Next week, as part of the 400th anniversary celebrations of the King James Bible, St Mary’s Harrow on the Hill is organising a Bible reading. That is, a complete reading of the entire Old and New Testaments.
There will be four people reading at any one time, sufficiently far away from each other not to interfere, in order to get through the whole thing. There will be readers from other churches, and from the local synagogue, too. We couldn’t resist volunteering, of course. We said that we’d be happy to do some of the less popular bits, like Kings or Numbers.
We’ve been allocated a 2 hour slot on Wednesday morning to read the end of Jeremiah and the start of Ezekiel, and a 1 hour slot on Thursday to cover a slab of Chronicles.
Wa-hay! That’s really chewy stuff! Last night I read the first 7 chapters of Jeremiah. “Harlot”, “whore”, and “backsliding” were definitely the top three recurring words.
I dipped randomly into Chronicles and came up with 2 Chronicles chapter 21:
16 Moreover the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that [were] near the Ethiopians:
17 And they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
18 And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease.
19 And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.
20 Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.
Wonderful stuff.
It starts at around midday on Sunday 23rd October, and runs to Sunday 30th October daily from 9am to 8pm. All are welcome. Besides which, it’s a beautiful church, with stunning views from the top of the hill across London and the home counties.
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