Hi everyone,
Below you’ll find the Bible Reading Plan for the month of February. As a reminder, our little Christian community in Virginia Beach has established five simple practices for embodying our faith daily. You can read more about all five practices in my post Rediscovering The Wheel, but here’s a quick synopsis along with some helpful links to get you started:
SCRIPTURE: We share a common reading schedule, usually one passage from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament each day. Learn more: How To Read The Bible
PRAYER: We pray on our knees the first minute we get out of bed and the last minute before our head hits the pillow. Learn more: How To Pray.
FASTING: Fasting makes space for God. We do it in different ways in different seasons (e.g. internet fast on Sundays; no meat or dairy on Fridays; special alms-giving in summer). Learn more: Why We Fast
CHURCH: Make a commitment to go and physically worship with the body of believers at a local church every Sunday. Learn more: Losing Our Religion
AUTHORITY: Begin to ask God for a trustworthy pastor, priest, or spiritual leader. Then approach that person and give them authority in your life.
February Scripture Readings
The readings for this month are as follows. If you’re the analog type, you can access the reading plan here and print it out or bookmark it on your phone or computer. We also have a personalized plan on the Dwell app (FREE for you!), which automatically loads each new day’s Scriptures. You can read or listen right on the app. It’s pretty awesome. You have to create an account to get started, but once you’re in, it’s free thanks to VB Fellows footing the bill (we welcome your donations to help keep it going).
This month we’re reading the Book of Numbers (OT) and the Gospel and Epistles of John (NT). You’ll also see I’ve added an optional Psalm each day, which I recommend doing before the other readings. We’ve tried to keep this reading plan very simple (baby steps!), so I had a bit of understandable push-back regarding adding a third daily reading: “Too much to take in!” For that reason, we did not included the Psalms on the Dwell App content. But for those who are interested in giving it a try, I recommend reading the daily Psalm differently than you read the other two passages. Don’t analyze it. Pray it. Use it as your opening prayer. (Then maybe pray it again before bed.) This is how Christians have used the Psalms for two thousand years.
Now onto the Old Testament. I know, I know…Numbers sounds like a slog. “Isn’t it just a bunch of census taking, just lists upon lists of obscure Hebrew names and numbers?” Well, no. I mean yes, kinda. There are lists here and there, especially in the first couple of chapters (and some later too). However—and I admit I was in seminary before I fully realized this—some of the coolest/craziest stories in Scripture are in the Book of Numbers. It’s one of the most underrated book of the Bible. Plus it’s important to the overall story. Here’s a very helpful synopsis:
And then, of course, there’s the Gospel of John. What can even be said about this book? It may just be the most profound work of literature that has ever been written. Yes, I think I’ll just leave it at that. Let’s dive into the well together. And may the Lord bless it.
That’s all for now! Let me know if you have questions. Lord, bless our journey through your Scriptures this month. Amen.
— Ross
P.S. Our little Book Club is going strong. This past month we read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the month before Tolstoy’s Resurrection. This month it’ll be George MacDonald’s Phantastes, the story which C.S. Lewis said “baptized his imagination” when he was a still an agnostic. Feel free to read along!