ROOTS and the lectionary

The Revised Common Lectionary

The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) provides a three-year cycle of Sunday readings based on the three synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. Each Gospel is allocated to a year:

• Matthew in Year A
• Mark in Year B
• Luke in Year C. 

Through the course of each year, much of the text of the relevant Gospel is read at Sunday worship.  John’s Gospel is used to supplement this. 

Each week the lectionary provides:

• two readings from the Old Testament – a reading from the Old Testament and a psalm

• two readings from the New Testament – a reading from one of the Gospels and a reading from one of the letters or the Book of Acts.
  
  

How does ROOTS follow the lectionary?

From the four weekly readings, ROOTS focuses on one passage (often the Gospel) from the Revised Common Lectionary. In the weeks in which Common Worship differs, we provide materials online.

Each week, the Adult & All Age and Children & Youth resources explore the same aspects of the same reading, so everyone can learn as a community - whatever their age.

The first ROOTS resources were published in 2002, so we've made many journeys through the lectionary. This table shows when we've covered each lectionary year. You can find all of our past resources on our easily-searchable online resource bank.