Reading the Bible in a Year

Dear Friends in Christ -

Yesterday in her sermon, our seminarian, Kate, asked those who have read the entire Bible to raise their hands. Lots of hands went up, including mine. But I thought I should tell you that, honestly, I never succeeded in reading through the Bible in a prescribed period of time.

The first time I tried to read through the Bible in a year was when I was in junior high. I did pretty good for the first few months, but finally fell out of the program sometime in the middle of the year. As I grew into adulthood, I tried several more times to read it through in a set period of time. I never made it, not even when the whole thing was assigned in a year-long class in seminary! Fortunately though, I learned to start in different places (instead of Genesis every time, a book which I've read dozens of times because it's at the beginning!!!).

So I have read all the books of the Bible many times now. It really is an amazing library of books. And I commend to you the process of reading it through on a regular program/schedule, because otherwise there really are parts you'll never see or hear about in church (and aren't you curious about what's in those parts?!). And "failure" in the program of reading the Bible through, just means there are fresh bits for the next time you work at reading the whole thing!

If you're interested in taking up the challenge to read the Bible in a year. Here are a couple of resources that can help you . . .
Online, you can get the whole program of daily readings at www.oneyearbibleblog.com or www.oneyearbibleonline.com.
If you prefer the read-it-in-a-year program of daily readings in book form, you can get it at www.bn.com. Type in "one year Bible compact" to get one that you can carry with you everywhere.

Happy studying!
Blessings,
Janet+