Dear people of Grace,

In our 2019 commitment to stewardship: “Growing in Grace,” I asked that we undertake the regular reading of scripture. This was one of the three facets of how I saw us expressing our faith: as followers of Christ we give financially, we pray daily, and we read the Holy Scriptures regularly.

So why do I want us to read scripture?

Simply, because “the Word of God is living and active” (Heb 4.12). According to our Catechism, “We call [the Holy Scriptures] the Word of God because God inspired their human authors and because God still speaks to us through the Bible” (BCP, p.853). The Bible is “living and active” in that it is as relevant today as it was when it was first written. A particular passage of scripture may speak to us differently today than it did last year or even last week. I hope that many of you have already experienced this phenomenon.

God speaks to us continually through Holy Scripture – that is why we listen to so much of it during worship on Sunday morning – two Old Testament readings (including the psalm) and two New Testament readings (epistle and gospel). And yet, that’s not enough! Hearing the Word once a week will not make us biblically literate.

There are many Bible reading schemes available – everything from short daily devotionals to formal plans for reading the entire Bible in a year. Fortunately, there is already a very Anglican way to read scripture: The Daily Office, a subject I’ve spoken about before in this series.

You may have noticed that we have started included the Daily Office lectionary on the back of your Sunday bulletin Announcement Sheet. This weekly table is from the Book of Common Prayer, and runs in a two year cycle. If you read the Daily Office morning and night, after just seven weeks you will have read the entire psalter, and after two years you will have read virtually the whole Bible, including the Apocrypha (additional Jewish scriptures which we use from time to time).

I hope the diagram below helps explain the layout that you will see in the Announcements Sheet:

I ask that we all consider how we might incorporate regular reading of scripture into our lives – even if it is just a portion of the Office: perhaps just the gospel reading each day, perhaps just the psalms. Splitting up the readings – psalm plus Old Testament and New Testament in the morning, psalm plus Gospel in the evening – is another common scheme. Of course, you can always join me at Grace at 9am, most Mondays through Thursdays, where we say Morning Prayer together in the Chapel.

I pray that this year we, as the community of Grace, will spend time regularly engaging with the living Word of God, through the Holy Scriptures. I look forward to hearing how God speaks to you in your reading.

Blessings and peace,
Father Nick+