The content of the service we look forward to this coming Sunday morning really does come down to us through millennia. This blog post, adapted from Carl C. Fickenscher II’s book Looking Forward to Sunday Morning: Reflections on the Church Year outlines the structure of the church year and the rich, interconnected content we experience in the liturgy.
A Three-Year Lectionary? … and How It Works
Dating back to the last centuries before Christ, the Jews in their synagogues used what we call a “lectionary”—that is, a schedule calling for certain readings (“lections” or lessons) from the Bible on certain days. …
The early Christians followed this practice of a lectionary, incorporating, obviously, the New Testament writings, from the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and the Epistles (letters by Paul, like Romans and Galatians, and by other apostles, like 1 and 2 Peter), along with readings from the Old Testament. As a church year gradually developed, the lectionary naturally manifested it—especially during the months of the year that commemorate the great events in the life of Christ. …
In the early 1960s, one directive from the Roman Catholic Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) was to devise a three-year lectionary—three years worth of Bible readings instead of the traditional one. In short order, Protestants and Lutherans developed three-year lectionaries of their own, heavily based on the Vatican II design, but with appropriate editing, not drawing from the Apocrypha read by Roman Catholics. Largely because of the attraction of hearing that much more of the Bible, three-year lectionaries are now used by a very substantial majority of congregations, including in the LCMS. The three-year lectionary Looking Forward to Sunday Morning studies is from Lutheran Service Book (LSB). The first three elements being discussed in this blog—the Holy Gospel, the Old Testament Reading, and the Epistle—are being looked at within this context. See how LSB lays out lectionary readings below.
Holy Gospel
See how the left column of LSB gives the day of the church year? Then look at the far right-hand column: Holy Gospel. The design for each Sunday or festival begins with the Holy Gospel. Scan the Gospel readings on these pages. Notice that for Year A, the Gospels are primarily from the book of Matthew, for Year B, they are from Mark, and for Year C, they are from Luke, with John woven into all three, slightly more in Year B because of Mark’s shorter length. Check a few of your Sunday bulletins and see which book of the Bible the Gospels are coming from. You’ve got it.
Old Testament Reading
The Old Testament Reading (the second column) is selected to reflect some relationship to the Gospel lesson. It might declare a prophecy that is then fulfilled in the Gospel lesson. (If you’d like, look up the Old Testament and Gospel readings for Advent 4, Year A.) Or the Old Testament Reading might be a narrative, a story, that illustrates a teaching in the Gospel lesson (for example, with Year A Proper 19). Or the Old Testament Reading may simply teach the same doctrine as the Gospel lesson (say, Epiphany 7, Year A).
Epistle
The Epistle (third column) is chosen different ways in different seasons of the church year. During Advent, Christmas season, Lent, and major festivals such as the days of Epiphany, Transfiguration, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday, the Epistle, as expected, reflects the theme set by the Gospel lesson. However, during the Epiphany season, Easter season, and the Sundays after Pentecost, the Epistles instead spend consecutive Sundays in a particular letter. This lets us get the flow of that book. See, for instance, how the Epistles for Epiphany 2–8, Year A, read continuously through Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. Since these readings follow the order of the book they’re taken from, they can’t be expected to make the same points as the Gospels for those days. With high frequency, nevertheless, close examination of these Epistles will discover some elements that can embellish the theme of the day.
Other Propers
There’s one more vocab word we’ve been using but should be sure we understand: propers. Properly speaking (sorry!), the propers are all the elements of the worship service that change from week to week. (The elements that don’t change or have just a couple of options shown in the hymnal are called the “ordinaries.”) The hymns we sing on a given Sunday, some particular prayers, and, as we’ve seen, these Scripture lessons are propers. But there are a few other propers to recognize, because they are also assigned to accompany the lectionary readings on specific Sundays.
Introit
The first of these other propers, as named earlier, is the Introit (from a Latin word meaning “entrance,” referring to the pastor going to the altar). The Introit is usually selected verses from the Psalms, and it begins and ends with an identical passage called the antiphon. The Introit—especially the antiphon—is intended to introduce the overall theme of the day. Except during Holy Week (the days of Christ’s Passion and death), the Introit includes the Gloria Patri (“Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit …”) as a reminder that the God of the Old Testament psalms is the one and only true God, the Holy Trinity.
Collect
Soon after comes a prayer called the Collect of the Day. In ancient worship, the congregation would kneel for silent prayer, after which the pastor would vocalize a prayer intended to “collect” in a quite general way the petitions on the hearts of all the people. Very early in the Church’s history, prayers for this purpose were written down—according to a definite, specific form—and came to be used widely. Those early prayers are among our appointed Collects yet today. For the three-year lectionary, though, many new Collects have been composed so that they address the themes of the additional Sundays.
Psalm
As the hymnal of Old Testament Israel, the Psalms have always had an honored place in Christian worship. Not only does the Introit draw from the Psalter, but the propers also appoint a full Psalm. The Psalm usually amplifies the message of the Old Testament Reading, and since that reading is selected according to the day’s Gospel lesson, the Psalm is also usually on point to the overall Sunday theme. Congregations that do not routinely use the Psalm when celebrating Holy Communion may nonetheless use it in the Matins service (LSB, p 221).
Gradual
Instead of the full psalm, many congregations place another proper called the Gradual after the Old Testament Reading. Originally chanted as the pastor moved into position for the next reading (gradus means “step”), the Gradual is also frequently verses from the Psalms. In the three-year lectionary, a particular Gradual is used for an entire season (all four Sundays of Advent, for example) or for part (four to seven weeks) of the lengthy season that includes the Sundays after Pentecost. Thus, the Gradual suggests a theme not for a Sunday but for the season.
Verse
The Verse is easily overlooked. It’s brief. It often quotes words that will be repeated moments later in the Gospel. But rather than being “predundant,” on many Sundays the Verse may be the most explicit articulation of the service’s theme. Notice that we stand for it in anticipation of the Gospel. And very significant is the fact that, except during Lent, it’s framed in Alleluias. Alleluia is derived from the Hebrew meaning “Praise Yahweh (the LORD)” (Ps 104:35; 105:45; 106:1, 48; and many, many more). Why is that so important? Because praising the Lord is never to be simply an outburst that our emotions generate; legitimate praise of the Lord is always in response to the great and gracious things He has done.
Hymn of the Day
The last proper to mention here is a uniquely Lutheran contribution to the worship tradition: the Hymn of the Day. Lutherans of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (and since!) wrote numerous hymns that became part of the weekly Sunday rhythm. Many of these sang the stories and teachings of the Gospel lessons and came to be associated with the Sundays when those lessons were read. The Hymns of the Day give a fine sample of the hymnal and help keep the Lutheran Church “the singing church.”
As we look forward to Sunday morning—me at St. Paul’s Lutheran, Fort Wayne, Indiana, or Immanuel Lutheran, Orange, California, and you wherever that might be—I pray that this book helps us look forward to Sunday morning together. Because that, the unity in Christ Jesus shared through centuries and around the world, is the great virtue of liturgy, lectionary, and all those things proper.
Blog post adapted from Looking Forward to Sunday Morning: Reflections on the Church Year © 2025 Carl C. Fickenscher II, published by Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved.
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