This post marks the beginning of another message series at New Life Church: "Ploughing through the Pentateuch." Let me suggest some questions that you might want to answer and post back. But I'll answer them first for myself and give you a sense of what I'm thinking and anticipating with this series.

What do you think of reading through the first five books of the Bible in one summer?

I want us to know the story of salvation. The good news shows up in the
Bible already "in the beginning" not just in the New Testament. I hope we
get a sense of that story - maybe in a fresh way. To read the Bible
as a story helps us to avoid treating it like a rule book - which is how it
often is applied - especially the Old Testament.

What about reading through bigger chunks of the Bible - or do you normally read 5 chapters at a time?

I get kind of annoyed with myself that I can sit and read a good novel - big
chunks at a time. But when I read the Bible I can't wait to finish my daily
reading so I can get on with the day. So this is going to be some
discipline for me. I also have to realize this isn't a modern novel.
The modern novel has been perfected for marketing and movie-making purposes
(think about the term, "a quick read" - something the Bible isn't!).
It definitely helps to have the observations of others to guide us in that
reading. For example, in reading Genesis 1 it helps to recognize a
structure in the chapter otherwise it doesn't make sense. If God created
light on the first day, what was he doing creating light on the fourth
day? Well otheres have observed that the chapter starts off with a
comment - "the earth was formless and empty" (vs. 2). Then the rest of the
chapter outlines how God formed the earth and filled it. Days 1-4 have to
do with structure (forming). Days 5 & 6 have to do with filling the
structures of creation. Recognizing this feature helps me to
read the chapter with a sense of greater expectation, that it's not just a
newspaper article. Something bigger is being told here.

Are you scared about getting to Leviticus?

Yes. I read the whole thing once before in seminary and I only remember having a
miserable time with it.

Well, let me know what you are thinking. I'll do my best to keep you inspired to read, but I'm going to depend on your comments back to keep me inspired to keep on blogging. Whew. It's going to be quite the summer! Keep on ploughing!