Happy New Year to all! Congratulations to all who met or even attempted to meet their Bible reading goals for 2009. Special kudos to Dan Melvin for "surviving" and accomplishing the ESV Study Bible reading plan. (Any others out there? Let me know.)
OK, two new things for a new decade and a new year and a new day...
1) Like Dan, I'm paring back to a simpler Bible reading plan. It still involves reading through the Bible in a year, but this year I've bought an NRSV XL Bible (pictured here) with NO NOTES. I'm simply going to read and ruminate on the Biblical text and write what comes to my spirit in a journal. I so desperately need this. I also already like the NRSV better than the ESV, but I'm still trying to get over my sense of being betrayed by the ESV people after discovering that there are two different ESV's (2002 and 2007), which I found to be too different to excuse no mention of the rewrite between the two. It was a secret, I guess. I'll get over it, but, for now, I like everything about the NRSV so far. Where would we be without scholars like Bruce M. Metzger? I am so grateful for him and his work.
2) I'm praying and working on starting what I'm calling the Goodwill Bible Institute (GBI). This will be unveiled as we enter the new building with our new schedule featuring 9:45am-10:45am "Sunday School" for all ages. The Institute, which I'll preside over, will be for all adults as well as for kids who've been through confirmation classes. Here's the mission: "We exist to increase and improve Biblical literacy and living at Goodwill Church and throughout New York's Hudson Valley." More details to follow. Hope you're excited.
May God richly bless your Bible reading in 2010! Let me know what you're doing and let me know how I can help.
