Greetings, Calendar Cooperators:

So, every Sunday I announce the liturgical week as if it matters. Yesterday was the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, which references the prescribed scriptural texts for the day within a repeating three-year cycle; we are currently in year B of the Revised Common Lectionary, which focuses predominantly on the Gospel of Mark. Last year (A) drew primarily from the Gospel of Matthew, and next year (C) will bring us through the Gospel of Luke. John’s Gospel is sprinkled through the three-year cycle, dropping in on the Advent Season, Lent and some Sundays after Easter.

Protestant use of any Lectionary of prescribed texts arose during the 1970s and '80s when the Consultation on Church Union (COCU) built on the