Terry Johnson, in the recent Festschrift for O. Palmer Robertson, advocates lectio continua Scripture reading in worship. This is defined as the systematic reading through of books of the Bible (omitting nothing), one chapter one week, the next chapter the next week, and so on. This is distinct from lectio continua preaching, which, however, has the same structure. What was so encouraging in this chapter was that it confirmed what I have been doing in my worship service. I wish publicly to encourage Terry Johnson that there are a few of us actually doing this. I preach according to the lectio continua method. But in addition to the sermon, I have a Bible reading plan for both the morning and the evening service. The portion read is normally a chapter, unless it is very long. Then I might divide it. I usually expound upon the meaning of the text before I read it, usually for about 3-4 minutes, enough to see its significance, as well as some trajectories for application, and showing how the passage shows Christ. It is a mini-sermon. Currently, I am in the middle of 1 Samuel in the morning, and in Isaiah at night (both Old Testament, to balance out the New Testament preaching, although I have since moved on to Daniel in preaching the morning service).
I do know that Tenth Presbyterian Church does this with the New Testament. However, it would be a wonderful thing if they were to add the Old Testament as well, so that the congregation can regularly hear the entire Bible. Tenth does do expository lectua continua preaching. However, it is impossible for the congregation to hear the whole counsel of God if the Old Testament is left out.
I am as strong an advocate of the practice as Terry Johnson is, and I sincerely hope and pray that more churches in the Reformed world will give their churches the whole counsel of God. Think of it: on some Sundays, where the preaching takes a whole chapter, the congregation could be exposed to four entire chapters of Scripture! It would then take only 7 years to get all the way through the Bible at that rate. What could we not see in revival if these fat chunks of Scripture are assaulting our rebellion at every step? I highly recommend Terry Johnson’s article to the attention of the church.
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Nicholas T. Batzig said,
June 2, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Lane,
Tenth has been doing this type of reading through the book of Exodus over the past year. Sometime a deviation from the reading is necessary for one reason or another but overall they are fairly consistent. Usually we do a short annotation, like Terry recommended at Twin Lakes this year, and then read the passage. I find this to be a very beneficial part of the worship service.
greenbaggins said,
June 2, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Nicholas, you encourage me no end! When I was attending, they were only doing the NT, but maybe they were always planning on getting to the Old Testament after they finished reading the NT. That would be an interesting question for a Tenth person to answer.
Benjamin P. Glaser said,
June 2, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Thanks for the great idea Lane. Not being in a truly Reformed church for the past 28 years it is good to learn more about how to incorporate more of God’s word into the Worship service.
Michael Lynch said,
June 2, 2008 at 7:53 pm
The first time I encountered this type of Bible reading was at Matthews OPC in Charlotte (Matthews). I am glad to know that it actually has a name!
Fred Greco said,
June 2, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Lane,
We’ve been doing this as well for more than two years, although we don’t often read an entire chapter. This is especially true now that I am preaching thought 1 Kings at about a chapter a week. I try to find good blocks of the text for reading, usually between 15-30 verses.
Chris Coldwell said,
June 2, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Go Terry! :) My former church has been doing this for maybe 18 years? I think we covered the NT in 2 years the OT in 7 and were on the 3rd pass through the OT at the time I transferred. My present church does have a fair amount of readings but not whole chapters necessarily and not continua . The “annotations” were standard too, though it is a fine art to not preach three sermons I think; i.e. they really should be more along the lines of what is done in family worship, which affords a constance practical example to the heads of households (see the old Scottish Directory for Family Worship in the std Westminster Stds).
Jamie Griffith said,
June 2, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Hi, Lane! This is the first time I’ve heard it given a name, and if I understand it correctly, it sounds like what our session does here in Fayetteville too. Currently Pastor Webb is preaching through a NT book in the morning, so a RE will also read a chapter from an OT book during that service and then gives a “mini-sermon,” as you said. Likewise, in the evening when Pastor Webb preaches through an OT book, the RE reads a NT chapter consecutively week after week until the book is completed,etc.
From a layman’s POV, I’d just say, keep the emphasis on “MINI” in “mini-sermon.” Otherwise, a congregation may end up sitting through 3 sermons in one worship service (I’m including the exposition on the WCF in our services as well). Not that that would be so bad :) But the flesh is weak ;)
-Jamie
Bob Suden said,
June 3, 2008 at 12:23 am
It is good to see this practiced, but the Assembly’s Directory for Public Worship (1645) beats everybody to the punch.
Under “Of Publick Reading of the Holy Scriptures” the 4th paragraph says:
It is requisite that all the canonical books be read over in order, that the people may be better acquainted with the whole body of the scriptures; and ordinarily, where the reading in either Testament endeth on one Lord’s day, it is to begin the next.
S. Welch said,
June 3, 2008 at 7:44 am
I have always appreciated Terry Johnson’s work on public worship. I was first introduced to his approach to worship in Dr. Michael Milton’s first church plant 15 years ago. I use this approach to worship in my own congregation and it is refreshing, especially with all the “contemporary” worship mania in the PCA. Paul tells Timothy to devote himself to the public reading of Scripture. What an excellent approach to the systematic reading of Scripture. I believe that this approach to worship and the public reading of Scripture will bring reformation to our churches.
Grover Gunn said,
June 3, 2008 at 10:31 am
I believe it was at the 2006 Twin Lakes Conference that Terry Johnson advocated the lectio continua reading of Scripture in worship as opposed to the lectio selecta method. Since then Grace PCA here in Jackson, TN, has included serial readings in the gospels in its Sunday morning services. We later began serial readings in the NT epistles in the Sunday evening services. On Sunday evenings, we were already singing through the psalter. I have begun putting a short summary explanation of the psalm selection in the bulletin and read it before we sing the versification. We were already studying through the OT in the Bible study portion of our Wednesday night prayer meeting. There is no substitute for Scripturally saturated worship which includes the faithful preaching of the Word as well as the reading of the Word.
Grover Gunn
Clay Johnson said,
June 3, 2008 at 3:50 pm
This sounds very very good. So is the continua part within a particular book that is chosen by a selecta method? Or is it book-to-book within the OT, NT, or other division (e.g., gospels, epistles, etc.)? What do you do when you come to, say, the extended genealogies of 1 Chronicles 1-9, simply break it down into smaller pieces?
S. Welch said,
June 3, 2008 at 5:27 pm
# 11 Clay when you come to those sections you simply skip them. Ha, just kidding. This is what we ordinarily do with begats and texts like this. Perhaps reading it in small sections or bringing in a parallel text to read along side of it.
A Short Review of “The Hope Fulfilled” « Green Baggins said,
October 22, 2008 at 11:19 am
[...] 22, 2008 at 11:19 am (Books (reviews and recommendations)) Previously, I had only reviewed the one article by Terry Johnson on lectio continua Scripture reading. I am still not going to comment on every article. That should [...]
A. Barnes said,
October 28, 2008 at 9:33 am
Ah, just noticed this post. Our church reads one chapter of Scripture in both morning and evening services.
In the morning now we are at 1 Samuel 2 and in the evening 1 Peter 2. It is interesting because of the morning reading, because in the evening I’m preaching through Samuel. This week I am in chapter 7. So it is a good review too.
Just like Nehemiah 8 and the Puritans, we read the chapter and then give the sense of the meaning of the chapter.
Decline in the public reading of the Scripture? - The PuritanBoard said,
November 7, 2008 at 1:21 pm
[...] for instance). Meanwhile, there is also this recent blog post by Lane which may be of interest: Lectio Continua Scripture Reading Green Baggins __________________ Andrew Myers Husband of Jessica, Father of Jackson, Katie and Samuel Member, [...]
joe riley said,
December 16, 2008 at 2:39 pm
L.C. Scripture reading is an interesting concept. I have not read the festschrift, so I can’t comment on whether the larger issues surrounding the practice are addressed. It would seem that this practice brings with it its own peculiar set of problems that must be considered. I’m acutally surprised how quickly and positively the idea is accepted without mention of the hurdles evident in its implementation with respect to the worship liturgy. Nor is anyone commenting on the history of the practice in the Reformed churches. Finally, how does this positively contribute to what is supposed to occur in worship (other than the rather obvious – God speaking through His Word)? That is, how does the lectio continua reading better serve the purpose originally intended than a careful and applicable text selection each week?
With respect to the liturgy, where does this takes place? Considering our typical Reformed liturgical movement, one would expect this Scripture reading to take the place of what formerly was reserved for the “reading of the law,” or other such reading, and the well-defined purpose for which it existed. If instead, for instance, Christ is shown forth or deduced at this point in the liturgy, then this liturgical rationale undergoes a considerable change in the service; confession of sin following the gospel in Christ seems inconguous. So even the liturgical movement must then be reconsidered. Perhaps attempts to be faithful to the chronological, consecutive reading concept challenges one to avoid a contrived congruency to make every reading fit the formerly construed liturgical rationale. I’ll not belabor the point; I think the issue is plain enough. I’m curious to see how we might address the potential problems.
Review: “The Hope Fulfilled” said,
May 23, 2012 at 6:35 am
[...] of O. Palmer Robertson, Robert L. Penny, ed., P&R Publishing, 2008. I had only reviewed the one article by Terry Johnson on lectio continua Scripture reading. I am still not going to comment on every article. That should [...]
Frank Aderholdt said,
May 23, 2012 at 4:55 pm
In several churches, I have campaigned for many years to have the choir anthem sung during the offering — for the purpose of freeing up time for lectio continua Scripture reading during the service. No success so far. Still on my bucket list.
I know that many of you probably (a) don’t have a choir anthem because (b) you don’t have a choir. Whether that’s a good or a bad thing is up to individual judgment, I suppose.
greenbaggins said,
May 23, 2012 at 6:29 pm
I don’t see any need to choose between those two things. ;-) We have both in our service.
Frank Aderholdt said,
May 24, 2012 at 4:33 am
Agreed, Lane. But reading an additional chapter of Scripture and having a standalone choir anthem might extend the service by five minutes every week. To some congregations, this would be a cataclysmic event of Armageddon-like proportions.