#eatthisbook

[heartcry]

Language is not primarily informational but revelatory. The Holy Scriptures give witness to a living voice sounding variously as Father, Son and Spirit, addressing us personally and involving us personally as participants. This text is not full of words to be studied in the quiet preserves of a library, but a voice to be believed and loved and adored in workplace and playground, on the streets and in the kitchen. Receptivity is required. --- It is useful to reflect that the word 'liturgy' did not originate in church or worship settings. In the Greek world it referred to public service, what a citizen did for the community. As the church used the word in relation to worship, it kept this 'public service' quality - working for the community on behalf of or following orders from God. As we worship God, revealed personally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in our Holy Scriptures, we are not doing something apart from or away from the non-Scripture=reading world; we do it for the world - bringing all creation and all history before God, presenting our bodies and all the beauties and needs of humankind before God in praise and intercession, penetrating and serving the world for whom Christ died in the strong name of the Trinity. --- The Holy Scriptures are story-shaped. Reality is story-shaped. The world is story-shaped. Our lives are story-shaped. 'I had always,' wrote G.K. Chesterton in accounting for his Christian belief, 'felt life first as a story, and if there is a story, there is a story-teller.' We enter this story, following the story-making, storytelling Jesus, and spend the rest of our lives exploring the amazing and exquisite details, the words and sentences that go into the making of the story of our creation, salvation, and life of blessing. It is a story chock full of invisibles and intricate with connections. Imagination is required. --- The Christian life requires a form adequate to its content, a form that is at home in the Christian revelation and that respects each person's dignity and freedom with plenty of room for all our quirks and particularities. Story provides that form. The biblical story invites us in as participants in something larger than our sin-defined needs, into something truer than our culture-stunted ambitions. We enter these stories and recognize ourselves as participants, whether willing or unwilling, in the life of God. Unfortunately, we live in an age in which story has been pushed from its biblical frontline prominence to a bench on the sidelines and then condescended to as "illustration" or "testimony" or "inspiration." Our contemporary unbiblical preference, both inside and outside the church, is for information over story. We typically gather impersonal (pretentiously called "scientific" or "theological") information, whether doctrinal or philosophical or historical, in order to take things into our own hands and take charge of how we will live our lives. And we commonly consult outside experts to interpret the information for us. But we don't live our lives by information; we live them in relationships in the context of a personal God who cannot be reduced to formula or definition, who has designs on us for justice and salvation. And we live them in an extensive community of men and women, each person an intricate bundle of experience and motive and desire. Picking a text for living that is characterized by information-gathering and consultation with experts leaves out nearly everything that is uniquely us - our personal histories and relationships, our sins and guilt, our moral character and believing obedience to God. Telling and listening to a story is the primary verbal way of accounting for life the way we live it in actual day-by-day reality. There are no (or few) abstractions in a story. A story is immediate, concrete, plotted, relational, personal. And so when we lose touch with our lives, with our souls - our moral, spiritual, embodied God-personal lives - story is the best verbal way of getting us back in touch again. And that is why God's word is given for the most part in the form of story, this vast, overarching, all-encompassing story, this meta-story.

Eat This Book, Eugene Peterson

[wifeofhalloween]

I received a beautiful gift in the mail today from @loverbakermerrymaker This gorgeous book is not only filled with facts, history, tips and inspiration it is also beautifully illustrated AND signed by the author @stacymichelson . I cannot wait to dive in. Thank you so much, Sarah, such a thoughtful and loving gift and such a kind note. #eatthisbook #gifts #ilovemyfriends #foodfacts https://www.instagram.com/p/CNGvjpWjbhD/?igshid=1bhkli8kued2n

[defensoresdelafe]

It takes less than 80 hours to read the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation; that is equivalent to about 3 1/3 days. There are at least 365 days in a year; equivalent to about 8,760 hours. Question: Do you believe you have enough time to read the Bible through once a year? #Bible #ReadYourBible #PrivilegeTheWord #ReadtheWord #EatThisBook #YourWordIHaveHiddenInMyHeart https://www.instagram.com/p/B3-mTwGAtzK/?igshid=11r3pdroyvbyb

[surfrocker]

Carter is just about done reviewing notes and ready to teach tonight :) see you at 6:30 FCC! #EatThisBook #Discipleship #HowToStudyTheBible (at First Christian Church - Canton)

[artbyrosa]

Painting on glass located in the Ignite house

[charlotte-j]

The Filter of First "I can't think in the morning. My body gets up, but my brain doesn't wake up until noon." "I am SO not a morning person." "My mornings are chaotic. No way can I connect with God." "I'm a young mom. I haven't slept through the night in forever. I have to drag myself out of bed way too early as it is. I simply cannot connect with God in the mornings." "I already get up at 5:00 a.m. to go to work. And now you are saying I have to get up earlier than that? That's legalistic and extreme. I can talk to God anytime during the day and He hears me." We have all heard it. We have probably all said it in one form or another at one time or another. But regardless of our personal opinions and preferences, there is no denying the compelling case that the Word makes for meeting God in the mornings. Whatever you do first in the day is the filter through which everything else in the day passes. If you start with texting, you are beginning your day through the filter of earthly relationships. If you start with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, you are beginning your day through the filter of the thoughts and activities of other people. If you start your day with internet, you are beginning your day through the filter of earthly events, crises, and situations. If you start your day with conversation, you are beginning your day through the filter of the needs of your home. Let your first thoughts be thoughts of Him. Let your first words be words to Him. Let your first communication be from Him through His Word. But if your day begins through the filter of His Word and communication with Him, everything else that happens in the day takes on a totally different hue. The filter of first. Keep reading. These are not my words, they are His… Psalm 108:2-"Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early." Psalm 143:8-"Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee." Proverbs 8:17-"I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me." Mark 1:37-" And in the morning rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." Isaiah 50:4-"The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned." Psalm 5:3-"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. Psalm 55:17-"Evening, morning, and at noon will I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice." Psalm 57:8-" Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early." Psalm 63:1-"O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee:" © 2014 by Melani Brady Shock

Sis Melani Shock's Series "Eat This Book"

[dottiecamak]

Bible in Five: Joshua

I am absolutely loving this series of videos.  We are reading through the OT in D-goup, and these videos are made to give a general overview and theme of each book.  What a great supplement! Friends, I highly recommend! 

[charlotte-j]

Believe. I'm a believer. What does that mean, really? Belief says the Word of God is true. Belief says there is no contradiction in the Word. Belief says the Word is always right, every time. Belief says every word was breathed from the mouth of God. Belief says every word is infallible. Belief defies logic. Belief needs no archaeological evidence to substantiate it. Belief needs no proof. And once the choice to believe is made, the heavens open.

Melanishock.blogspot.sg on the series "Eat This Book"