Daily Archives: December 31, 2005

Lectiodivina, 2006

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My friend Darrell Grizzle has created a Yahoo! Group which will be reading the entire Bible through in 2006, including the Deuterocanonical/Apocryphal books. The group is Lectiodivina and you can join just by clicking the link and following the instructions. After you do, you might want to send a short introduction post to let the others know something about you. The “Files” link has the OT and NT reading schedule for the first 3 months.

Yours truly is a member, and I’ll be reading the NT with the group, although not the OT. What seems most valuable to me in the Old Testament are the Wisdom books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, The Song of Songs, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), and Wisdom (of Solomon). In addition, I’ll also be reading the major Upanishads, the Tao Te Ching, the Dhammapada, the Bhagavad Gita and Ashtavakra Gita, and the Gospel of Thomas.

The schedule I created for this is deliberately light to allow plenty of time for reflection: no more than two chapters a day, of any book (sometimes just one), with the exception of Thomas, where I’ll generally just read three short logions a day. I’m greatly looking forward to reading the NT, Wisdom books, and these Eastern scriptures again, in a slow, more thoughtful way, since some of them I really ripped through when I read them the first time!

Sound interesting? Join us. (P.S. I don’t want to steal from the group’s thunder, but if you’re interested in reading Biblical and Eastern wisdom books in place of the OT, email me and I’ll send a copy of my reading schedule.)

Two Great Broadcasts

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Today and yesterday, I listened “This American Life” on NPR. Both shows were so good, I had to check them out again.

You can listen to these in Real Audio format:
On the “Holiday Spectacular” (#305) there is a standout, “My So-Called Jesus,” (starts at about 22:45 into the broadcast) a short story by Heather O’Neill that imagines Jesus in junior high. It’s more entertaining and insightful than Anne Rice’s pious Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt.

Today, I heard episode #304, “Heretics” which is a wonderful report/interview with Carlton Pearson, the pastor of Higher Dimensions church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Rev. Pearson began as a Pentecostal minister with a typically staunch belief in hell, and studied at Oral Roberts University where he developed a close friendship with Oral Roberts. From there he built a successful mega-church. Then one night, God spoke to him and showed him that He truly is love, shattering his belief in hell.

He was compelled to preach “the Gospel of Inclusion,” and soon lost his congregation and most of his friends, but gained much more. Listening to his story brought back many memories for me about my journey from Fundamentalism to universalism several years ago. Listening to his story is a great way to spend an hour!