The Joy & Challenge of Pericope
Greensburg Pericope Study
Pastor Peter D. Asplin
Assistant to the Bishop
peter.asplin@swpasynod.org | 412-367-8222
When a new pastor starts at a congregation in the SWPA Synod, one of the first bits of information the synod staff tries to get to that pastor is when and where other Lutheran pastors gather for “pericope study.” You may have heard your pastor say, as they dash out on Tuesday morning, or run back in Wednesday afternoon that they were headed to or just left “pericope study.” But what is this, and why is it so important?
Latrobe Pericope Study
Starting in the early middle ages, both Jewish and Christian worshipping communities in Europe and the Middle East began using organized sets of scripture readings, a “lectionary.” There are a couple of key reasons: First, using a lectionary helps us remember how reading the Gospel, the New Testament letters, and the Old Testament and Psalms together help us understand all of them better. Second, using a lectionary helps unite the Church: the revised common lectionary most Lutheran churches use is used as well by many Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, and even Roman Catholics (although their lectionary varies a little bit from ours). Third, lectionaries help religious leaders (pastors, deacons, and lay preachers) to study and pray together in preparation for weekly worship.
And that’s what happens at pericope study. Local pastors gather, usually at a church, and read and talk about the readings for the coming Sunday. Often at pericope study at least one pastor will have their laptop open to check out the Greek or Hebrew that lies behind the English translations we’re used to using. Pastors will talk about the prayer of the day, and the hymns that we might sing. We will argue about how to understand a particular passage in light of the Small Catechism and Martin Luther, and with the help of contemporary writers like Henri Nouwen or Phyllis Trible or Nelson Rivera.
But pericope study often moves beyond the issues of textual criticism and biblical interpretation to being a place where pastors share what’s going on in their own families and in their congregations, praying for each other and supporting each other. So, please when Pastor dashes out to go to pericope study, cheer them on!