A Word from Pastor Nathan

Several months ago, a church member asked me, “What is Year B?” He’d seen “Year B” in the online worship broadcast and was wondering what that meant. I love and truly geek out in response to questions like that. I answered the member, saying, “We follow a three-year lectionary cycle, and each year has a letter name: A, B, and C. The church year goes from Advent through Reign of Christ, and then we go to the next letter. Typically, year A correlates to Matthew; year B, the gospel of Mark, and year C, the gospel of Luke. More than you wanted to know, right?”

Now, I know what you’re thinking: ‘Wait, we have four gospels. What year does John get?’ John gets sprinkled throughout the other years; the poor evangelist doesn’t get his own year. I guess that’s what you get for being the “last” gospel.

The Revised Common Lectionary was publicly released in 1994. Each Sunday—actually, each day—has a prescribed reading from the Hebrew Bible, a psalm, a gospel, and an epistle. This lectionary is the most widely used calendar of texts in the world. It’s also ecumenical, so any denomination can use it. Of course, there are other lectionaries in use. One that has captured my attention is the narrative lectionary, which is a four-year cycle. John finally gets his year.

One of the many brilliant faculty colleagues at Brite Divinity School was the Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney. She is the Right Rev. Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible. You’ve seen her quotes in worship guides. Her scholarship is taking the church—and the academy—by (holy) storm. This year, she released two new lectionaries, titled Year W and Year A. Additional years are forthcoming. What makes these new lectionaries unique is that they are from a womanist perspective. The selections for the lectionary are new and center the presence or highlight the absence of women. Plus, the translations are also fresh. The Episcopal Church, which typically follows the Revised Common Lectionary, has encouraged its parishes to adopt this new lectionary.

We’re going with Year W beginning this Sunday, and I can hardly wait for the challenge of new texts that prepare us for the arrival of the Christ child.