Revised Common Lectionary

The Revised Common Lectionary is a lectionary of readings or pericopes from the Bible for use in Protestant Christian worship, making provision for the liturgical year with its pattern of observances of festivals and seasons. It was preceded by the Common Lectionary, assembled in 1983, itself preceded by the COCU Lectionary, published in 1974 by the Consultation on Church Union (COCU). This lectionary was derived from various Protestant lectionaries in current use, which in turn were based on the 1969 Ordo Lectionum Missae, a three-year lectionary produced by the Catholic Church following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

The Revised Common Lectionary was the product of a collaboration between the North American Consultation on Common Texts (CCT) and the International English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC). After a nine-year trial period, it was publicly released in 1994. The CCT membership includes the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops as well as many traditional "mainline" or "liturgically-based" American and Canadian Protestant denominations such as Lutheran, North American Anglican (Episcopalian), Presbyterian, and more loosely Methodist and/or Seventh Day Adventist. The CCT thereby represents the majority of American and Canadian Christians and has been widely adopted in Great Britain.

As in its predecessors, readings are prescribed for each Sunday: a passage typically from the Old Testament (including those books sometimes referred to as the Apocrypha), or the Acts of the Apostles; a passage from one of the Psalms; another from either the Epistles or the Book of Revelation; and finally a passage from one of the four Gospels.

Also like its predecessors, it runs in three-year cycles; the gospel readings in the first year (Year A) are taken from the Gospel of Matthew, those in the second year (or Year B) from the Gospel of Mark, and in the third year (or Year C) come from the Gospel of Luke. Portions of the Gospel of John are read throughout Eastertide, and are also used for other liturgical seasons including Advent, Christmastide, and Lent where appropriate.

  • Year A begins on the first Sunday of Advent in 2013, 2016, 2019, etc.
  • Year B begins on the first Sunday of Advent in 2014, 2017, 2020, etc.
  • Year C begins on the first Sunday of Advent in 2012, 2015, 2018, etc.

It differs from its Latin predecessor, however, in that—as a result of feedback collected from the participating churches during the trial period—a greater emphasis is given to Old Testament passages and to Wisdom literature.

Read more about Revised Common Lectionary:  Scripture Usage, Denominational Practices

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