Lectionary

For Sunday worship, the Episcopal lectionary provides a weekly three-year cycle of Scripture readings.

The association of particular texts with specific days began in the fourth century.  There are two lectionaries in common use in the Episcopal Church: the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) and the Book of Common Prayer Lectionary (BCP). Although most Episcopal churches have recently switched to the RCL, the Church of the Redeemer continues to use the BCP version with permission from our Bishop. 

The RCL version provides semi-continuous passages from the Old Testament week to week, as well as thematic connections between the readings from the Old Testament, New Testament, and Gospel every week.

The BCP version is more traditional in its selection of weekly passages and tends to include difficult topics which often involve controversial Biblical passages. 

For the readings in most of its services, the Redeemer uses the Revised Standard Version (RSV) of the Bible. On occasion, the New International Version (NIV) will be used for All-Parish Eucharists to facilitate a more understandable reading for the youth.