Over the Christmas season I have been reflecting on Christianity, the Church, Jesus, me, and the direction of my life. It occurs to me as I have done this that my journey started long ago in a church far away, but more importantly as a child reading a book; a child reading the bible. During a pandemic when church has moved online, and I have struggled with the loss of community as a result of that, it seems it is time to return to that simplicity of reading a book. For the next year that is my undertaking. After doing some calculations it seems that there is 1189 chapters within the Old and New Testament. Over the next 365 days I plan to read them and blog about them. In case you are wondering, this breaks down to 3-4 chapters a day.
You may wonder why I have not chosen to follow the lectionary or another reading plan (one that hits the significant stories, but omits all the lists of names). With both of these there are texts that are deemed insignificant and I want to read them in their entirety and not just chunks or snippets. I also want to read in order and not jump around throughout. I have wondered about including the Apocrypha and other writings but am not including them at this time, in part because I already feel the weight of such a commitment, traditionally Christians have neglected them entirely, and more practically I have temporarily misplaced it. However, that may be an undertaking of another year.
So here at the outset, let me take a moment to pray:
Eternal God,
We are reminded that we are not alone that we live in Your world. A world that has changed so much in the last year during a pandemic. Things we have taken for granted such as worship, church community, hymns, have all changed. The one thing that has not changed is the Bible, the words of our shared Christian faith. In a time when we can not turn to some of the practices and traditions that we have been accustomed to, we return to what was in the beginning, the Word. The Word that was passed down through oral tradition, through community, and was there in the very beginning with God and as God (John 1).
Although much has changed, we still have those words, the Word, available to us. Help me to dedicate myself to this task, to better understand, You, Your ways and what that means for me. Give me discipline, give me patience and wisdom, that I may see glimpses of You. Amen.
