Reviewed Book: The Lectionary Series from the Revised Common Lectionary: Cycle B. Lima, Ohio: CSS Pub, 1993

Riegert, Eduard R.

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The Lectionary Series from the Revised Common Lectionary: Cycle B

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 20Issue 1 A Ministry Miscellany Article 265-1-1994The Lectionary Series from the Revised CommonLectionary: Cycle BEduard R. RiegertFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationRiegert, Eduard R. (1994) "The Lectionary Series from the Revised Common Lectionary: Cycle B," Consensus: Vol. 20 : Iss. 1 , Article26.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol20/iss1/26144 ConsensusI commend the book especially to preachers and seminary students.Here is an adept summation of the challenge faced by preachers who aredeep into the transition zone of a major cultural and communicational shift;here is also solid and practical help in re-designing an appropriate homiletic.Eduard R. RiegertWaterloo Lutheran SeminaryThe Lectionary Series from the Revised Common Lec-tionaryCycle B, NRSVLima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Co., Inc., 1993145 pp.CSS has provided here the complete lections—First Lesson, Second Les-son, Gospel, and Psalm—for Cycle B of the Revised Common Lectionary.Lections for a “Liturgy of the Palms” are included following those of Pas-sion/Palm Sunday. The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible is used.It is an indispensable tool for worship leaders, lectors, and preachers.Lectionaries, of course, predate Christianity, and so it is not at allsurprising that Christians continued the practice. In the fourth century, forexample, the Apostolic Constitutions report a lectionary with five lessons:Law, Prophets, Epistles, Acts, and Gospels. Lectionaries, in Christianityas well as in Judaism, no doubt began when appropriate scriptural textswere sought for festivals: what shall be read at Passover? What at GoodFriday- Easter?The Revised Common Lectionary began when in 1983 a group of “non-liturgical” Protestant churches (among them the Presbyterian, UnitedMethodist, and United Church of Christ) adopted a “Common Lectionary”which had been prepared by the Consultation on Common Texts, an ec-umenical forum for consultation on matters of worship renewal, especiallyof English language liturgical texts. The Revised Common Lectionary of1992 represents intense evaluation and study by some 19 denominations; itis expected that Lutherans and Episcopalians will proceed also to adopt it.The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is currently “field testing” it.I certainly encourage its adoption, for at least three reasons. (1) It presentsa much more sequential and coherent use of the Old Testament, especiallyin the “Pentecost” season, providing a sequence from the Moses traditionin Year A, from David in Year B, and from major prophets in Year C; (2) itgoes a long way to remedying the notable absence of biblical women by in-cluding narratives about Sarah, Hagar, Rebekah, Leah, Miriam, Deborah,Lydia, the woman with the issue of blood, the Syrophoenician woman, thewoman of Proverbs 31, and Hannah (See Carol Schlueter’s “The GenderBook Reviews 145Balance of Texts from the Gospels: The Revised Common Lectionary andThe Lutheran Book of Worship,” Currents in Theology and Mission^ June,1993); (3) use of it will harmonize Lutherans with Anglicans and the manyProtestant churches now using the Common Lectionary.Disconcerting for Lutherans and Roman Catholics will be the disap-pearance of “Sundays after Pentecost” and “Sundays in Ordinary Time”respectively, in favor of “Proper 4” through “Proper 28”.CSS’s edition of the Cycle B lections is laid out in a large, 8.5 x 11inch, plastic-spiral-bound volume that lies flat when opened. The lectionsfor any given Sunday or Festival are printed on two facing pages, so that oneneed not turn a page but can peruse First Lesson, Second Lesson, Gospel,and Psalm in one glance and in that order (exceptions are Passion/PalmSunday, and Good Friday). It is thus an excellent study edition. Generousmargins are also a study convenience.I emphasize that this is a study edition. Though the lay-out is ideal fornervous lectors, in worship the lections should be read from a large Bible. Itis imperative that the preacher always recover the full context of a lectionby reading it in the Bible (See Eugene L. Lowry, Living With the Lec-tionary: Preaching Through the Revised Common Lectionary^Abingdon,1992). Besides, this edition is drab and uninspired in design. Hopefully, asthe Revised Common Lectionary becomes acceptable, some publisher willcreate a truly handsome volume, containing all three cycles.Eduard R. RiegertWaterloo Lutheran SeminaryCommentary on the Lutheran Book of WorshipPhilip H. PfatteicherMinneapolis: Augsburg/Fortress Press, 1990558 + xvii pp. $41.95The first question to ask yourself is this: do you need this book at thisprice? Maybe you don’t. It is a book about the LBW. And, if you thinkthat the LBW at 17 is approaching old age, then Pfatteicher’s commentaryiwill be of historical interest only. On the other handiThis book follows on Pfatteicher’s other LBW-generated volumes: Man-ual on the Liturgy (1979), Festivals and Commemorations (1980), and Com-mentary on the Occasional Services (1983).Its structure parallels the LBW rites. After a brief historical intro-duction to Lutheran worship books, and some technical information onpublication and sources, he takes us in detail through Baptism, Holy Com-munion, the propers of the Church Year, Daily Prayer, the shorter prayersand liturgies. Service of the Word, the Athanasian Creed, Marriage, andthe Burial of the Dead.

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The Lectionary Series from the Revised Common Lectionary: Cycle B

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