#307 Reading Scripture Together

Last month Tess and I completed reading the whole Bible together. It was a long project. We started reading a chapter a day when Advent began late in 2020. (We were doing this along with our church at the time, but we moved during the middle of our reading plan.) What made our reading different than other Bible reading plans I've done is that we always read aloud. Originally we read one chapter a day, taking turns. But along the way we got derailed for stretches, especially after Jeremiah was born, so for the last few months of our reading we normally read two chapters a day—one for each of us. (We still finished about three months after we were first scheduled to get done.)

There were a couple of things I found particularly good about reading the Bible this way. First, reading aloud is slower than reading internally. Sometimes listening was a challenge, but reading to each other made us take more time with the Word. Second and better yet, we spent a few moments talking about each chapter. Mostly we commented on things that stood out to us. Sometimes we found connections with earlier chapters or with passages that I was preaching from at the time. Sometimes we wrestled to understand what we'd read or asked difficult questions about how this passage applied to our current context. I think by reflecting together we learned from each other and thought more deeply than we would have on our own. I love talking about the Bible with others, and Tess was a wonderful partner. I recommend reading and reflecting on God's Word with others to anyone who wants to give this strategy a try.

Grace and peace,

BMH