lection

Lection is a passage of sacred scripture appointed to be read aloud during a worship service. The word derives from Latin lectio, meaning “a reading” or “a reading aloud.” In many Christian traditions, a lection denotes a specific scripture reading assigned for a given day or liturgical occasion, and the collection of such readings is called a lectionary.

In practice, lections are selected from the Bible and organized to match the church calendar. The lectionary specifies what is read and when, so that congregations hear a sequence of passages over a church year. Different traditions organize lectionaries in various ways: the Roman Catholic Church uses a comprehensive Lectionary with daily and Sunday readings arranged in liturgical years (often referred to as Year A, B, or C); many Anglican and Protestant churches employ the Revised Common Lectionary or other regional variants; the Orthodox churches follow their own calendar of appointed readings, sometimes described through pericopes.

Historically, Christian public worship began with oral readings of Scripture, followed by preaching; fixed or semi-fixed lectionaries gradually developed in late antiquity and the medieval period. Today, the term lection can also be used more generally to denote a reading from a text used in teaching, recitation, or meditation, such as in the practice of lectio divina, where Scripture is read as a spiritual discipline before reflection.

See also: Lectionary, Pericope, Lectio divina.