Beginning with its founding editor, Ted Johnston, Equipper has been providing sermon summaries for nearly ten years. It is difficult to believe that much time has passed! As with any long-standing practice, it is always a good idea to periodically revisit why this resource was launched in the first place.
Here is a reminder of the purpose of the sermons provided in Equipper:
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- To help fulfill our priority to preach sermons aligned with the Christian Worship Calendar, following the Revised Common Lectionary.
- To streamline the task of sermon preparation for our busy pastors, most of whom have dual vocations.
- To spark ideas for preaching the pericope that are grounded in Incarnational Trinitarian Theology.
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Here is a refresher for the recommended best use of this tool:
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- Consider the material as a resource to equip you to deliver the sermon.
- Do not consider it a script that you read, word for word.
- Remember that the author provides the quoted material primarily to educate and give background information as you prepare.
- Do not include every quote in the sermon. Hearing long quotes read aloud can be tedious for some listeners and can be more difficult to comprehend for others.
- Add examples and antidotes from your context to personalize the message.
- Use your own discretion if you should omit something.
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More Refreshers:
What is the Revised Common Lectionary?
How do I focus on hope while empowering the listeners?
Preaching vs Teaching
The priority for the sermon is preaching rather than teaching. Though teaching has its place (delivered largely through Bible studies, discipleship classes and the like), preaching is different—it involves the inspired proclamation of the good news week in and week out in the sermon.
When the Bible speaks about preaching it’s referring to heralding the gospel. The message preached is primarily for conversion and conviction, whereas the message taught is primarily for exhorting and explaining, with an eye toward building Christians in the faith (discipleship). Can we all agree that we need to hear the gospel preached passionately every week? Let’s never bore people with the good news.
Note Paul’s exhortation concerning the priority of preaching:
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. (2 Timothy 4:2)
What is the Revised Common Lectionary?
The RCL lists for each Sunday a set of related Scripture readings (lections). The sermon and other elements of worship then focus on one or more of these lections, as explained in an article on the Vanderbilt Divinity Library website:
The Revised Common Lectionary is a three-year cycle of weekly lections … built around the seasons of the Church Year, and includes four lections for each Sunday, as well as additional readings for major feast days. During most of the year, the lections are: a reading from the Hebrew Bible, a Psalm, a reading from the Epistles, and a Gospel reading …
The seasons of the Church Year reflect the life of Christ. Consequently, the Gospel lections for each Sunday provide the focus for that day. The other lections for a given day generally have a thematic relationship to the Gospel reading for that day, although this is not always the case. In Ordinary Time, the Revised Common Lectionary offers two sets of readings for the lessons from the Hebrew Bible. One set proceeds mostly continuously, giving the story of the Patriarchs and the Exodus in Year A, the monarchial narratives in Year B, and readings from the Prophets in Year C. In the other set of readings for Ordinary Time, the readings from the Hebrew Bible are thematically related to the Gospel lections.
The gospel readings for each year come from one of the synoptic gospels according to the following pattern:
Year A – Matthew
Year B – Mark
Year C – Luke
Readings from the Gospel of John can be found throughout the RCL.
How do I focus on hope while empowering the listeners?
What is expository preaching?
Additional Resources
Below for additional resources related to sermons and other aspects of worship in sync with the RCL. (Note: GCI does not necessarily endorse all the content on these sites.)
Commentaries on the Revised Common Lectionary
re:Worship (resources for worship leaders keyed to the RCL)
Sonnets for Sundays (poems keyed to RCL lections)
