This is part of the Worship Series
A Better Righteousness
Series Introduction
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4
Introduction
We are off on a journey—a four-week venture into familiar and unfamiliar territory. Provided here are a series of suggestions for sermons, liturgies, and bulletin covers for the month of October, beginning with World Communion Sunday and ending with Reformation Sunday. The familiar part of our journey is our chosen theme, "A Better Righteousness," suggested by the lectionary lessons of the Revised Common Lectionary Year A. This theme will strike Reformed congregations as entirely appropriate as we move towards the commemoration of the Protestant Reformation.
Less familiar may be for some the beginning of our journey, the celebration of World Communion Sunday. In spite of divisions, the church intentionally celebrates its unity. We are one body—brothers and sisters all—for we find our life and sustenance in Christ. And there's the rub: we end the month with the commemoration of a "divorce" (as Dr. Henry Wildeboer pointedly referred to the events of 1517 in the Christian Courier, a Reformed weekly published in Canada). It is this movement from the universal to the particular, from the celebration of the church's essential unity to the commemoration of an ecclesiastical divorce, that will challenge worship planners
Bulletin artist Grace Pot used the recurring motif of two interlocking circles to represent the overlapping influences of law and faith in the Christian life. Her reflections on her poetic and biblical inspirations can be found along with the other service material for each of the four Sundays. The bulletins covers themselves are available for download in the resource section below to be used in non-commercial settings with the following copyright statement Grace Pot © 1996 ReformedWorship.org CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Series Outline
| Sermon Title | Scripture Readings | Bulletin Cover | |
| Week 1 | The Faithfulness of God (World Communion) |
Exodus 20:1–4, 7–9 Psalm 19 Philippians 3:4–14 Matthew 21:33–46 |
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| Week 2 | Dressed for the Occasion | Exodus 32:1–14 Psalm 106:1–6, 19–23 Philippians 4:1–9 Matthew 22:1–14 |
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| Week 3 | Staying the Course | Exodus 33:12–23 Psalm 99 1 Thessalonians 1:1–10 Matthew 22:15–22 |
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| Week 4 | A Faithful Pastor & a Faithful Church |
Deuteronomy 34 Psalm 90 1 Thessalonians 2:1–8 Matthew 22:34–46 |
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Revised Common Lectionary
Year A: Season after Pentecost—Proper 22 (27)
Year A: Season after Pentecost—Proper 23 (28)
Year A: Season after Pentecost—Proper 24 (29)
Year A: Season after Pentecost—Proper 25 (30)
