What this blog is about and what I hope it does...

I hope this will be a simple fun tool for us to grow in our understanding and surrender to God through the Bible as we connect over the web. Reading the Bible is both simple and difficult. What could be easier than opening a book and reading? Yet we've all done that and wondered what sections of the Bible mean? What's with the book of Leviticus? What is Revelation really about? Is the Song of Songs about marital love or is it supposed to be more 'spiritual' than that?

So, my intent is for this blog to be a tool that helps us in our faith. A forum for better understanding. An honest place of sharing that nurtures us as we follow Jesus together.

(There are a few resources I have included under "PAGES" that may be a helpful start, especially to those newer to reading the Bible. It's located just below this and to the right. Also included is a READING OUTLINE. If you miss a day, go on to the next rather than trying to catch up.)

ONE LAST NOTE: you don't have to join or set up an account to share comments. Just click 'comment' at the bottom of a post, click the drop down and click 'anonymous.' Then write your post and if you want sign it with your first name and finish by clicking 'Post comment.' I would love to hear your thoughts.

Basics of Bible Reading

There are 3 or 4 messages I worked on last year (Feb-Mar 2009 titled 'txt') on how to read the Bible meaningfully and fruitfully [go to http://www.bergenumc.org/ and click 'weekly audio messages]. During one of the messages, I presented a way of reading the Bible that has been around for a long time called Lectio-Divina, or divine reading. To give you the gist, the 4 part pattern is, in my wording, READ, REFLECT, PRAY, and OBEY.

First, we have to actually pick up the Bible and read it with some regularity if we want it to take root in us.
Second, this method prods us to reflect on what we read: in my opinion, this means having some paper and a pencil to jot down observations, questions, thoughts that emerge from our reading.
Third, pray over what we have encountered, learned, discovered.
Fourth, do it, live it, practice it. Steps 1-3 don't get the traction they are meant to have unless we surrender to God's message to us through the text.

Lots more to say, but if we all lived this, we would all be more who God created us to be.

A great resource for this is Eugene Peterson's Eat This Book...phenomenal [http://www.amazon.com/Eat-This-Book-Conversation-Spiritual/dp/0802864902/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268184310&sr=8-1]!