Research, plus ordinary observation, suggests that Christians in the pew generally have a fairly poor understanding and knowledge of the Bible. Even the Anglican church with its strong tradition of reading the Bible in church each Sunday does not seem to have translated this into good biblical knowledge on the part of its members.
So it is worth using the anniversary of this great formative event to help form our own understanding of the Bible. One of the things Archbishop Thomas Cranmer did in revising the Bible reading program for use in church (the lectionary) was to make sure that whole books of the bible were read through consecutively (a practice that has fallen into confusion in the modern lectionaries). If you have an original 1662 Book of Common Prayer you can read this in the section called “Concerning the Service of the Church”.
During Epiphany and Lent (January to April), at Willetton, we will provide sermons, studies and a reading guide so that Mark’s gospel and the middle part of Isaiah (40-55) are read through consecutively, together with other readings that relate to the Mark passages. On Sundays we will read most of Mark consecutively as well as provide two evenings when the whole gospel will be read right through.
Our aim is to help us gain a much better understanding of Mark’s gospel and thus a better understanding of who Jesus was, what he did, and what it has got to do with us. I encourage you to read prayerfully.
Dale