● March 2026 "The Mountain Top Messenger" Newsletter
(please click on above link to open current newsletter)
I am going to share a little secret with you today; I was looking at some of my newsletter covers
from previous years with the thought of being a bit lazy and perhaps plagiarizing some of my
previous work. I was looking at the cover letter from March of 2013 and in it I am thank all of you
for calling me to go to the seminary and become your pastor. I had to do a double take, thirteen
years! Where has the time gone. All I can say at this point is, that I have truly been blessed by the
Lord. For he has enabled me to serve all of you as well as help out at some of the other churches
in our circuit. It has been and continues to be an amazing run. And as I said I am truly blessed and
pray he allows me to continue to serve you for many more years to come. I am here for as long as
He and all of you will allow.
Now for the topic of the month, last month I wrote to you about our seasonal colors, what they
meant and why the changes. This month, I wanted to talk to you about our lectionaries, or
pericopes. These are the scripture readings that are assigned for each Sunday of the Church
year. In the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, we have three options; first there is the one year
lectionary. With the one-year lectionary there are the standard three readings per Sunday from the
Old Testament, Epistles, and Gospel. At the end of the year, the same reading order is used again
for the next year. Some pastors alternate their messages based on the reading used by year, i.e.,
this year they would use the O.T. reading, next year the Epistle, and the next year the Gospel.
Others stick more frequently to just New Testament readings. The second option is the 3-year
lectionary, this is the one we use here at Zion. There are years A, B, and C. With these series,
Year A focuses primarily on the Gospel of Matthew, Year B focuses on readings from Mark, and
Year C focuses on Luke. What about John you might ask, John in intermixed in all three years at
important times of the year. The Epistles are also broken up a bit with more Romans in A, 1 & 2
Corinthians in B and Acts, Galatians, 1 & 2 Timothy in C. Old Testament readings are a little harder
to nail down. The Old Testament readings are generally selected to pair up with the Gospel reading
in a supporting fashion. The Epistle readings are more general and are read in a sequential
fashion. The third option is not to follow the lectionary at all, and we do this on occasion when we
are doing a specific sermon series or a special topic like Stewardship. Some larger churches with
multiple pastors use this method more in my experience.
One thing to note is that because the date of Easter changes from year to year, its place on the
calendar during a particular year determines whether the number of Sundays during the season of
Pentecost. The LCMS has used the current three-year lectionary since 1973, the one-year
lectionary has a much older history. The LCMS 3-year lectionary is similar to the Revised
Common Lectionary but has some of its own distinctions. The 3-year lectionary was originally
created in the 1960's by the Roman Catholic Second Vatican Council. The protestant churches
soon followed, including the LCMS. This is why some of your friends from other denominations
may mention the same readings for the same Sunday.
Interesting fact, of the 31,000 verses in the Bible, the one-year lectionary selects just over 2,700
verses or 8.7%. Of that 8.7% with the New Testament getting 2 readings a week and the Old
Testament but one, it actually works out to 23.1% of the New Testament and 3.7% of the Old
Testament. In the 3-year lectionary we get to hear a much larger selection of the Word.
I hope you found that worth the read, still working on next months topic, in the meantime, thank
you for your support, I hope to see you at the Lenten services on Wednesday, and remember soup
and Sandwich on March 4, and March 18.
And in closing, my friend, the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon
you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace.
God Blees,
Pastor Rick
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