The One Year Chronological Bible - Introduction

Are you making any New Year’s resolutions this year?  How about joining us in committing to read through the Bible together?  Many of us have read through the whole Bible before on our own; but how many of us have done it with a group of people, let alone our congregation?  As we look to the year ahead, Bethel’s council is inviting everyone to join together in a journey through the whole of scripture.  Doing so will provide healthy accountability and opportunity for meaningful discussion about shared readings.

We believe that the Bible is more than a manual for life.  It is also an instrument for our formation.  As we dwell with God’s word, we are shaped both individually and as a community together.  And this happens best when we immerse ourselves into the divine narrative regularly and in community.

Last year we spent time together in prayer for our year of discernment.  Now as we enter into a year of celebrating our 125 year history as a congregation, we desire to share in a corporate journey through scripture.  As we journey together reading the same passages on the same day, we trust that our lives together will be enriched and nurtured by opportunities to reflect in community on our shared journey through the Bible.

To do this, we will be using the NIV One Year Chronological Bible.  This approach to scripture arranges the NIV text into daily 15 minute readings that are in chronological order (rather than canonical order).  Thus the order is based on when things happened rather than which book they fit into.  This means, for instance, that when we read of events in David’s life, we will also read the Psalms that connect to these events.  We hope that along with the discipline of reading through the whole Bible, this approach will provide a fresh window into our shared journey and give us a better sense of the arc of God’s ongoing narrative.

People may choose to purchase a copy of the NIV One Year Chronological Bible (ISBN 978-1-4143-5993-9) to guide them through this journey.  The advantage to buying this Bible is that the daily readings are grouped together and laid out for you.  Those who would prefer to use their own Bibles may do that as well.  A yearlong guide booklet is available in print or as a PDF from the church office and Tesa has made a larger print version of this guide as well.

Each week the bulletin and my blog will include questions for reflection.  These may be used individually or in groups such as Sunday school or small groups.  The readings may serve as your daily devotions or for additional reading.  We also intend from time to time to incorporate the passages in our Sunday worship services.  May God bless and guide, shape and transform us individually and as a body and we dwell deeply with God’s word in the year ahead.