We’re going to have a LOT of vision puns this year! 2020 means ‘perfect vision,’ right? We want to take this year, the year we move into a new building on a new site to perfect our vision. God has this incredible future in front of us, and we want a clearer, sharper focus!
How do we do that?
We are starting where the people called Methodists have always started: with the Bible. John Wesley called himself a “man of one book,’ yet he read widely and often. You might say that Wesley wanted to learn all he could to help him understand that one book – the bible.
If there is one thing we all know about the Bible, it might be this:
“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so!”
Beyond that, though, can we all agree the bible is not easy to understand! The bible is our book; our one book. The Bible has lasted for more than 1500 years and is the collection of writings on which our faith is based.
In Jesus’ day, no one owned their own bible, much less carried one around with them. The sacred texts were written on scrolls that were kept in places of worship. Now you and I have access to hundreds of translations in dozens of languages on our phones!
The Bible has been used to mobilize armies and to support, or oppose legislation. Over the centuries it has been banned, it has been exalted. It has been read closely, and it has been ignored.
It has been interpreted and reinterpreted and misinterpreted. To support causes and beliefs and to oppose the causes and beliefs of others.
You have probably had someone use the bible against you. You have probably used the bible against someone.
So here we are, the year 2020 about to start and we are sharpening our focus on helping people follow Jesus better today than yesterday. We cannot do that without the Bible, so join us as we start the year with a Focus on the Bible.
