The Lectionary Committee included the historic, one-year lectionary in the Lutheran Service Book for several important reasons:

• We are an historic church and acknowledge the value of what has been handed down to us.

• It is important to recognize the value of repetition. Given the increasing lack of biblical literacy within our society and even within the church, there may be a need in the future for a one-year lectionary, with its yearly repetition of key biblical texts.

• The one-year lectionary is unique in that there are a number of older resources that support it, including hymnody, sermons by Luther and others, etc.

While relatively few of our congregations currently use the one-year lectionary, it is included in the hymnal in order to serve both those who still faithfully use it and those who may one day find that their situation could best be served by the repetition inherent in this lectionary.

Revisions to the one-year lectionary were very minor. The historic Gospels remain intact. Likewise, all of the historic Epistles are included. In a few cases, however, an alternate Epistle is provided. Since the historic lectionary did not have assigned Old Testament readings, the committee took greater freedom in choosing these texts. As with the three-year lectionary, the committee attempted to choose Old Testament readings that relate closely to the Holy Gospel. In addition, they attempted to provide a balanced selection of the various genres of Old Testament readings (e.g., prophetic writings, historical narrative).

Full propers have been prepared for the one-year lectionary, including a psalm and verse of the day, expanded introits, and hymn suggestions for each Sunday and festival.