We restarted our Community Bible Experience this past Monday. For the next eight weeks (February 6 thru April 7) we will be engaging God’s Word together, specifically the books of Joshua thru Samuel/Kings.
I’ve heard that many of us struggled with consistently reading in part I of our Old Testament CBE (the books of Genesis thru Deuteronomy) this past fall. Please, don’t let that discourage you from starting afresh with part II of the CBE Bible reading program!
Some things that will help: remember, the plan is set up so you read 5 days out of 7. If you miss a day during the week, or don’t complete your reading on any given day, you can catch up on the weekend. Plus, this time around, the average daily reading looks to be about 6 to 7 pages (last fall it was 7 to 8 pages).
Now, to get the most out of your reading, I want to urge you to join a CBE small group. Being in a small group is a great motivator to keep reading. Plus, I guarantee you are going to have a lot of questions you are going to want to discuss! These books contain some really challenging stories and truths about God and the Israelites with which we need to wrestle. Doing the hard work of faithful biblical interpretation is best done in community, so please, join a small group!
We’re offering a good variety of small CBE groups. Though most people attend the same small group each week, if your schedule doesn’t allow that, you can attend any CBE small group at any time. If you have questions about a particular CBE small group, contact the host of the group.
Though we are starting at the end of Epiphany, this CBE challenge also is a wonderful Lenten discipline, as we will be reading these books together up until Holy Week. The readings for this week, Monday, February 6, 2017, thru Sunday, February 12, 2017, are the Week 1 readings (the book of Joshua) found on your CBE Covenant History Reading Plan 2 bookmark.
(Please note: small groups will meet weekly. The last small group meeting will take place on Friday, April 7.)
Let’s do this….TOGETHER!
Pastor Greg
