The Bible speaks and is spoken in Newtownards
With a deep breath, and a prayer from the Bishop, 72 hours of continuously reading the Bible aloud began in St Mark’s Parish Church Newtownards at 9.00 am on Thursday 28 November.
Bishop Harold was the first of over 200 people, representing schools, churches, businesses and public services in the Newtownards community, who came and read a portion of the Scriptures.
An amazing time followed as children, pensioners, MLAs, families and friends read, in various languages, of the people and places in God’s story.
The tales of Moses, Ruth, the prophets, kings and their kingdoms, Jesus and the Church, shed new light upon our knowledge of them and of God, and upon our own lives which we saw mirrored in theirs.
Over the 72 hours there was silence, laughter, tears, and at times the hairs on the back of our necks stood up as we responded to what we heard read.
The scene was set for morning worship on Advent Sunday with the final reading from Revelation 22; ‘Amen. Come, Lord Jesus’.
Readers made the following comments in a visitors’ book:
‘Humbling and inspiring…’, ‘a privilege…’, ‘a pleasure…’, ‘awesome’, ‘a blessing…’, ‘made my day’, ‘15 minutes well spent’, ‘encouraged to study the Psalms in further detail’ ‘…my first time reading in church’, ‘read bits I never looked at before..’, ‘amazing watching my children read from the Bible..’ and ‘Thank you!’
As well as bringing church members together, the event strengthened our contact with the community and other churches in the town – really valuable in view of the forthcoming Year of Mission – and we also raised some money for the Philippines Bible Society’s ‘God is Our Shelter’ Project.
With thanks to the rector of St Mark’s, Revd Chris Matchett (pictured below left).