Blogging Through the Bible in 90 Days

Day 1 bulletin

Sunday was Eucharist;Eucharist; OpenHouse (informal all-age tea-time worship); Evensong; Youth Group.But somewhere between the end of OpenHouse and the beginning of Evensong came the first 16 chapters of Genesis. Probably not the best day for me to have started, as I was preaching and thus so focussed on the Baptism of Christ, which the Lectionary offered us yesterday, that I had very little mental space to reflect on those action-packed chapters from the Very Beginning. It was good for me that Genesis 1 1-9 had been one of the Eucharistic readings...nothingness, and then God's Spirit and God's voice calling all things into being. That was my anchorage as I began to read. As always, parts of the narrative stuck in my throat -I'm with MaryBeth that Abram's treatment of Sarai is simply outrageous,.and it does seem hard that Cain's offering wasn't good enough,-but my overwhelming impression was of the generations coming and going, the line of names winding its way through (pre)history, some more than a little dubious characters, some with credible histories, some beyond the bounds of rational belief...but with God's Spirit somehow involved all the way.
Looking at the questions...yes, I read all the allotted verses (though it's considerably more than 12 pages in my version), achieving it with something like grim determination, in the only window of time that presented itself. I read in our sitting-room, as my daughter had commandeered the computer in my study, and I knew I wouldn't be able to settle in there awy from my desk when there was so much to put away after all the mult-sensory activities of OpenHouse (will blog about that at Good in Parts, if time permits). My son was watching a film at the other end of the room, and the dogs were very keen on snuggling on my lap to share the experience, so it was quite a test of concentration, but I did manage it. I'll hope generally to be able to read in the study, where I've a comfy sofa of my own and I can shut the world out...this certainly wasn't ideal! No notes, though, nor underlinings (I somehow never DO underline in my Bible....might journal a bit as things go on, but I want to focus on what impact the Word has on me, rather than getting drawn into academic points, which could so easily happen). I guess it took about 45 minutes (and I did go on to Chapter 18 before realising that I would be late for Evensong).
Thoughts so far? That the line between myth and truth is wonderfully blurry. That we need anchors to make sense of reality in our own context. That so much divides us from the people of Genesis, but their emotions, confusions and fears are so like my own. That I can't possibly expect to get the reading done and blog about it regularly....if I don't stop wittering now, I'll never get today's chunk done!

posted by Kathryn @ 5:38 AM