Principles and Policies
for a Story-based Lectionary
(A work in progress)
by Jim Taylor and Ralph Milton

The emerging paradigm . . . is not very much concerned with the historical factuality of the Bible stories, but much more with their meanings. It is not bothered by the possibility that the stories of Jesus' birth and resurrection are metaphorical rather than literally factual accounts. It asks, “Whether it happened this way or not, what is the story staying? What meaning does it have for us?”
Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity, Harper SanFrancisco, 2003

Who is behind this project?
The Story Lectionary is essentially a private project by the two of us, Jim Taylor and Ralph Milton. We are both professional writers, who have worked within the ecumenical Christian context for more than half a century. Over the years, each of us has published a dozen or more books and uncounted magazine resources. Much of our work has been in relation to the Revised Common Lectionary, which we will continue to do.

The Story Lectionary is a volunteer venture. There is no remuneration for either of us or for Linnea Good who has committed a major part of her time to this effort.

There are however, hot links to Linnea's website, and to our pages on the Wood Lake Productions website.

Why do we need a Story-based lectionary?
The Revised Common Lectionary has been a success since it was released in 1992, as was the Common Lectionary for the decade before that. We feel the “kairos” time has come to devise an additional resource that speaks to the hearts as well as the minds of contemporary Christians.

Many leaders in the field of homiletics and Christian communication have been advocating a “narrative” approach to preaching, i.e. the extensive use of story to invoke the imaginations and awaken the spiritual senses of those hearing the sermon. Many preachers have tried to adopt this approach, and have expressed the need for more useful resources. The Revised Common Lectionary fosters the more traditional “propositional” style of preaching.
In their book titled Sensing Beauty, John Dykstra Eusden and John H. Westerhoff III speak of two ways of “knowing” – the “intuitive” and the “intellectual.” These two educators claim that much, perhaps most, of our church activity, especially preaching, fosters the intellectual at the expense of the “intuitive.” Both are needed in order to enter into the full experience of worship. “The intuitive way of knowing is at home in the world of timelessness and eternity and is nurtured by story, drama and the visual arts.”

The “emerging church” needs a preaching resource that is responsive to the needs of lay leaders who are emerging at all levels of the church, including preaching. A story-based lectionary would also support a greater emphasis on story and mythology in the spiritual growth of its members.

A lectionary that is more in harmony with the biblical story-telling way of communicating faith seems to be needed. Early Hebrew theology was based on story, as was the ministry of Jesus. He was a master of the parable, and used it almost to the exclusion of anything else. Jim Taylor, in several of his books and articles, has suggested that Jesus' life (especially the events leading to his crucifixion) can best be understood as “an enacted parable.” This is also true of some Hebrew prophets. Marcus Borg makes much the same case for all of the events in the life of Jesus.

We are gradually becoming aware of some of the fundamental wisdom in the culture of the First Nations that peopled the Americas, Australia and New Zealand. Dayton Edmonds, a First Nations story-teller from Omak, Washington, offered a helpful perspective on the historicity of scriptural stories. “I tell people,” he said, “that I don't know if things happened this way. But this story is true.”

Many preachers are moving away from the Revised Common Lectionary and are looking for alternate resources. The three-year recurring cycle of readings has been used long enough that some preachers are finding little new in it to build enthusiasm.

The lectionary does not do stories well. It assumes that worshippers are biblically literate and can fill in the context as the lectionary highlights key elements of larger stories. One of many examples would be the saga of Joseph, which leaps from his being sold into slavery to his reconciliation with his brothers! There may be a few people in each congregation that can fill in those blanks, but most people hearing the lectionary readings have no idea what the story is about.
The lectionary attempts to convey the entire Bible in a three-year cycle. That assumes that people will be present every Sunday through that cycle. They aren't.
To expose congregations to the entire Bible – or at least all the highlights – the lectionary counts on having four readings on most Sundays (Old Testament, Psalm, Gospel, Epistle). More and more churches now leave out one or more readings, thus invalidating the key lectionary principle of covering the entire Bible.

To get four readings, the RCL has to make each lection as short as possible. Thus many lections have their context ripped away.

The lectionary is not youth or child friendly. Although current lectionaries are being used with young people (as in Seasons of the Spirit and The Whole People of God) the lection choices were made with adults in mind.

How would a story-based lectionary relate to the RCL?

The Story Lectionary will not replace the Revised Common Lectionary. Some church leaders will prefer one, others will move between the two.
The main difference is that the Story Lectionary will be story-based, and in that way more biblical in its style. It will make little attempt to build a worship service around a passage that explores theological doctrine (e.g., Romans or Hebrews).

The Story Lectionary will suggest a single main reading for each Sunday. It will be a complete story. Obviously, some of the Hebrew sagas cannot be dealt with in a single reading. But they can be told in a series of self-contained episodes.

Each story/lection is likely to be longer than current readings, perhaps as long as 5 or 7 minutes. (This will mean that lectors will need to be chosen much more carefully.)

The lection for each Sunday would attempt to draw attention to additional resources that might be tied to the main story. Some of these might be expository passages (such as Romans and Hebrews) or lyrical passages (such as 1 Corinthians 13, parts of Isaiah, or the Psalms). The might be used as additional readings, or they may merely inform the content of the sermon.
We would not attempt to have both a Hebrew Bible and a Christian Bible story on the same day. The stories stand on their own – they don't need to be dragged together to provide proofs that everything Jesus did was fore-ordained.

Because the stories stand on their own, it's highly unlikely that this lectionary will end up with a recurring three-year cycle.

Developing the principles for organizing the stories

1. The selection of lections will be based on the realities of the church as it is, not as we might like it to be.
   Therefore, we will present the Christmas stories during the Advent season – and, hopefully, will sing Christmas carols during the time they are heard on radio and on store loudspeakers. This is not capitulating to popular culture but simply recognizing reality.
   The primary reading for a “festival” will be scheduled for the worship service that has maximum attendance. Since more people attend church the Sunday before Christmas than on Christmas Day (even if Christmas itself falls on a Sunday) the story of the birth of Jesus is scheduled for Advent 4. Similarly, the last Sunday of Lent will be Palm/Passion Sunday, a practise which is already well established in many churches.
2. The year will be divided into two roughly equal blocks – the Festival season and Ordinary time (though it would be nice to come up with a more interesting name for this.)

Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, the Sundays between Epiphany and Lent, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, the post-Easter Sundays, and Pentecost, would be kept together as a coherent block, tentatively called the “Festival” season. These Sundays between Epiphany and Lent would concentrate on Jesus' lifetime, highlighting key stories that will take congregations from his childhood to his resurrection.

Because of the moveable timing of Easter, the number of Ordinary Sundays between the end of Pentecost and the beginning of Advent varies between 24 and 28. We anticipate treating these in blocks of six to eight Sundays, each focusing on a particular saga or theme. (Six sessions also lend themselves to relatively short-term Bible study programs.) For instance, a block of readings might narrate the Abraham/Sarah saga or the David saga. Others might concentrate on the prophets or on representative Psalms. In the New Testament, the groupings might be on parables, on ministry, on miracles, etc.

3. The cycles depend on the content available for that period.
During Advent/Christmas, there are only two stories – Matthew and Luke. The readings for this period will therefore recur every second year.
There are four Passion stories which complement each other. Each has its own integrity. We believe it is valuable to retain this integrity, and to read each story through, in its entirety. These readings will therefore follow a four-year cycle.

At this point, we are making no attempt to impose a recurring cycle on the Ordinary Sundays between Pentecost and Advent. We will probably recommend three or four groups of associated readings each year, but it is possible that the set of groups may never recur.

How will this be presented?

We do not want to rule out any possibilities. However the plan is to make this available on this website at no cost to you. The entire lectionary, as far as it is developed, would be available at all times. In other words, we hope to continue to add material, but not to remove material, so that users may have maximum freedom to move about as suits their situation.

At least a week before any given Sunday – we're actually aiming at four weeks -- the lectionary story will be posted, and with it the necessary connecting story so that the congregation hears a complete story (even when it is an episode within a larger story). This may be as little as a short intro and/or extro to the scripture, or a significant weaving together and/or summarizing of various portions of scripture. For instance, the story of the friendship of David and Jonathan, or the story of Mary of Magdala, would be cleaned from the many places where it occurs in the text, and woven together with connecting narrative.

There will be a short essay suggesting ways in which the feelings, ideas, insights of the story might be developed in a sermon.

An on-line discussion group will share ideas and insights about how a sermon might grow out of a particular story.

There will be hot links to a variety of resources. As time permits, we will post material from previously published stories, discussions, etc., which are now out of print. The text of these materials will be available free.

There would also be hot links to various books and other resources currently in print and available through the Wood Lake Publishing and other websites, as well as to Linnea Good's website.

How will this series be developed?

As previously mentioned, the year would be divided between:
1) The Festival Season, Advent through Pentecost,
2) The Ordinary Sundays between Pentecost and Advent.
Within those two seasons, the following theme groupings are under consideration:

Hebrew sagas focused around individuals
Abraham/Sarah Genesis 12 to 23 currently Year A of RCL

Isaac/Rebekah and Esau Genesis 24 to 27 currently Year A of RCL

Jacob Genesis 28 to 35 currently Year A of RCL

Joseph Genesis 37 to 50 currently Year A of RCL

Moses Exodus currently Year X of RCL currently Year A of RCL

Rulers: Joshua, Gideon, Deborah, Samson, Saul David 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, some Chronicles currently Year B of RCL

New Testament groupings
Jesus' actions and ministry (examples of healing, compassion, behaviour, etc.) (currently mixed through years A, B, and C)

Jesus' parables (currently mixed through years A, B, and C)

Jesus' teachings about living Beatitudes, Great Commandment, Golden Rule, etc. (currently mixed through years A, B, and C)

Thematic groupings
Neglected women Hagar (Genesis 16 and 21:8-20); Dinah (Genesis 34); Tamar (Genesis 38); Esther; Ruth, etc. (currently mixed through years A, B, and C)

Early church stories Acts, backed up by Paul's letters (currently mixed through years A, B, and C)

Old Testament parables Nathan and David, 2 Samuel 12; fruitless vineyard, Isaiah 5:1-7; nine in Ezekiel; Jonah, enacted parables such as Jeremiah (currently mixed through years A, B, and C).

Major prophets Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah (currently Year C)
Minor Prophets Micah, Hosea, Amos, Joel, (currently Years A & C)

Wisdom/folk literature excursions into Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Job, Jonah (currently Year B)

Magnificent visions Isaiah 35, 40, 43, 53, 60; Revelation 21; some Psalms; (currently mixed through years A, B, and C)

Covenants Adam/Eve, Noah, Abraham, Rebekah, Jacob, Moses, David, Jesus, Revelation (currently mixed through years A, B, and C)

How can this improve the worship experience?

Increasingly, preachers no longer come through the traditional undergraduate/graduate study stream, but through several in-service training schemes. Often they do not have the academic background to preach the traditional expository sermon that attempts to identify and integrate theological themes found in several disparate readings.
The common stereotype of sermons has them as dry and irrelevant. The tradition of the sermon as a kind of academic lecture influences that perception. A sermon should appeal not only to the mind, but to the emotions as well. A sermon should be entertaining, the best and most creative sense of that word.

The “emerging Christianity” movement sees Bible stories as mythological, though some of course, are also historical. They are what writer Karen Armstrong calls “More than history.” To make the new understanding stick, stories need to be presented, not as interlocking pieces of doctrine, but as having an internal meaning on their own that is not dependent on historicity. In other words, this lectionary is a practical application of the concept of “emerging Christianity.”

By developing relatively short series around individuals or themes, it becomes possible to say (to steal a line from the old radio dramas), “Tune in again next week – same time, same station.”

This is a work in progress. It began with a lively and fruitful on-line discussion with a diverse group of people from many parts of the world. It will continue to evolve as you feed back your reactions and suggestions to us.

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We look forward to hearing from you!