Sunday Salon: Week In Review (May 24 - May 31)

This week in the Tyndale New Testament

Hebrews
Romans
1 John
2 John
3 John
John 1-4

Next week: I hope to finish John!

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Then there were four...

I am so EXCITED. I only have four books remaining in the Tyndale New Testament! The gospel of John and John's three letters (1, 2, 3 John!) Can I get them all read by Sunday? I don't know?! There's no need to rush the process after all. But it's exciting to finish up a project. Already I'm plotting out what I want to do next. Should I read the 1599 Geneva Bible? Should I go back to the ESV Study Bible? Should I go back to the KJV and finish up John? I kinda left myself hanging in the middle of a book in April.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Do you like sermons?

Do you like sermons? Short sermons? Long sermons? Meaty sermons? Story-oriented sermons? I was reading in Middlemarch (by George Eliot) and I came across this little quote. It made me smile. Because, like it or not, she's got a few things right. I think you can 'train' yourself to like listening to sermons. Maybe not each and every sermon you hear. You will, of course, have your favorite preachers and your-not-so-favorite preachers.

"Oh, my dear, when you have a clergyman in your family you must accommodate your tastes: I did that very early. When I married Humphrey I made up my mind to like sermons, and I set out by liking the end very much. That soon spread to the middle and the beginning, because I couldn't have the end without them."

I haven't always liked listening to sermons. I actually don't like sermons-in-church so much as sermons-in-the-convenience-of-my-own-home. At churh, I'm distracted. Distracted by my stomach. Of thinking that I'm hungry. Of thinking about what I want to eat. Of where I want to go. I'm counting down the minutes--in a way--to when I can get out of there. But in another situation when I'm full and content and ready to listen, to really listen, then I love listening to sermons.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Question of the Week #21

Welcome to the twenty-first edition of the Question of the Week! Please consider sending me your ideas for future questions :)

How about a question about questions this week. What kinds of questions--if any--do you want to see asked for this Question of the Week feature? Are there any kinds of questions you don't want asked? Is the lack of participation due to bad questions? Are my questions too shallow? too deep? too personal? too irrelevant? too repetitive? too mindless? too boring? If you want Question of the Week continue in the future, think of a few questions you'd like to see presented at a future date on Question of the Week. I'm asking you to take a few minutes of your time and give back. Be honest. I can take it. Really. If there is zero interest in this feature, then I'll stop this one. I might think of something to replace it. Another interactive type feature that is more open-ended than answering a specific question. So make that question two or three. Would you be more interested in stopping by weekly if it was not a question feature but more of a chatty free for all?

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Boldly Go. Again.

So last night, I was watching Star Trek--the original series--the episode was The Trouble With Tribbles. And I was loving it, of course. I saw the new (or new-to-me advertisement) that was using the catch phrase "Boldly Go. Again." I thought it was snazzy; I must admit that I liked it. A lot. A couple of hours later, I was reading in my Tyndale New Testament. Reading Hebrews. And I came across this little phrase:

"Seeing then that we have a great high priest which is entered into heaven (I mean Jesus the son of God) let us hold our profession. For we have not an high priest, which cannot have compassion on our infirmities: but was in all points tempted, like as we are: but yet without sin. Let us therefore go boldly unto the seat of grace, that we may receive mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

This is the first paragraph of Hebrews 5. In the Tyndale New Testament. I was struck of course with the "go boldly" phrase of it. And that having caught my attention, I began to dwell on the verse as a whole. I mean who doesn't like thinking about the fact that we can go to Christ, go boldly not wimpering, for grace to sustain us, heal us, comfort us?

That would have been the end of it. But. Today, I was trying to find that verse in other translations. And I wasn't having any luck of it. Again and again, I wasn't finding it in any other translation. I had my doubts for a second or two, I admit. What was going on? Why was this verse so slippery to trace? If it was in the Bible, why wasn't it in all the Bibles?

Well. I tracked down the problem. Tyndale put that verse in chapter 5. And other translations didn't. They had it in chapter four. (Hebrews 4:16 to be exact.)

Here it is in the New Living Translation:

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Not all translations use 'boldly.' In fact, most of them choose confidence instead. But I must admit my partiality. I like boldly better. To me, it represents enthusiasm and passion. And confidence just doesn't represent that same fervor in my humble opinion. Yes, I think they probably mean the same thing. But still.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Sunday Salon (Week in Review (May 17-23)

I read in the Tyndale New Testament this week:

1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy

My goals this week: to read Hebrews and Romans.
My goals for next week (the week after this week) to read John, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John. Then I'll be done with the Tyndale New Testament!!! Of course, I have no idea if it will take two weeks or three weeks or four weeks to get it all done. But hopefully, I'll get it done by July 1!

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Question of The Week #20

Welcome to the twentieth edition of the Question of the Week! Please consider sending me your ideas for future questions :)

Do songs ever make you cry? Do you have a song (or two) that makes you teary-eyed every time?

I have a long list of songs that make me emotional. Some you'd expect. Here are just a few...

John Michael Montgomery's The Little Girl



Collin Raye's Love Me



Steven Curtis Chapman's Going Home For Christmas





© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible