While I own copies of all of the volumes in the Christian Worship suite, a subset of those volumes is located on the small shelf that is part of my office desk. Among those books that are always within arm’s reach are the three volumes entitled Commentary on the Propers. Along with the hymnal and psalter pew editions and Christian Worship: Planning Guide, these commentaries were envisioned as books that would regularly find their place on the desks of pastors and worship planners. If you have been using them already, I am confident that you have been reaping the benefits. If you have yet to acquire the maroon-colored, three-volume set, I encourage you to do so. I find no reason to hesitate from describing these books as indispensable.

The Christian Worship Lectionary

Of roughly a dozen committees that worked on the Christian Worship suite, the Scripture Committee was first out of the gate, due to the fact that so much other material would be based on lectionary selections. Seven experienced pastors set about the task. Their work was not completely independent of existing, time-honored lectionaries, especially regarding Gospel selections that are common across the broader Christian church. Nor was it assisted by artificial intelligence platforms. Countless hours were devoted to selecting the First Reading, Second Reading, and Gospel Reading for each Sunday and festival (for both the three-year and one-year lectionaries, as well as the Minor Festivals and Occasions). Psalms of the Day were appointed, Gospel Acclamation proper verses were selected, carefully curated Prayers of the Day were included, and Hymn of the Day designations from yet another separate task force were incorporated. Draft after lectionary draft made its way through Executive Committee review until the meticulously honed final draft was printed in the front of the hymnal and other resources.

That brief description of the process is included to set the stage for sharing with you the way in which the Commentary on the Propers volumes were authored. Three men who were intimately involved in the process of crafting the lectionary set their hands to writing the commentaries: Jonathan Schroeder (Year A, and general editor); Jonathan Scharf (Year B); Jonathan Bauer (Year C). The result of their devoted and intense work on these books is a tremendous gift to our church body.

Commentary on the Propers

Found in the Preface of each volume is this paragraph:

Commentary on the Propers is meant to aid worship leaders and preachers in their annual, seasonal, and weekly planning. We envision this as the first resource they utilize as they begin to plan for seasons and Sundays. The commentary on the day and its propers helps clarify the main points of emphasis found in those readings, in that context, for that particular service. The book also highlights the connections and flow of Sundays and seasons. The worship planner will be able to appreciate the lectionary and calendar’s rhythm and progression throughout the church year.

As you open and make use of these books, you are benefiting from an insider’s look at the how and the why of the way in which the entire lectionary came together—the common thread that is woven through all the propers for a particular Sunday or festival, as well as the interconnectedness of the Sundays and festivals of the season.

The Season

Each major season of the year has an opening treatment of the season itself. What is the mood and purpose of Advent? How are the Sundays in Lent observed? What do we bear in mind when the glorious season of Easter is observed “for a full week-of-weeks (49 days)”? Included in a number of these reviews of the season is a paragraph in italic typeface that provides information about specific dates. An example for Christmas:

While the exact date of Jesus’ birth is unknown, its celebration on December 25 has been widely practiced by the church in the West since at least the fourth century. Christmas Day begins the 12-day season of Christmas, which includes several minor festivals: St. Stephen (December 26), St. John (December 27), the Holy Innocents (December 28), and the Circumcision and Name of Jesus (January 1) (Commentary on the Propers, Year C, p. 37).

Before moving to the individual calendar days, you will also find the entire season plotted out, with a brief theme statement for each Sunday or festival. In most cases, these can easily serve as seeds for the creation of a sermon series. In a good number of cases, actual suggested sermon series are provided (Commentary on the Propers, Year A, p. 150 or pp. 196-198). (Since “The Propers System” of the non-festival half of the church year is new to our church body’s lectionary, find an explanation of it in Commentary on the Propers, Year A, p. 198.)

The Sunday or Festival

Beneath the banner of its brief theme statement (italic typeface), each Sunday or festival begins with an overall summary of the day itself—the specific direction in which the propers are going on this particular day. The summary melds together many of the key thoughts from the entire proper of the day. Week in and week out, the summary is the starting point for pondering and planning the day. In the summary of the day, you will occasionally find helpful comments about other nearby days:

As was the case several weeks ago, the preacher will want to be aware of all the propers where Jesus addresses the topic of money (Propers 13, 14, 20, 21, 25, and 26), especially next week’s. This week, Jesus addresses the benefit money can have in life. Next week, he addresses the inability of money to help in death (Commentary on the Propers, Year C, p. 300).

Following the summary of the day are the Context of the Church Year, Proper of the Day, and Prayer of the Day.

• Context of the Church Year displays the location of the particular Sunday or festival within its season or section, with the particular day in bold typeface and the brief theme statements for each day repeated.
• Proper of the Day shows in tabular form the scripture references for the five elements of the proper (Gospel; First Reading; Second Reading; Psalm; Gospel Acclamation), followed by the liturgical color of the day.
• Prayer of the Day provides the text of this prayer and often includes a note about its source.

Although the devil rages, he is no match for the powerful Son of God. This prayer from the Pomeranian Agenda was likely written by Dr. Johannes Bugenhagen, Luther’s friend and pastor (Commentary on the Propers, Year C, p. 240).

Comments on the three appointed scripture readings appear next. Since the Gospel Reading sets the theme for the day, its comments are presented first. Thereafter follow the comments on the First and Second Readings. While there are occasional references to the original languages, these comments can surely benefit worship planners who have not had training in the biblical languages.

Many will undoubtedly recall the sermon studies series linked to Christian Worship 1993 and its lectionary, what many referred to as “the green books.” Those volumes were more akin to actual text studies as they explored specific Old Testament, epistle, and gospel pericopes on a nearly verse-by-verse basis and provided suggested sermon themes and parts. Neither those volumes nor the more recent Commentary on the Propers volumes was meant to shortcut actual text study and exegetical work with the original languages. The comments on the readings in Commentary on the Propers intentionally steer clear of verse-by-verse analysis and suggested sermon themes. Their intent, as previously stated, is to give the reader a good sense of the place that the readings hold in the overall thrust of the propers of the day.

That being said and understood, the comments on the readings for each Sunday and festival can also be of great assistance in selecting the preaching text for the day (and the season or section), as well as identifying strong candidates for the hymns that will be selected for the day (cf. hymn suggestions in CW: Planning Guide and CW: Service Builder).

The last items appearing for each Sunday and festival are the Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Hymn of the Day.

• The text shown for the appointed Psalm of the Day is identical to the note (italic typeface) in Christian Worship: Psalter, including a brief note about the psalm and a translation of Martin Luther’s comments on that psalm.
• The Gospel Acclamation shows the actual scripture text of the proper verse within the acclamation.
• The Hymn of the Day includes the hymn number and title.

Index

Each volume of Commentary on the Propers includes the complete Lectionary Index found also in CW: Planning Guide. The index includes the scripture readings and psalm appointments for all of the CW lectionaries (three-year, one-year, Minor Festivals, and Occasions).

A Word about Sermon Series

On November 30th of this year, the First Sunday of Advent, users of the three-year lectionary cycle into Year A once again. In terms of the release of Christian Worship 2021, this will be the fifth church year that makes use of the CW21 lectionary. The Foundation worship resources, initially produced by WELS Congregational Services, are now being produced by the WELS Commission on Worship. Our thanks are extended to Pastors Jon Hein and Bryan Gerlach for their faithful work in providing these resources for the past four years.
Going forward, the format of The Foundation’s worship resources has been modified. The changes are, in part, to reflect an increasing amount of material available in Musician’s Resource, to which many of the musical selections and suggestions are now linked. You are encouraged to make use of these resources at both The Foundation on the WELS Congregational Services website and Musician’s Resource on the NPH website.

The flexibility of liturgical resources is evident in the way that the lectionary materials continue to provide ample opportunities for sermon series preaching, even as most congregations are now going through the three-year lectionary for a second time. Sermon series suggestions in Commentary on the Propers, Years A, B, and C, are able to be refreshed on a triennial basis as new series suggestions are produced, based on the same readings, but with wording that comes from a slightly different angle or perspective. You may wish to repeat identically a sermon series from Commentary on the Propers that you used three years ago, and can do so seamlessly simply by preaching on a different reading. You may also make use of an updated, slightly recast sermon series from The Foundation, the new format of which includes a suggested reading to use for the sermon.

The three-volume set of Commentary on the Propers will prove to be a valuable investment for years to come. I commend it to you for its beneficial use.

This article in Devote Yourself was contributed by the team that previously created and distributed Worship the Lord. View past worship-related articles at worship.welsrc.net/downloads-worship/worship-the-lord.