What Happens Next?

Book excerpt: Bruce Taylor’s latest volume of sermons for the Common Lectionary (Revised) compiles traditional and story form proclamations for the Sundays and feast days from Advent through Eastertide in Year B of the three-year lectionary cycle. Theologically rich, sacramentally sensitive, and ecumenically minded, these biblically centered sermons articulate God’s love for the whole creation, the profound implications of discipleship, and the necessity of Christian unity. Like its predecessors in Taylor’s first and second journeys through the lectionary, What Happens Next? is intended for use by preachers, educators, seminary students, and devotional readers, who will all find it to be a welcome companion in penetrating the spiritual genius of the liturgical year and the usefulness of preaching from common texts. The book exemplifies how preaching from Mark’s Gospel and the accompanying lectionary readings can shape interaction with the elements of the liturgy to encourage faithful Christian worship. The very uniqueness of Mark among the Gospels is elicited to prompt the whole church and each believer to respond to the question posed implicitly but insistently by the women’s discovery of the empty tomb on Easter morning: What happens next?