New Post today

I know I haven't put anything here for a while.  I do wonder if anyone is out there reading anyway.  I follow a lot of other people's blogs [see the page here] so I try to keep up.  But one-way communication is a pretty lonely spot.
But this story needs telling...
Yesterday after church, someone parked a truck in the driveway of the church.  The truck had broken down, and two couples were engaged in trying to analyze the problem and find a way to fix it.  They hung out for a long time, sitting in the shade of the driveway tree.  [Those trees are a blessing!]  Since I was working in the office in the afternoon, I checked on them every once in a while, seeing if they had water or wanted a place to cool off.  I'm sure the temperature outside was above 90.  They were gracious and even left a contribution to the church.  Eventually they had to have the truck towed.
If only it were so easy to help with other things that are broken down.  Our part of Arlington looks so nice on the outside, but I'm sure there are broken places on the insides of the homes in our neighborhood.  I wonder if having a nice building and a beautiful garden around the church is a barrier.  It sends a message that we have it all together, and anyone who comes by ought to have it all together, too.  Not true, of course, but someone walking [or riding] by would never suspect that.

What do you think?  Does a church building that looks great help or hinder in neighborhood hospitality?

On the home stretch...

We're almost there!  If you're on track, you will have finished reading the whole Bible by Sunday.  Congratulations!  Even if you've not finished, you can drop by the church (if you're in Arlington) on Sunday, April 25, at 9:45 am, 2666 Military Road, for a little celebration, sign the "wall of accomplishment" and have a little cake.  By undertaking this 90 day adventure, we've started to lift the heavy cloud of biblical illiteracy--just a little.  I found so much this week to be thankful for--reminders that God is still speaking.  I'm reminded that all those old phrases like: the "communion of the saints," "grace and peace to you in Christ Jesus," --all that ties us together in a very large and enduring church, even though we are such weak vessels.  I also remember that someone once told me, "God must love the church, because people would have killed it off a long time ago."

So we press on to the finish...

"Have you never read the scriptures?"

When we started this adventure--reading the Bible in 90 Days--I wasn't at all sure that many would see the connections between what we were reading in the Old Testament and what is to follow. But bless my soul!  the connections just jump out!  Every week someone tells me about their new discoveries.  "Is THAT where that's from!"  We know that Jesus knew the Hebrew scriptures, and so did every other observant Jew, including all the New Testament writers.  When they tried to convey what it was they had heard and understood after Jesus' resurrection, of course they turned to the symbols and stories of their heritage.  It was the only way to make sense of it. 
When we read Psalm 118, one of the Hallel psalms that pilgrims to Jerusalem sang when they went up for Passover (starts tomorrow night!), we recognized immediately where we've heard this before: Matthew 21.42:  Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes.’"  Jesus told this to those who were questioning his authority, right before the Passover.

Now when someone asks you "Have you never read the scriptures?" you can answer, "Well ...as a matter of fact..."   
This is the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes.

I hope you are having a blessed Holy Week.

Dragging or flying?

OK, I know I haven't posted much about the Bible reading lately.  The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah are difficult reading, I know.  Are we dragging or flying?  I hope that by having just read the histories in Kings and Chronicles you will remember enough to place these characters.  The people and places are at least somewhat familiar, yes?
But more than that, I'm interested in paying attention to what happens to US as we read.  Can we sense the bigger picture?  What God is doing among our community?  I was wondering how much better we will understand when we finish.  If God is still speaking in our little church, just what is that about?  I'm convinced that God wants us to do great things, or small things in a great way.  Our sign minister, John Gibson, put it this way last week: Small things accomplished are better than big things planned [or something like that].

If this is the first time that you have ever read the Bible straight through, just think of what you will have accomplished come April 24, no small thing.

Halfway! we've come this far by faith...

With the finishing of Psalms, we're halfway through the Bible!  Until we come to the New Testament, there won't be much of a story line.   The Big Story is harder to follow now, and we have to keep reviewing those *** history charts for this to make sense.  But I was heartened to hear one person say how they are beginning to catch the story line of the whole thing:  Genesis to Revelation, God's big story of how the earth will be healed.

I know that some of you have deferred  or stopped your reading.  Getting this far (or how ever far you've gotten) is certainly an accomplishment in itself.  Don't forget--you have a lifetime to read the Bible, and a lifetime that God is still working on.  We all do.
Let Israel now say...if it hadn't been for the Lord on our side...

Finally! We're Singing

Finally!  We're in Psalms.  The Psalms are Israel's hymnbook, the 150 greatest hits of worship. A good introduction is here.  If you are gifted this way, you will find yourself in familiar territory.  If not, try out listening to some. click to listen.
I remember being fascinated by my grandmothers "Sam" book.  "Sam-singing" was what she did in church when she was a little girl.  She gave me a copy of the tattered book, a paraphrase of all 150 psalms, made into [sometimes forced] English rhymes, so that any psalm could be sung.  These are the 'metrical versions' of the psalms that became the hymnbook of the early Scottish protestants.  Every once in a while in churches, there is a movement to revive psalm singing directly.  You might be surprised to learn how much of modern "praise music" is taken directly from the Psalms.
In the Presbyterian Hymnal, our selection of psalms is between 158 and 258--pretty tame praise music.

Singing is a great aid to memory.  I find it much easier to memorize something by singing it, that by reciting it.  Do you know any Psalms by heart--other than the 23rd Psalm?

From the "it pays to know your Bible" category

Thanks to Jim Hurdle for this item: A quotation from Seasons of War: The Ordeal of the Confederate Community, 1861-1865, by Daniel E. Sutherland, 1995.  In a chapter about Culpepper County during the Civil War, Sutherland recounts the efforts of federal soldiers to gain leave to visit their homes during the most brutal fighting season.  One resourceful fellow from the 16th Maine, "recently engaged to his sweetheart back home, justified his application for leave by citing Deuteronomy 20:7, to wit 'And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her?  Let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in battle, and another man take her.'  To his own delighted surprise, his application [was] approved." (p.309)

Who says that knowing the Bible isn't useful!

We will soon be halfway through the Bible in 90 Days.  If you are keeping up, good for you.  We are now entering the territory of less history and more poetry.  The books of the Bible following Chronicles are about times and seasons of the people's life as a nation following the return of the exiles.  You may notice a subtle shift in the tone of the writings, as Israel's faith is changing.  What can you discern about the differences in their faith between the times before the exile to Babylon and after?  What is God saying to us about that?

Ezra-Nehemiah Those weeping exiles...

I am moved by the description of the exiles who returned from Babylon, weeping and rejoicing at the same time, to see their beloved Temple in ruins and then having the courage to rebuild it.  Where did that come from?--the courage? the vision?  Of course their answer was, "God did it!" and they are right.

Those of us working in congregations under "redevelopment" might remember...our people have been here before.  We weren't deported, only deposed from power.  But the culture moved on, and many taunt us "Where is your God, now?"  Are we still a laughingstock?  When I think of the church in North America, I think about the exiles.  God gave them a vision of what could be, and then they found the resources to rebuild.  Of course, it didn't hurt that Cyrus was a 'sugar daddy.'

You/We Are Not Dummies

Many of us, me included, are reading the Bible straight through, from beginning to end, for the first time, in 90 days.  Reading the Bible is for neophytes like us, and for experienced scholars, and for devotional giants--like Thomas Merton--and for new believers, and for born-in-the-church and born-again believers.  It's NOT for dummies, that is, people who are unteachable, and therefore not alive.  Well, maybe it is for them, too... as God can bring life out of what looks like no-life.
Today the.Washington Post reviewed a new book that looks interesting: Bible Babel, by Kristin Swenson.  I have to say that I won't be able to read it until I finish the Bible.  I'll be interested to see if it is kind of a "bible for dummies" or if there are some new observations.
Ezra-Nehemiah...here we come!

Ash Wednesday in Slow Time

Day 33 of the Bible in 90 Days--BIND for us--is also Ash Wednesday.  The Chronicler has made it through King Joash, and we have made it more than a third of the way through the Bible.  Last night we ate pancakes.  Tonight we have ashes put on our heads.  Time is marked and we keep going.

 

Burning last year's palms from Palm Sunday, for today's ashes.

In just such small steps, God's purposes are being worked out in history.  Just like the people of Israel, the people at Church of the Covenant have a history, even though it's a miniscule part of time compared to the time covered by the Old Testament.  A lifetime is such a short time window, through which we can view history.  Without the witness of deep time, recorded in the scriptures, we could barely glimpse the large story that God is painting through time.  90 days, 90 years, 90 centuries...the canvass is very large.  Unless we step back and view the whole, we will miss the big picture.  Thanks be to God, who gives us the witness of deep time, through the faithful attestations of God's people.

A good time to read

The past is a path to where we are now.  If you're reading about the kings of Israel and Judah now, good for you!  Part of the benefits of reading the Bible in 90 Days is that you'll get a clearer big picture of our story as Christians.  We keep and study the Old Testament because it is our key to understanding Jesus.  Without the history of the people, we miss what Jesus was doing and saying, and the significance of his death and resurrection.  

I'm a bit amazed that God sent this snow, just at the time when we needed encouragement to KEEP READING.  So refill that coffee or tea cup, and curl up with the Good Book.

The "blur" of Kings

Date	Day		# of 90	Beginning verse	Ending verse
8-Feb	Mon		25	2 Samuel 20:24	1 Kings 7:2
9-Feb	Tue		26	1 Kings 7:3	1 Kings 14:31
10-Feb	Wed		27	1 Kings 15:1	2 Kings 2:19
11-Feb	Thurs		28	2 Kings 2:20	2 Kings13:24
12-Feb	Fri		29	2 Kings 13:25	2 Kings 23:27
13-Feb	Sat		30	2 Kings 23:28	1 Chronicles 11:14

This is the week that we read the story of all those kings who came after the great King David, a great blur of kings. The history of Israel now falls apart--the kingdom disintegrates into two kingdoms.  David's legacy is ripped apart, and it seems as if God could be finished with this little band of unruly tribes.  But, no!  Throughout the rest of the story, God is working, little-by-little, with the kings who are faithful to the Lord, to give hope to the people.  When the king obeys God, good things happen, by and large.  When the king is unfaithful, suffering ensues.  It seems that we're not supposed to remember much about each king, except whether or not they were faithful to God or not.

By the end of this week, you will be ONE THIRD  finished.  Is God's story coming through?
For those of you having difficulties with the violence of these stories, think on this question:  What might be the difference between how God is portrayed in the text, vs. the God behind and in back of the text?

Keep up the shoveling...(ahem!) I mean, reading. 











Left: King Solomon holding a replica of the temple he built in Jerusalem

Read while you're snowed in

So now you all have time to catch up!  Since many houses of worship have cancelled activities for the weekend, you can shovel snow and read the Bible.  Sometimes snow is just God's way of saying "slow down."  Let's all give thanks.  Stay safe out there.

biblical illiteracy Day 22 of 90--"thus far, the Lord has helped us..."

"Here I raise my 'Ebenezer' ..."

A long time ago, someone told me that they didn't like singing the old hymn with the above line, because nobody really knew what it meant.  I like the hymn because it was one of my grandfather's favorites.  He could pound out a rudimentary accompaniment on the piano, and sing it with gusto.

Those of you who are following the Bible in 90 Days, you know what it means now, don't you?  [See 1 Samuel 7:12]  If you're on schedule, you read this yesterday.  Do you feel like you're pushing back the darkness of ignorance, just a little?  Yea!

Here are some biblical misconceptions, which you can now laugh at:

• Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. Noah’s wife was Joan of Ark. Noah built an ark and the animals came on in pears.
•  Lot’s wife was a pillar of salt during the day, but a ball of fire during the night.
•  The Jews were a proud people and throughout history they had trouble with unsympathetic genitals.
•  Samson slayed the Philistines with the Axe of the Apostles.
•  The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert. Afterwards, Moses went up to Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandments.
•  The first commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.
•  The seventh commandment is thou shalt not admit adultery.
•  The greatest miracle in the Bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him.
•  David was a Hebrew king who was skilled at playing the liar. He fought the Finkelsteins, a race of people who lived in biblical times.

Done with Deuteronomy!

Deuteronomy!  The "second law"  deutero --second..nomy--law.  We've read all this before.  If it sounds repetitive, it is.  If sounds repetitive, maybe God thinks it's important.

If you're with us so far, GREAT! Keep up the good work! If you are a little bit behind, add a page or two a day, until you have caught up. Are you more than a few pages behind? Set aside a block of time -- say on this Sunday -- to catch up. You'll be surprised at the impact it will have, even reading large quantities of text in one or more sittings.

Do NOT skip... for any reason, even. By definition, at the end you won't have read from cover to cover. Trust us, you'll want to have done this. Even if you are behind for the rest of the program and have to finish in more than 90 days, keep reading. Every word. From cover to cover. You'll be glad you did.

"God does not ask about our ability or inability, rather about our availability."--attributed to Mary Kay Ash, yes, THAT Mary Kay.

Daily comments?

Leviticus and Numbers!  Hard going!  Some of you have remarked that I'm not posting remarks every day.  True.  I know it is tempting to see what other people think about what we're reading.  I do it myself.  But I also want to encourage you to read the Bible for yourself, and not depend on someone else to tell you what it means.  Some of you have already told me about conclusions that they have drawn, because they are really thinking about what it means for them.
I also know that because the text is so foreign, we need some other people to help interpret it.  It's ok for you to read summaries or notes, but don't get in the habit of depending upon them.  God will give you insight as you read along.  Trust that insight.  God is still speaking.  The question that you might ponder every day is "Why is this in the Bible?"  God is faithful; the answers will come.

so far...so good...!

Bible in 90 Days...who would have thought? I keep hearing about people who are "joining" our little effort to read the Bible in 90 Days. Some are across the county. The "little church with a big mission" that is Church of the Covenant really does have a long reach. But then it's not our reach, but the "finger of God."

In class on Sunday, one participant remarked that it was surprising how little text is devoted to the story of baby Moses, when compared to the amount of text in Exodus devoted to the construction instructions for the tabernacle. I was pondering this. It seems that many of us have an impression of the Bible that was formed when we were children. Those childhood stories stick with us. Baby Moses in the bullrushes is a charming story, but it's not nearly the whole story.
Not many of us have re-encountered the Bible now that we're adults. Maybe we're 'stuck' in a pre-adult phase of our understanding, that came to us when other adults helped us hear the Bible stories for the first time. Now that we're adults, reading so much of the Bible is good way to put off our childhood impressions and see what the Bible really says!

OK, everyone...ready to tackle Leviticus tomorrow? Remember that if we get through this week, we'll have pulled through more of the difficult text than most people who try to read the Bible straight through.

What are we doing?

Why are you concerned about the church's intellectualization of the faith?

"The most important reason is because I don't read the gospels as intellectual treatises.  On the night before he died, with all the conceptual truths in the world at his disposal, Jesus asked his disciples to share food and wash feet—apparently trusting these physical practices to teach his followers what they needed to know when he was no longer around to teach them himself.  It is very hard to intellectualize food and feet.  When I ask Christians to tell me about their faith, 99.9% of them tell me what they believe.  Just once, I would love to hear someone describe faith in terms of how he or she lives." ---from an interview with Barbara Brown Taylor.

Taylor is so quotable. Many years from now, people will remember the words she crafts.
I thought about this remark, because it represents a challenge to us good Reformed thinkers.  The best of who we are as Presbyterians is represented by our deep engagement with theology; we really, really want to know what we think about God, and we really, really are good at thinking and writing theology.  But our gifts are also our weaknesses.  If this is the ONLY way we can encounter God--through our very left-brained rationality--then we are short-changing ourselves and our humanness.

All you BIND people--repeat after me...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The mission is "to read, attentively, every word of the Bible in 90 days."

...not to understand every word, parse every word, even pronouce every word... just READ every word.  Let God be God for once, and enjoy your experience with the Bible.

Nearly half way through first week

My husband said last night that the book of Genesis is like a soap opera.  Even though he doesn't watch soap operas, he's hooked!  
Everyone doing well?  There are now four groups at Church of the Covenant, doing the BIND...that's the Bible In Ninety Days: Sunday AM at 9:45, Tuesday AM at 10, Wed am at 7:15, and Thurs eve at 7:30 pm [this group may just set aside this time to R.E.A.D, not talk] 
Feel free to leave a comment...

People tell us that it takes about three weeks for a new habit to become ingrained.

In order to help you before each reading session you might start  with a prayer. One of your own, or this one:

Gracious Father,
Thank you for the gift I hold in my hands.
May your Spirit fill me and interpret
your precious words for me as I read them.
In your Son's name I pray. Amen

Maybe you can write this prayer on a 'post it' note and use it as a versemarker as you read through the Bible.

We're off!

So is everyone ready to start reading?  Find the COTC reading schedule on the church's website: Your reading adventure starts tomorrow, but you can give yourself a headstart by picking up your Bible and starting today!  As I mentioned in the last post, we're giving ourselves permission to choose our own Bible.  I think we're fine to do that.

Another way that COTC is modifying the published curriculum is that we're going a bit  more S L O W-L Y!  I made up a reading schedule for the whole Bible that has us read 6 days on, with a 7th day rest.  So if you're trying to compare us to the schedule in the "official" Bible in 90 Days website, you'll notice that we're going to get "out of phase" very quickly.
We talked this morning in the Sunday AM group about some tips for completing the program successfully:
1) How do I make time for this? We're all busy people.  And the truth is that in order to do this, we'll have to re-order some of our priorities.  What are we going to give up?  All of us have different needs, but I can suggest a few things NOT to give up:  SLEEP or BEING WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY.  Both of these are necessary for healthy minds and bodies.
2) What am I going to do if I get behind?  To get caught up, you can either read a few extra pages a day, or set aside a block of time on one day to catch up.  Do not skip pages!  If you do, it will be hard to say that you read the WHOLE BIBLE when you've finished.  Don't quit!  We can do this together.

COTC groups are meeting: Sunday am at 9:45-10:45, Tuesday am 10-11, Thursday pm 7:30-8:30--all of these in the COTC Library Lounge.  We even had a college student in Massachusetts 'Skype' in on Sunday morning!  If you're not meeting with a group, face to face, it might be harder for you to keep up.  But you could consider this blog group your on-line group.  Post a question, or comment, and let's be our own BIND blogging group.  That's  "BIND--Bible In Ninety Days"

Interview with Ted Cooper

Hear an interview with Ted Cooper, founder of The Bible in 90 Days. Podcast is catalogued at i-tunes through Haven Ministries.

The Bible in 90 Days...?

So...welcome to everyone who is rising to the challenge to read the whole Bible in 90 days with Church of the Covenant. Visit the church's website to see how our reading schedule will work.
We're doing things a bit differently from the published curriculum and I'll be sharing some of the reasons why as we go along.
First of all, we're giving you permission to use your own translation. The official folks at Zondervan [the curriculum publishers] want everyone to use the NIV. I know why they are doing this, and it's not just a cynical attempt to sell more bibles, although the sales goals of Zondervan might be helped by the effort. No, I believe the publishers when they say that they want people to focus more on the content of the text than the differences in translation. It's a worthy attempt, but I think it's wrong-headed from the get go, plus there is a whole scholarship tradition out there that has minor theological points of difference with the NIV. We won't force any one translation of paraphrase on anyone. So at Church of the Covenant [let's call ourselves COTC from now on] we're giving ourselves permission to use the translation most comfortable.
So go ahead and choose something that has the complete biblical text, both Testaments all the way through.
Ready...