How Can I Read More Scripture?

Often, one of the biggest roadblocks of reading scripture is the answer to the question “Where Do I Start?” For many people, you go to the familiar passages of scripture, the parts of the Bible you’ve read before. This isn’t a bad move, as it allows you to start. (I’d recommend reading a chapter before the passage, as well as a chapter ahead.)

There is also another method that is a bit more comprehensive, and it comes from 3rd and 4th century Christians. We call this the Lectionary. However, before we can get to that, we need a brief note on the Church Calendar.

The Liturgical Calendar

If you’ve walked into a liturgical church, you’ve likely seen colors around the church. Right now in October, you’ll see Green, indicating that it’s Ordinary Time. This is the longest season of the Church Year.

The big seasons of the church year are Advent (Purple), Christmas (White), Epiphany (White), Pentecost (Red), Lent (Purple), Easter (White), and Ordinary Time (Green). You probably recognize some of those terms, but the general gist is a calendar centered on the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the proclamation of the Gospel of his life through the establishment of His church. (

The Lectionary

Within the liturgical calendar is something called the lectionary. In every Book of Common Prayer you will find one that takes the majority of scripture and splits them into daily readings over three years or one year. If you follow the lectionary, each day you will read a passage from the Old Testament, the New Testament, as well as a Psalm (Psalter.)

This beats the “open up my bible to wherever method.

You can find a one year lectionary here.

You can find a three year lectionary here.

Advice

The same discipline you use to accomplish your personal goals, I encourage you to use with the Lectionary. This will at least give you a way to engage with scripture consistently, while also giving you a larger scope of scripture.

What if I miss a day?

If you can, go back and read those passages, or keep going. The point isn’t perfect attendance. The point is to consistently expose yourself to the truth of the Gospel as revealed in the scriptures. This is how we reorient our lives to and through Jesus Christ. This is how we begin again.