Preaching in 2022
On this upcoming Sunday where we observe the feast of Epiphany, I wanted to pause my regularly scheduled program to share what I am excited about in 2022 regarding worship at Lakewood UMC.
As Methodists, we don't have any required approach to selecting the texts that guide the theme of worship on a given Sunday. Many churches use the ecumenical Revised Common Lectionary, and others schedule worship series and select texts that go along with that worship theme. We have done both at Lakewood UMC since I have been here.
But in 2022 I want to try something different. I came across "A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church" at the end of last year. It is written by the Rev. Wil Gafney, PhD who is the the Right Rev. Sam B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. Her commentary, translations, and womanist approach to biblical scholarship is exciting! Check out this quick description about this book from the publisher:
"What does it look like to tell the good news through the stories of women who are often on the margins of scripture and often set up to represent bad news? How would a lectionary centering women’s stories, chosen with womanist and feminist commitments in mind, frame the presentation of the scriptures for proclamation and teaching?
The scriptures are androcentric, male-focused, as is the lectionary that is dependent upon them. As a result, many congregants know only the biblical men's stories told in the Sunday lectionary read in their churches. A more expansive, more inclusive lectionary will remedy that by introducing readers and hearers of scripture to “women's stories” in the scriptures."
In this season where racial injustices are being revealed in critical ways in our society, this is an opportunity to be led into the scriptures in a different way. What is remarkable about Dr. Gafney's "Women's Lectionary" is that this is a full year of selected readings, designed to follow the church year, that includes a new gender-expansive translation of the biblical texts. The years text selections also have been chosen very specifically to lift up often untold stories of women in scripture.
Did you know that at least 111 women are named in the Hebrew Scriptures? That there were women prophets? Or that there are atleast 20 Isrealite/Judean queens whose names are preserved in the scriptures? I never knew how little I was encouraged to explore these stories by virtue of the lectionary I normally follow when selecting scriptures for worship.
I am very excited to explore what this lectionary has to offer us, and I am excited to go on this journey with all of you in 2022! Every Sunday, the bulletin will include all four readings for each day that you can take home with you for your own devotional study. We will also be adding a reading of the Psalm to worship every Sunday that addressed God creatively, and allows us to hear the unique experience of hearing God addressed as "she" in all of the praising and lamenting that occurs in the Psalms.
Join us this Sunday for worship at 10am!
