Why Pentecostals Should Use the Lectionary in Their Worship Services

I'm reading the Daily Office Lectionary readings, a series of daily Bible readings in The Book of Common Prayer, this Advent, and am thinking I'll use it along with the Lectionary next year for my devotional readings. But I felt that I just received a warning in Isaiah 29:13, “their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote.” It seems that churches that use the Lectionary for the Scripture readings in their worship services and use a catechism to teach their confirmees are particularly prone to this rote kind of worship where the heart is detached. This was what Isaiah warns against. I have often thought that Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism, with all of their emphases on the Word, would benefit from using the Lectionary since I have observed that the amount of Scripture read in our worship services is quite paltry compared to Roman Catholic masses, for example. Since they use the lectionary, each mass will have a psalm, Old Testament reading, New Testament epistle reading, and Gospel reading. On the contrary, despite being people of the Book and having a high view of the authority of Scripture, Pentecostal preachers will often saying something like, “Because of time constraints today, I won't take time to read the text this morning” or will repeatedly resort to topical preaching that uses only a single verse here and there devoid of context. A little better are those services where the preacher will read a passage, but it is likely the only one read in the service, a mere morsel of spiritual food given to the congregation compared to those using the lectionary, whose congregants will hear something from each of the four spiritual food groups: Psalms, Old Testament, New Testament epistles, and Gospels.

If I ever get an opportunity to pastor a church again, I would use the Lectionary readings for Sunday services in hopes that combining liturgical elements with Pentecostalism would set those worship forms on fire. I used the Lectionary in 1995 in my one pastorate, and the Lectionary gave me a clear sense of direction for each week's service planning. Besides, I could always look at an upcoming week and call an audible if I felt we were supposed to go in a different direction, but that was the exception. Using the Lectionary also prevents the pastor from gravitating toward repeated favorite topics or from railing against pet peeves. Follow the Lectionary for three years and you'll have covered nearly the entire Bible and gone through the church calendar three times.

In the end, Pentecostal worship services could benefit from the rich worship tradition of the Lectionary as a guide for Scripture readings, particularly since the readings also teach in accord with the annual church calendar. Also, those liturgical churches who have rich worship traditions but tend toward religious formalism could also benefit from Pentecostals' expectation of God's presence in their worship services. We might all just benefit from each other in these two areas.