Although I write and speak on a great many topics, nothing is more central to my personal practice or my Christian vocation than pursuing and encouraging the attentive reading of Scripture. For 2020, I wanted to take this a step further and to start an ambitious project to produce daily podcasts/videos in which I would read and reflect upon passages of Scripture in a lectionary. My hope is that this would encourage people to read and meditate upon Scripture as a daily practice, ideally as part of daily devotions. It is also convenient for people who want to think about Scripture on their commute or while doing household tasks.

There is a crisis of biblical literacy in the Church today, but I wanted to do my bit, not just to address a crisis, but to catalyze an appetite for and attentiveness to Scripture in people who join me on this journey, hoping that this might yield long term fruit for God’s kingdom. The Internet is no replacement for embodied and concrete relational Christian practice. However, it does afford us possibilities to facilitate, encourage, and equip such concrete practices. This is what I am aiming to achieve with this project.

For the project, I have chosen to use the lectionary for Morning Prayer from the new ACNA Book of Common Prayer, the text of which is available for free from the Internet. I would also recommend the hard copy of the book, which is a very attractive volume, especially the deluxe edition.

This is the very first beginnings of a project which has considerably greater ambitions. There are some exciting things happening behind the scenes and you should expect a far more extensive resource in the not-too-distant future.

The task itself is a fairly daunting one in many ways. It takes a lot of time, commitment, energy, and resources to do it well. At the moment, my funding is reduced from what it was a few months ago; I am going into this trusting that my commitment to doing a year of this won’t prove to be a costly mistake, but that I will be able to produce something of genuine service to people, while still keeping the wolves away from the door! If you would like to support this project, the best way to do so is to use it and share it with others as you find it helpful (word of mouth is hugely important, perhaps especially during this initial period). This really is what it is all about. I would also greatly value your prayers, as I believe that this project is as challenging as it is worthwhile and will need God’s aid if I am to complete it well (and hopefully extend it in the future). Constructive criticism and input are also valuable, especially in this teething period.

If you would like to support me in more material ways, I am currently investing much of my support in building up a robust collection of commentaries, which are an invaluable resource for my research. I will keep a list of commentaries and other volumes that I would use for my research here: if you would like very directly to equip me in what I am doing, this is a great way to do so. You can also support me on my Patreon account or on PayPal here. Beyond the immense help it provides practically, the support that I currently receive has been a huge encouragement—reminding me that others are genuinely invested in my labours (truly, this is a blessing I fear that too few people really enjoy)—and a source of confidence that I can expand what I am doing and take on ambitious new projects like this one.

The biblical reflections I am producing are available on YouTube, Soundcloud, and iTunes.