From The Rectory
Our
Diocese of Chichester has a three-year plan entitled Proclaiming the Mystery of Faith for 2023-2025.
2023 has been designated a Year
of the Old Testament. 2024 will focus on the New Testament. And 2025 will be a
year especially dedicated to the teaching of the Christian faith, as we
celebrate the anniversary of The Council of Nicaea, which took place in AD 325.
2023: A Year of The Old
Testament
The
Old Testament is foundational to the Christian faith. It is almost impossible
to understand Jesus the Christ, the Jewish Messiah, without understanding the
Hebrew Scriptures which prepared the way for him.
And
yet the Old Testament is so often caricatured, misunderstood and neglected. The
Old Testament forms something like three quarters of the Christian Bible but even
to regular church goers, whole tracts of the Hebrew Bible can feel like alien
territory.
It is
worth us just taking a moment to remind ourselves of the importance of the Old
Testament. The picture which emerges from the New Testament is that the Old
Testament is indispensable. It is very much necessary for our spiritual health.
The
Apostle Paul tells us that the Old Testament Scriptures were written “for us”,
for New Testament believers as well as for their original recipients. “For everything that was written in the past was
written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the
Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” (Romans 15).
Speaking of the events of Old Testament history, he says: “These
things happened to them [the church in Old Testament times] as
examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the
culmination of the ages has come.“ (1 Corinthians 10). Paul presumably
had the Old Testament Scriptures principally in mind when he said, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for
teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for
every good work.” (2 Timothy 3). These are the Scriptures which Timothy had
learnt since his youth. According to Paul these Holy Scriptures of the Old
Testament are “able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ
Jesus.”
The
New Testament writers quote the Old Testament Scriptures in the most striking
way as the living voice of God for us today. When they want to cite those
ancient words we might expect them to say something like, “As David said in the
Psalms of old….” But instead they say, “As the Holy Spirit says,…”. (Hebrews 3
and 4) The Old Testament is the Word of God, not the word of God Emeritus. In
it God speaks to us today.
The
Lord Jesus Himself submitted to the Old Testament Scriptures. He frequently
quoted them and treated them as a final court of appeal in controversy. He said
they must be fulfilled. And could not be broken. And that not the least pen
stroke would pass away before heaven and earth passed away. And that they were
written to testify about him that we might come to him in faith and find life.
In fact, when he rose from the dead he took the time to hold an Old Testament
Bible Study with his disciples, showing
them how all the Scriptures were fulfilled in him. “He opened their
minds so that they could understand the Scriptures”, we’re told. (Luke 24). We
might pray that he would do the same for us. We could use one of the Collects
from The Book of Common Prayer:
BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be
written for our learning: Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark,
learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word,
we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which
thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The
Diocese and the Cathedral will be offering various Unpacking The Word seminars
looking at the whole story of the Old Testament and focusing on particular
books such as the Psalms, Song of Songs and Isaiah.
A
Lent Course will be available looking at Mary as a New Eve, Melchizedek and
Christ, Joseph (of Technicolour Dream Coat fame), Moses and the Queen of Sheba.
Further
details will be available on the Diocesan website at: chichester.anglican.org
I’d
particularly like to invite you to this, which I’ll be running:
Diocesan
Online Group via Zoom: Reading Genesis and Exodus as Christian Scripture for
the Church Today
You can join us either
in the afternoon or the evening. Sessions will be led jointly by me and by The
Revd Thomas Pelham (Rector of Burwash, Burwash Weald & Etchingham, who is
part of the podcasting team at Irreverend: Faith and Current Affairs).
We will aim to read
these books with and for the church, seeking to encounter Christ and consider
the New Testament fulfilment of these texts, as well as their contemporary
relevance. These sessions will enable participants to engage deeply with
these seminal books by looking at the big picture and reading key passages closely.
There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion.
This
group will take place through the year on Zoom at approximately fortnightly
intervals (excluding Lent, August and Advent). Sessions are from 1:30pm to
2:45pm and 7:45pm to 9pm on Wednesdays.
Each
session will include a set Bible text, which participants are asked to read and
think about in advance. No further reading will be required but suggestions
will be available.
Anyone
is welcome at any session, and of course you may not be able to make every one,
but we hope as far as possible to have a settled group for the sessions on
Genesis or Exodus or both.
Genesis
sessions: 11th Jan (Invitation, introduction – Jesus quotes the
Torah – Matthew 22:23-40); 25th Jan; 8th Feb; 19th
April; 3rd May; 17th May; 7th June; 21st
June; 5th July; 19th July.
Exodus
sessions: 6th Sept; 20th Sept; 4th Oct; 18th
Oct; 1st Nov; 15th Nov; 29th Nov.
Zoom
meeting details – “Genesis Exodus Reading Group”
Join
Zoom Meeting - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84828857268
Meeting
ID: 848 2885 7268
To
dial in by phone - find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbrHmx8FeX
I
hope you’ll consider joining us. And that somehow 2023 might be a year in which
you get to grips with the Old Testament Scriptures, and Jesus our Saviour, whom
we can encounter there.
A
happy, blessed and biblical 2023 to you all!
The Revd Marc Lloyd
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