CHMF Notes

How to Tell a Story (and calendars!)

Church Life By Ben Rudeen Kreider

Background on the Narrative Lectionary

This fall 2026 at CHMF we’ve embarked on a journey in worship using scripture texts from the Narrative Lectionary. Lectionaries are calendars of scriptures that churches use in worship. Mennonites churches tend to emphasize congregational and pastoral freedom in selecting scriptures for worship and preaching – both using lectionaries but not being wedded to them to the degree some other denominations would.

The Revised Common Lectionary came from a desire for greater ecumenism and collaboration across Christian denominations and was created by the “Consultation on Common Texts” with a variety of mainline churches participating. The Common Lectionary arose out of the Roman Catholic lectionary developed after Vatican II in the 1960s. 

The Narrative Lectionary was initiated by professors at Luther Seminary in 2010, who  observed the need for greater biblical literacy and knowledge of the grand arc of scripture. The NL is now used by lots of different church denominations, including Mennonite congregations. The RCL tends to choose texts based on theological themes and holy holidays (with 4 scriptures offered each Sunday, on a 3-year cycle). 

The NL was developed to help congregations deepen their understanding of the threads that weave throughout the Bible by hearing a single longer scripture each Sunday during the academic year. Over the course of a year (Fall, Winter, Spring) the congregation covers the major themes of the Old and New Testaments (including a single gospel each year of the 4-year cycle).

There are other alternative lectionaries out there, such ones developed to address how male-focused the Common Lectionary tends to be, such as Wilda Gafney’s A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church and Ashley Wilcox’s The Woman’s Lectionary. And the traditional RCL has recently recommended changes to address anti-Judaism found in text selections, particularly in Holy Week.

Why does all of this lectionary stuff matter?

The pattern of how we read and immerse ourselves in the stories of scripture helps us to experience our own personal stories as part of God’s larger story. Regular reading, study, prayerful contemplation, preaching, and reflection on the Bible done in community opens us up to God’s continuing work in our lives and world. For me (Ben) as a regular preacher – I’m excited about using the NL in our congregation because I’m invited to wrestle with and look for God in some new texts we haven’t heard often in worship before (coming from the RCL). With just one text each week – it’s an opportunity to focus and dig deep on that passage. I hope that the story-based flow of texts from Sunday to Sunday helps us grow our familiarity with the Bible and deepen our connection to God in worship!

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