What percentage of people at your churches are under age 35?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. There's a hazard in lacking a lectionary

The hazard is that the preacher will just talk about his pet topics and not cover the whole of Christianity.

That's where you get your preachers who harp on abortion, gay issues, and patriotic militarism.

(I know your minister doesn't do that, but it's a real hazard, especially if you have a theologically unsophisticated congregation.)

In a church that follows the Common Lectionary (mostly Catholic, Episcopal, and Lutheran), today's Epistle reading was from Acts, the episode in which Philip meets the Ethiopian eunuch. Now neither non-Jews nor eunuchs were not allowed to enter the temple, but God tells Philip to go talk him. He turns out to be trying to understand a passage from Isaiah, which Philip explains for him. The eunuch then asks to be baptized.

That story would be a real challenge for someone who is against sexual minorities. It's one of the stories in Acts that breaks traditional taboos.

Even if the preacher chooses to preach on one of the other lessons instead, the congregation still hears it.

The Common Lectionary takes you through all four Gospels over a period of three years.