The Grand Sweep

We have started on a great adventure for 2011 called The Grand Sweep. Using the plan outlined in the book by J. Ellis Kalas of the same name, we will be reading the Bible in 365 days. Reading day one was Jan. 10 so we are now on reading day 9. We have a long way to go but it is exciting already.

The book of Genesis is one of my favorites. It is all about beginnings: the beginning of the world, the beginning of humanity, the beginning of the covenant, the beginning of faithfulness to God--so many beginnings. Of course, it is also about the beginning of sin. But the stories are rich and right away we are introduced to the people that God called and used not because they were perfect people. They were not. Even Abraham two separate times passed off his wife Sarah as his sister because he thought that would save his life, trusting his own manipulations of the situation more than God. Right away we see that God called people just like you and me and empowered them to do what God had called them to do. We are able to do much more with God than we can ever do on our own. Left to our own devices, we do ridiculous things like make loincloths out of figleaves--the itchiest leaf in God's good creation. We should laugh at such antics by our cousins in paradise.

One thing I tell my Bible classes over and over as we begin our study together is to "think Hebrew." The Bible was not written with western, modern kind of thinking. And remember, it was told orally long before it was written down. Western modern thought puts a high premium on eye-witness accounts and getting down the facts exactly as they happened. It is a kind of thinking that did not exist in the ancient world. They wrote theologically. They wrote about how they understood God to be at work. The Bible is a faith document. We have to always be reading it for what it tells us about God and God's unfolding story of the redemption of humanity.

I am looking forward to our reading and studying together. I do not have all the answers but I love uncovering our questions. It is also good to remember that we probably won't always agree in our discussion about particular texts and stories and that will probably bother God a whole lot less than it will bother us!

Keep reading in week 2 and I'll write more in a day or two.

Grace and peace,

Rev Linda