ENGAGE 2023
A year-long journey of scripture and story
God’s word is, at its heart, a story: the story of God and God’s people. It was written in a particular time and space for a particular people. God’s word is also “timeless” in the sense that its core purpose – revealing the truth of that story – speaks just as clearly to us today as it did back then. We gain a greater sense of this story when we read the Bible as a whole, and when we read it with each other. That is when God’s word can truly come alive in us.
In 2023, Steve invites you to engage in one of two journeys that will draw you closer to God’s story. One is “Read Scripture,” a year-long Bible reading journey. The other is d365, a daily devotional program. Which you choose is up to you!
Click HERE to sign up for either program!
Read Scripture
Read Scripture (https://www.readscripture.org/) is a daily scripture reading program with the goal of reading the entire Bible in a year. There is a convenient phone app, as well as a hard copy here. The reading plan proceeds mostly in canonical order – i.e., the order the books appear in the Bible.
Read Scripture also makes use of wonderful short videos from The Bible Project that summarize each book and provide sound theological and contextual background. Plus, they are really neat videos! While not essential to the journey, they can be very helpful in making the readings make sense.
There are two ways to participate in Read Scripture:
- You can read the entire Bible from start to finish through the whole year. Each day typically contains three chapters of a book plus a Psalm (in June the Psalms repeat, so if you do the full year you’ll have read every psalm twice).
- You can also just pick and choose the sections that most appeal to you and read those, either in sync with those reading the whole Bible or whenever you like. The various sections and dates are below.
In addition, we’ll have quarterly gatherings after worship to visit, talk about what we’ve read, go over what’s coming up. Most importantly, we’ll discuss what we think God’s word is saying to us today in our current time and circumstance.
OLD TESTAMENT
CREATION AND FALL – January 1-3
ABRAHAMIC COVENANT – January 4-16
THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT – January 17-22
THE COVENANT AT MOUNT SINAI – January 23-February 8
THE WILDERNESS – February 9-March 5
THE PROMISED LAND – March 6-17
RISE AND FALL OF ISRAEL’S KINGDOM – March 18-April 18
THE PROPHETS BEFORE THE EXILE – April 19-May 19
THE WISDOM OF ISRAEL – May 20-June 16
THE PROPHETS OF THE EXILE – June 17-July 18
RETURN FROM EXILE – July 19-28
PROPHETS AFTER THE EXILE – July 29-August 7
THE STORY SO FAR – August 8-23 (Note: this section covers 1 and 2 Chronicles, which are history very similar to what is covered in 1 and 2 Samuel. While reading this “alternate take” is informative, you can also use these two weeks as a “reading break” if you wish.
NEW TESTAMENT
JESUS AND THE KINGDOM – August 24-October 19
THE PEOPLE OF THE KINGDOM – October 20-December 15
THE REVELATION – December 16-24
d365
d365 (https://d365.org/) is a daily devotion written for youth and adults, produced as a joint effort between the Presbyterian, Episcopcal, and Cooperative Baptist churches. The devotion follows a five-step format – Pause, Listen, Think, Pray, Go. Most devotions take less than ten minutes to complete.
- The Pause step remains the same all week and is designed as a centering tool as you begin the devotion.
- The Listen step is the scripture passage for the day, using the Common English Bible translation.
- The Think step is the devotional thought by the week’s writer.
- The Pray step is the start of a prayer that you can expand into your own conversation with God.
- The Go step is a call to action – launching you from this moment toward acting on what you have heard.
Devotions are written by ministers, professors, students, teachers, missionaries, denominational leaders, and others. Typically, an author writes on a single theme for one week. In these devotions, you will read honest struggles and questions, all in the context of real faith.
The best way to engage d365 is through the app, which you can download on your phone. But you can also access each devotion through the website.