Reading — words and language — are central to post-Christian being. A course of readings could be used to tie together common worship, small group work, and private devotions; as well as provide a link between common worship and curriculum for young people’s religious education. Call this course of readings a “lectionary.”
Overview:
The “lectionary” year is divided roughly into four seasons: December-February, March-May, June-August, September-November. Assuming not all post-Christians live in the northern hemisphere, or in locations with four defined meteorological seasons, these “seasons” are not assigned names. A post-Christian perspective does not assume one set of readings will fit all post-Christian congregations in all locations, no matter what the surrounding culture might be, so there must always be some flexibility in which readings are used by a given congregation.
The “lectionary” year starts in December: Christmas season as the time when post-Christians tend to remember their Christian past with the most fondness. Readings for December-February explore Christian scriptures, and Hebrew scriptures as filtered through the Christian tradition (i.e., not from a strictly Jewish perspective which would require some familiarity with the Talmud). In March-May, the readings are drawn from non-Western religious traditions.
June-August has two options: more Bible readings for congregations which value their Christian heritage; and readings in social justice. September-November covers readings from the immediate heritage of the congregation (denominational or otherwise), as well as material pertaining to indigenous religious traditions connected to the congregation’s location. Note that for June-November, a special effort can be made to find readings by women.
Rough outline for a three-year cycle:
This outline is fairly arbitrary — it simply assigns readings to various months without attempting to create a narrative structure linking the readings. Obviously, individual “seasons” could be made shorter or longer to meet a local congregation’s needs, i.e., those desiring additional Christian readings
Year A:
December-February: December, parables of Jesus. At Christmas, Jesus birth narrative from Luke. January-February, the early Christian church in Acts and letters, ending with Revelation.
March-May: March, Hindu readings (Vedas, Bahgavad Gita). April, Taoist readings (Tao the Ching, Chuang Tze). May, Muslim readings (Koran).
June-August: Two options: (1) Congregations which place a higher value on their Christian tradition would have more Bible readings. (2) Congregations which place a higher value on a humanist tradition would have readings in social justice spirituality (Year A might include: Ghandi, Thoreau).
September-November: Reserved for readings pertaining to immediate tradition or denomination of congregation. (Here in our New Bedford congregation, readings on Unitarian and Universalist tradition. In Year A, Unitarian readings: Channing, Emerson, Parker, Margaret Fuller, Francis Harper, etc.)
Also reserved for material pertaining to local native indigenous religious traditions, and/or indigenous traditions brought to the area. (Here in New Bedford, material about native American traditions, traditions of the African disapora, etc.)
Year B:
December-February: December, parables of Jesus. At Christmas, Jesus birth narrative from Matthew. January-February, Moses and the Torah.
March-May: March, Buddhist writings (from the Pali scriptures: Anapanasati Sutta, Dharma-Chakra-Pravartana Sutra). April, Confucian writings (Analects, Great Learning). May, Islam (Koran, Sufi poetry). Revision: Per James’s suggestion in comments, switch Buddhist writings to May (for Buddha’s birthday), Islam moved to March.
June-August: Two options: (1) Congregations which place a higher value on their Christian tradition would have more Bible readings. (2) Congregations which place a higher value on a humanist tradition would have readings in social justice spirituality (Year B might include: Martin Luther King, Jr., Thich Nhat Hanh).
September-November: Reserved for readings pertaining to immediate tradition or denomination of congregation. (Here in our New Bedford congregation, readings on Unitarian and Universalist tradition. In Year B, Universalist readings: John Murray, Judith Murray, Joseph Priestley, Hosea Ballou, Clarence Skinner, etc.)
Also reserved for material pertaining to local native indigenous religious traditions, and/or indigenous traditions brought to the area. (Here in New Bedford, material about native American traditions, traditions of the African disapora, etc.)
Year C:
December-February: December, parables of Jesus. At Christmas, combined Jesus birth narratives from John, Luke, and Matthew. January, Genesis. February, Hebrew prophets.
March-May: March, Buddhist writing (Mahayana sutras). April, ancient Chinese writings (I Ching, Book of Odes, Book of Ritual). May, Persian, Sikh, Baha’i readings (Zoaroastrian yasna, the teachings of the gurus, writings by the B’ab). Revision: Per James’s suggestion in comments, switch Buddhist writings to May (for Buddha’s birthday), May miscellany moved to March — and Buddhist writings to include more than Mayahana writings (see James’s comment).
June-August: Two options: (1) Congregations which place a higher value on their Christian tradition would have more Bible readings. (2) Congregations which place a higher value on a humanist tradition would have readings in social justice spirituality (Year C might include: ???)
September-November: Reserved for readings pertaining to immediate tradition or denomination of congregation. (Here in our New Bedford congregation, readings from 20th C. Unitarian Universalist writers: James Luther Adams, Sharon Welch, May Sarton, William Carlos Williams, etc.)
Also reserved for material pertaining to local native indigenous religious traditions, and/or indigenous traditions brought to the area. (Here in New Bedford, material about native American traditions, traditions of the African disapora, etc.)
I like the general pattern but I would be tempted to slide the Buddhist texts into May when the Buddha’s birthday is observed. Would also break out Mahayana Buddhism a bit to include Teachings, Vinaya, Chan, Tantra and Pure Land texts. Too often we look at Chan/Zen and leave out everything else. Also it seems like there has to be a way to cover Hebrew Bible without a Christian supercessionist lens.
James — Your changes noted in Buddhist readings above. As for Christian supercessionist lens, that’s debatable. I think as post-Christians, we are sort of betwixt and between — we’re Christian enough to lump Hebrew Bible in with the rest of our direct religious tradition, but we’re non-Christian enough not to refer to the “Old Testament.” But I think we’re never going to come to a final conclusion on this….
Dan–How about adding in some newer yearly events that provide an opportunity for collective spiritual reflection and possible personal growth, like the “Season of Nonviolence”? (http://www.agnt.org/snv02.htm). One could cover readings from King and Gandhi throughout the season. Just trying to add a complicating factor!
Phil-on-the-Prairie — It’s hard to know how to balance local needs against some wider unifying set of readings. No one set of readings is going to work for all post-Christian congregations (part of being post-Christian is the postmodern understanding that there is no metanarrative). So maybe the thing to do is spread the more general readings over the whole year, and interspersing readings of local importance throughout the year. I dunno — this will be an evolving thing, if it works at all!
Maybe it could be like the Revised Lectionary. Have four or five genres that are available every week. But let the emphasis of at least three of them relate to the season/theme.
Probably the sources of the living tradition could provide the basic idea. Then pick a theme or primary source, like you’ve done, and build the rest around it.