Note: As we continue to pray for healing for the Rev. Canon Scott Gunn, this weekly message will feature guest writers from the Forward Movement staff and board of directors. Today’s message comes from Richelle Thompson, Forward Movement’s Managing Editor.

Veggie Tales should not be a primary source for biblical knowledge. But as I started preparing for Forward Movement’s upcoming Good Book Club Bible study, I realized that most of what I knew about the book of Esther came from the toddler days of my children, when the cartoon was on incessant repeat.

Through the singsong of animated vegetables, I learned the story of Esther. But I didn’t know it.

Over the years, I’ve found that each time I encounter with scripture—even the same passages—I discover something new. Certainly, my understanding of Noah’s Ark has changed since my Sunday School, finger-puppet days. Exodus challenges me in new ways as I learn more about racial injustice and examine my heart for its unbidden prejudices. My response to the Gospel of Luke has varied, from when I was pregnant and scared to when my daughter was a young teen, the age of Mary when the angel Gabriel tells her she will bear a child.

The words of scripture don’t change. But I have. Through the various seasons of life, the Word of God speaks to me in different ways. And it’s not just a matter of aging or my own personal experience. The affairs of the world—climate change, political strife, natural disasters—influence how I read and understand scripture.

That’s why reading the Bible can never be a one-and-done thing. Numerous studies show that reading scripture is directly related to our spiritual health and vitality. We know that intellectually, just like we know vegetables (real ones, not animated ones) are better choices than Snickers and ice cream. But it’s all too easy to fall into bad habits or be apathetic to our spiritual health.

On Sunday, one of my favorite prayers from the Book of Common Prayer was the collect—the words at the beginning of the service that call us into worship:

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Read. Mark. Learn. Inwardly Digest. What a wonderful process for engaging in scripture! It’s not just a matter or reading or hearing it but about letting scripture nourish our souls and permeate our lives. For me, the most effective way to do this is through a daily guide for reading the Bible — and if possible, to do it in community, in small-group studies or as part of an online program. There are lots of resources out there, but naturally, I’m partial to Forward Movement ones. These include the Bible Challenge series. These books offer 40 or 50 (or even 365) days of daily scripture reading, reflection, and prayer. They’re a great resource for personal and group reflection.

I’m also a fan of the Good Book Club. During the season after Epiphany, Forward Movement invites the church to join in reading through a portion of the Bible—together. Over the years, we’ve moved through the four gospels, Acts, Romans, and Exodus. This year, starting on January 6, we’ll read the books of Ruth and Esther. The Good Book Club offers weekly emails as a companion through the readings, study guides for group discussion, and a live, online ChurchNext class. I might have learned the story of Esther from dancing cucumbers, peas, and leeks, but now it’s time to inwardly digest the Word of God. I can’t wait.

Yours faithfully,

Richelle Thompson
Managing Editor

More from our ministry:

Explore Luke’s Gospel with this reflection from author Miguel Escobar

New from ChurchNext: Introducing the Quaker Tradition

Follow the narrative of the Bible with The Path

Read through biblical canticles in our Advent devotional, Holy Is His Name

Note: As we continue to pray for healing for the Rev. Canon Scott Gunn, this weekly message will feature guest writers from the Forward Movement staff and board of directors. Today’s message comes from Margaret Ellsworth, Forward Movement’s Marketing Coordinator.

There are a LOT of prayer books on my shelf. (Occupational hazards of being a clergy kid, religion grad student, and now staff member at a publishing ministry.) The oldest one is this little Book of Common Prayer, here at the top. It’s worn at the edges, and features some extra decoration from a scribble-happy younger sister. This prayer book has traveled with me for a long time.

I received this BCP in my Easter basket when I was a kid. But after the Easter treats were eaten and the Easter basket was put away, the BCP went up on a shelf, mostly unused. Until I graduated from college and prepared to head out to a new city for a summer internship. When I was packing, I slipped this prayer book into my suitcase almost as an afterthought. Just in case it might come in handy.

It was during that internship, living on my own for the first time, that I really got to know the prayer book. I read through the psalms and the lectionary and realized that if I really stuck to this seven-week cycle I could write these poems on my heart. I prayed Compline in my little room. I stepped into the rhythm of prayer book living, which has sustained me in the years since.

I’ve got a new prayer book on my shelf now—Forward Movement’s new Book of Common Prayer, Gift Edition. This book is designed to be portable, just as my first little BCP was, so it can fit in a backpack or a purse or a suitcase. It’s also designed to be beautiful, because the God we praise in its pages is the maker of beautiful things. Because giving thanks to God, always and everywhere, should be a good and joyful thing.

I recently read through the prayer book on sacraments as part of an inquirer’s class. The folks reading with me, from all ages and stages of life, are all preparing for a sacramental encounter of their own. Some are being received from other traditions, exploring the rich heritage of prayer that characterizes the Episcopal Church. Some are preparing for confirmation, getting ready to claim familiar words and actions as their own. Some are preparing for baptism, or to stand up with children and godchildren to support them in their life in Christ. All of them find their place in the Book of Common Prayer.

I’m saving my newest prayer book for my three-year-old daughter, who will by God’s grace be baptized soon. It’ll stay on her shelf for now—she’s a scribbler too, and a notorious page-ripper to boot. But I’ll fill out the presentation page with her name anyway, and hold it for her until she can open it herself. Whenever and however she takes it up on her own, I hope she knows that this book—and the rhythm of faithful life it represents to me—belongs to her already. I hope and pray that she will carry that joy with her wherever she goes.

Yours faithfully,

Margaret Ellsworth
Marketing Coordinator

More from our ministry:

Dig deeper into sacraments and practices: Walk in Love

Practices to sustain a life of faith: Vital Signs of Faith

Join ChurchNext’s live class with the author of Vital Signs of Faith

Check out the Top 5 Courses for Fall from ChurchNext

Note: As we continue to pray for healing for the Rev. Canon Scott Gunn, this weekly message will feature guest writers from the Forward Movement staff and board of directors. Today’s message comes from the Rt. Rev. Susan Brown Snook, Bishop of the Diocese of San Diego and member of the Forward Movement Board.

I love the Gospel of Luke, whose feast day is this week. It is full of joy, prayer, and awareness of both the suffering of the world and what Jesus has done to bring healing and restoration. Luke was a physician. He knew a great deal about the human body and about the cures that doctors could bring, and he probably also despaired as he saw people suffering from ailments that doctors could not cure. But then he heard the gospel of Jesus, and realized that Jesus came to heal the world in a new way: body, mind, and spirit.

So Luke became an evangelist. And what an evangelist he was, writing more of the New Testament than anyone else (the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles). Because of Luke, we know stories we read nowhere else, from Christmas to Pentecost. As the only writer who recorded the experiences of the early church after Jesus’ resurrection, Luke tells us how the church understood its mission, as Jesus tells the apostles in Acts 1:8: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Sharing the gospel of Christ rarely happens in a smooth, graceful progression. In Acts, the apostles have successes and setbacks. They work wondrous miracles and make rookie mistakes. They struggle over different interpretations of their mission, and they follow the lead of the Spirit in fits and starts. They fail to take literally the mandate from Jesus to go to the ends of the earth, and they stay in Jerusalem where they are comfortable—until they just can’t stay there anymore.

In other words, those early apostles are a lot like us. We too have setbacks, mistakes, struggles, divisions, and failure. Yet the Holy Spirit is with us, prompting us to courageously care for the world around us. Like those early apostles, we have a gospel of healing, wholeness, reconciliation, and restoration to share. Like them, we need the courage the Holy Spirit brings to share that good news. And like them, we know that the good news of Christ can still transform the world.

Yours faithfully,

The Rt. Rev. Susan Brown Snook
Bishop of the Diocese of San Diego
Member of the Forward Movement Board

More from our ministry:

Journey with St. Luke through Bible Challenge volumes on Luke and Acts
More from Bishop Snook: Acts to Action
Read the new interview with Miguel Escobar from Duke Divinity’s Faith and Leadership
Join ChurchNext’s live class with the author of Vital Signs of Faith

Note: As we continue to pray for healing for the Rev. Canon Scott Gunn, this weekly message will feature guest writers from the Forward Movement staff and board of directors. Today’s message comes from Jamie McMahon, Member of the Forward Movement Board.

For about 15 years now I have participated in the life of an international Anglican religious community called the Oratory of the Good Shepherd. While my day-to-day and week-to-week faith community is my parish of Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, my experience with the Oratory has deepened my spiritual life in numerous ways.

The Oratory is a community of brothers, both lay and ordained, founded in Cambridge, England in 1913, which has provinces in North America, Australia, Southern Africa, and Europe. Although brothers do not generally live in community, they are grouped together into local and regional colleges and meet regularly for prayer and support. They follow a common Rule and discipline for their lives. I am a Companion of the Oratory and follow a modified Rule in my own life based around daily prayer, regular Eucharistic participation in addition to Sundays, a regular examination of conscience and use of the sacrament of reconciliation, participation in an annual retreat or quiet day, and charitable giving.

Earlier this fall, I attended the Oratory’s annual retreat in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Over the course of those days I was able to spend time in silence and prayer with God and with the other brothers and companions.

Our retreat leader provided several short talks to assist in our spiritual work. At one point, he talked about how we don’t always know what God is doing in the corners of our lives, in the bits we cannot see, but that God is always there. In keeping with the theme of the Oratory, we were also reminded that when we recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd in our prayers, we recognize that we have, in fact, never been alone. This voice is not the voice of a stranger and the Good Shepherd has spent time with us even when we haven’t noticed.

Spend some time with John 10:1-18 and think about where the Good Shepherd may have been active in your life, perhaps in some way that you didn’t even pay attention to at the time.

If you are interested in learning more about the Oratory of the Good Shepherd, please have a look at the website oratory1913.com or connect with us at www.facebook.com/OGS1913.

Yours faithfully,

Jamie McMahon
Member of the Forward Movement Board

More from our ministry:

Dive deeper into this Gospel: A Journey with John Bible Challenge

Create your own Rule of Life with Vital Signs of Faith

From Grow Christians: A Flock of Minecraft Sheep

Note: As we continue to pray for healing for the Rev. Canon Scott Gunn, this weekly message will feature guest writers from the Forward Movement staff and board of directors. Today’s message comes from Canon Clyde Kunz, President of the Standing Committee in the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona and Member of the Forward Movement Board.

When asked the question “What is the most important of Jesus’ teachings?” most of us would probably respond:  to love one another.

And we would of course be right.  But we tend to overlook the other lesson He tried to communicate repeatedly:  to give, and to do so generously.

Why do we tend to remember the one but ignore the other?  Probably because we believe it easier to love than to be generous.  But as true disciples of Jesus, we need to understand that generosity actually IS love.

This time of year, we begin to hear messages about Christian stewardship – the giving of our time, talent and treasure.  We unfortunately sometimes hear from stewardship campaign leaders (even from the pulpit!) that the reason for our giving is to balance the church’s budget, or to cover roof or parking lot repairs.  But the reason for Christian stewardship as Jesus taught it has virtually NOTHING to do with covering the church’s expenses!

So what is it about?  In Matthew chapter 6, repeated again in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  And therein lies the key.  The core of the teaching.  Aligning our giving with our hearts.

Which compels me to ask myself:  where is my heart?

The late Rev. Billy Graham used to quote this passage from Matthew, after which he’d say: “Give me five minutes with a person’s checkbook, and I will tell you where their heart is.” And I wonder if someone were to look at my check register (or nowadays my credit card statement) where would they believe my heart to be?  Or more to the point, what might they assume it is that I worship?

Would it be the somewhat exotic vacations I am inclined to take?  The pricey restaurants I frequent more than my expanding waistline can justify?  While there is nothing wrong with enjoying some of the good things life has to offer, I sometimes wonder how those expenditures might compare with my giving to support the work of God’s kingdom. Jesus’ teaching on giving is all about aligning our heart with our generosity.

This time of year, our mailboxes are filled with requests from genuinely worthy causes.  But might we consider prioritizing our support of God’s kingdom when making our charitable contributions this year?  We can do so by pledging generously to our parish’s annual stewardship campaign.  And as true disciples we can also support the Episcopal Church’s Bless Campaign, the work of our seminaries or of organizational ministries like Forward Movement.  All are ways in which we can, as Jesus taught us, align our giving and our heart.

During this year’s season of giving, where is it I want my heart to be?

Yours faithfully,

Canon Clyde Kunz
Board Member, Forward Movement
President of Standing Committee,  Episcopal Diocese of Arizona

More from our ministry:

Support the ministry of Forward Movement: Donate today

Explore Christian stewardship and a holy use of wealth: The Unjust Steward

Giving is a Vital Sign of Faith – learn more in Kate Moorehead Carroll’s book

New ChurchNext course: Sharing God’s Resources Through An Ancient Practice