The Massachusetts Conference of the UCC has published the Revised Common Lectionary on their website together with ongoing Lectionary readings for every day of the week. You'll find the readings there are the same as those Pastor John uses at the United Church of Penacook.

To enrich your own Bible study, why not visit this site every day for your scripture readings, or print out the readings so you'll already have them on hand.

Any Bible translation you're comfortable with is fine (KJV, NIV, RSV etc.) as these are just the references for the scripture readings, not the readings themselves.

You'll notice that only a few months are listed at a time on the MA UCC website. As you move along and check back, you'll find the Lectionary references ongoing. Hopefully this will enhance and enrich your own Bible study. Happy reading!