As you have already heard, there will be no church services for the month of July at SouthWest. Pastor Beryl is taking a well-deserved, and long-deferred vacation.
That said, the office will not be completely closed. I will be working reduced hours, checking phone and email messages and tidying up some loose ends. The Friday newsletter will be bi-weekly for the month, with issues coming out July 2nd, 16th and 30th.
I am also proposing, to anyone who wishes to participate, a very informal bible study for the month. Inspired by a couple of bible challenges I have participated in with members of my gospel choir, the idea is simple: we will read through one book of the bible with assigned readings each day, and share our thoughts and reactions with one another.
When I did this with the choir, it was all done over Facebook. I think the SouthWest Facebook page will be an important part of this challenge, but I don’t want to leave out anyone who doesn’t have FB. Therefore, I encourage you to send emails to southwestunited@gmail.com, or even to send your comments through the mail. I’m not going to suggest you call the office, for two reasons: I won’t be there much, and also I think writing our thoughts down is an important part of the exercise. If you grant me permission, some of the comments will be repeated in the Friday newsletter.
I want to make it perfectly clear that I am coordinating, not leading this bible study. I am a lay person with an interest in theology, but no training. This exercise will be about asking questions and starting conversations. There are certainly no “right” answers, at least none that I have access to!
I have taken the liberty of choosing – almost randomly - the Gospel of Mark as the focus of our study. Several of the lectionary readings for July are from Mark so if we had been in church we might have heard Pastor Beryl reflecting on them. Instead, we will be doing our own “reflecting”.
The idea is to read and write every day, but if you miss a day, there is no penalty. You may “catch up” with several days of comments at once, or skip a few days and jump back in. Anyone can also join at any point in the month.
At SouthWest, we generally use the Good News Bible, but you may read the scriptures in whatever version you choose, or have on hand. If you do not have a bible at home, the website biblegateway.com has got you covered. There you can search any chapter or verse of the bible and find multiple translations, from King James to The Message. If a passage has you stumped, it can be illuminating to read it in a few different versions.
Those who wish to participate on our Facebook page should make sure they have “liked” it, and then just watch for posts starting July 1st. This is not limited to members of SouthWest United, so feel free to invite anyone you know who might be interested to “like” our page as well.
I have taken the liberty of dividing the 16 chapters of Mark into daily morsels. They will be posted on FB as we go along, but here is an overview. I look forward to reading your comments!
-Amy
