Lectionary Wars

I am preaching again in a couple of weeks and so I'm looking through the lectionary.  For those of you who don't know, the Christian tradition uses what it calls the lectionary to determine what scripture passages to preach.  Protestant traditions generally use the same lectionary (with some variance).  It's on a 3-year cycle (A, B, and C).  Each Sunday will have assigned texts.  Many churches use the lectionary and will consult it to decide which scripture to preach on.  Each Sunday has a few options that can be used in conjunction (as they generally are in the Roman Catholic tradition) or individually.  The offerings generally include passages from the Hebrew Scriptures (including one from Psalms) and the Christian Testament (including a gospel passage and epistle).

ANYWAY.

I'm looking through the lectionary and this week's selections include David's discovery of Bathsheba and a Psalm declaring non-believers to be categorically evil.

And I'm imagining all of the terrible sermons that are being preached on these passages, knowing that many traditions will try to defend David's kidnapping-and-raping-esque antics and condemn our "faithless" country for its secularism.

And it's making me sad that Christians are justifying ugly interpretations of my scripture to support damaging theologies and hateful worldviews.

Anyway.