With Advent behind us and Lent quickly approaching, the midweek service and sermon is on the mind. Many within the LCMS will use these midweeks as an opportunity to discuss particular doctrines or particular themes within the Scriptures. This is good. What I’m about to advocate is not in any way meant to be a condemnation of what you have planned or what you have done in the past. I have done similar sermon series with varying results—some good, some not so much.

A few years ago, I started doing something different. It wasn’t a ground-breaking or earth-shattering discovery. It was born from a tiredness in trying to find some theme that was clever and catchy and that sparkles. I started to choose a book of the Bible to go through. I started with books that had the number of chapters that were needed for the number midweek services, making one chapter per service. The first was 1 Peter in Lent. This year I’m going through James. I’ve gone through Titus for Advent. But you could do it with slightly longer books depending on how you divide the readings.

Here are the benefits, as I see it:

1. You get exposed to the whole book and thus the whole argument

2. You get bigger chunks of the Bible read in the service.

3. You get to preach on a bunch of themes within those books keeping in mind the overarching argument of the book itself

4. You incorporate more teaching, more explaining, more biblical history, more expository preaching.

5. It helps you move away from a manuscript to an outline to notes, so that you begin speaking to and with your people and not reading an essay

6. The people really enjoy just going through the Bible. You get to see your congregation’s love for the Word of God. And that is a blessing in and of itself.

So, if you’re behind the eight ball this year in your midweek planning, give it a shot. Tollete legete et praedicate.

Below is a link to a podcast by Word Fitly Spoken that takes up Midweek preaching on a Lectio Continua. It’s a good listen.