Well done! I think meeting nearly every day at the cathedral is unwieldy and cumbersome but a weekly meeting is entirely possible. Also, the clergy could do the same thing in their parish for interested layfolk once a week. The biblical illiteracy among clergy and laity alike is appalling, as is the apparent embarrassment to take Scripture seriously as the Word. Too often, preaching is simply a graduate seminar on text criticism rather than wrestling with the Word. (I think that started in the 60s and was the beginning of the downfall of TEC.)
I just finished being on a recording of Rev Shaneequa Brokenleg's Prophetic Voices podcast and one of my strongest takeaways was how helpful it is to meet together for study and discussion of the texts on which we preach! We have so much to learn from one another. I know many of my ELCA Lutheran colleagues meet weekly for "text study" and I admit that I am a little jealous. I am currently coordinating a monthly "clergy Bible study" at a local coffee shop that is a combination of sharing our lives, but also our preaching, and it has been a challenge to find a time in our busy schedules, but is so enriching!
What a sad state of things that we do not do this as a matter of course. I know of so many congregations where there is no serious ongoing Bible study going on at all. Most clergy nowadays simply have not been prepared to "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" Scripture in this deep way, even at our best seminaries. The church is impoverished today in this regard.
Well done! I think meeting nearly every day at the cathedral is unwieldy and cumbersome but a weekly meeting is entirely possible. Also, the clergy could do the same thing in their parish for interested layfolk once a week. The biblical illiteracy among clergy and laity alike is appalling, as is the apparent embarrassment to take Scripture seriously as the Word. Too often, preaching is simply a graduate seminar on text criticism rather than wrestling with the Word. (I think that started in the 60s and was the beginning of the downfall of TEC.)
I just finished being on a recording of Rev Shaneequa Brokenleg's Prophetic Voices podcast and one of my strongest takeaways was how helpful it is to meet together for study and discussion of the texts on which we preach! We have so much to learn from one another. I know many of my ELCA Lutheran colleagues meet weekly for "text study" and I admit that I am a little jealous. I am currently coordinating a monthly "clergy Bible study" at a local coffee shop that is a combination of sharing our lives, but also our preaching, and it has been a challenge to find a time in our busy schedules, but is so enriching!
What a sad state of things that we do not do this as a matter of course. I know of so many congregations where there is no serious ongoing Bible study going on at all. Most clergy nowadays simply have not been prepared to "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" Scripture in this deep way, even at our best seminaries. The church is impoverished today in this regard.