Week 38 - beginning of Chronicles (and quite a few bonus thoughts about stuff God is doing today) - Boxset Binge the Bible

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Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the opening chapters 1 to 21 of the first book of Chronicles.

A bit like Deuteronomy, this book is a retelling of familiar stories from a different perspective, and this time the special purpose of the book might make it look like the Bible has contradictions within itself.

What if it does? Bern shares discomfort about this idea, coming from being told as a young adult about how to deal with people who said “the Bible is full of contradictions” and didn’t want to put faith in God.

Chronicles seems to show, however, that the people who agreed what should count as scripture were happy to bring together partisan and conflicting views which show how God moved different people at different times.

What does this mean for us? Do we need to rethink how we engage with the Bible and take lessons from it or quote fragments in our prayers and worship? Can we also grasp what it means for us to be part of God’s movement of people through history, and be ready to keep moving?

WARNING: inspired by ideas sparked in Chronicles, Owen and Bern’s discussion moves into other topics about how God engages with us, how we sometimes miss the point and try to adopt snapshots of someone else’s history as our own, and how we can experience God moving us into new life with a new perspective.

In the next part of our boxset, we continue Chronicles with a look at how Israel was inspired to remember the goodness of worshiping God together. Listen along at your own pace at severnvineyard.org/bible.