Sermon Series at Peace

Recently it has come to my attention that some people here at Peace have been asking the question How come we don’t preach from the 3-year lectionary series very often?  I would like to take a moment to respond to that question.
I’ll start by saying that the three-year lectionary is a great tool for working through the Bible in a way that covers the major themes of God’s Word – namely the sin of man and the salvation man has in Christ.  The lectionary also does a beautiful job of connecting the Old and New Testaments and showing how Christ came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.  Finally, the lectionary follows the seasons of the church year (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, etc.) and assigns texts that fit very well with each season.  There is no doubt the lectionary is a beautiful way to read/preach through the Holy Scriptures. 
With that said there are a few drawbacks to the lectionary as well.  First off, because the lectionary follows the seasons of the church year it tends to (but not always) bounce around the various books in the Bible rather than starting at the beginning of a book and working through it to its end.  Pastor Dave and I feel that there is a real value to having a series through a book of the Bible – from beginning to end – for a couple of reasons.  First, it permits us time over the course of multiple weeks to thoroughly develop the original context that the book was written in which in turn allows us to better understand why each text says what it does.  Second, it enables people to walk away from a sermon series saying, “I have a much better handle on that book now.”  For example, we just recently took six weeks to preach through the book of Ruth (a book that receives very minimal time in the 3-year lectionary).  I’ve received much positive feedback from that series because of the detail into which we were able to go.   People have said things to me like, “I didn’t realize how much was packed into that little book!” In addition to preaching through books of the Bible, Pastor Dave and I also preach topical sermon series from time to time in which we preach on a series of related issues over the course of several weeks.  The reason we use topical sermon series is because they afford us the opportunity to preach on very relevant and pressing issues that are rarely, if ever, part of the lectionary series . 
In the end it isn’t the method used to preach through God’s Word that is of primary importance.  The most important thing is that the full councel of God’s Word is preached – both Law and Gospel – and that the preaching of God’s Word lead us to sorrow over sin, repentance, and new life in Christ – our Lord and Savior.  May all our preaching be pleasing to His ears and glorify His Name! Amen.

Associate Pastor Larry McGurer