Hello GRC!
Back in 2019 we tried something new, unsure of whether it’d “succeed.” We had rotations of GRCers come to the sanctuary hour after hour, to read from a big Bible in the pulpit, continuing until we finished. We livestreamed the vast majority of that effort to share with one another and the world. And… it… was… epic! SOOO many of us caught the bug and signed up for more slots, and asked if we would do it again. And the answer was YES – and so the 2nd public reading of Scripture (PRS) here at GRC, was held only days before COVID suddenly struck and shut things down in March of 2020. In God’s great wisdom, our tech team learned from 2019 that we needed to upgrade our internet connection AND modestly invest in some new technology, which enabled us to be ready to live-stream worship services on a week’s notice when GRC and all other churches stopped in-person services. THAT was a total God-thing, detailed in our Fall 2020 GRC’s Grace Story (VIEW HERE).
The biblical background of this public reading of Scripture, sign-up slots and instructions can be found through this LINK.
I’d like to share with you a glimpse of the impact this has had in our GRC family.
- Children standing on a little stool to reach the pulpit, reading from the Word of God.
- Logging on to the Facebook stream over a morning cup of coffee, or at 2am to check on things, and realizing that 7 or 23 other GRCers were listening in as well.
- A long-time GRC couple unsure of what this was all about, giving in to mild pressure/encouragement, and catching them on the way out of church after their reading slot, simply glowing from the simple experience of reading the Bible out loud.
- Waking up with my eldest (who wanted to do this!) at 2:30am to drive to church and cover the 3am hour.
- Cringing, but trusting the Lord, when a child just happened to have his turn come up, and it was Leviticus 18!
- Chuckling as many of us got chapters full of genealogy names, and just having to tough it out and do our best.
- Families rearranging schedules, excitedly bringing kids who wanted to do more.
- One of our elders, signed up for midnight, realized no one was able to read from 1-3am, and just couldn’t leave, so he simply read, by himself, for 2 extra hours.
GRC, this is no mere religious activity. This is life-impacting. If you participated in 2019 or 2020, you know what I mean. If this is all new to you, take a slot and find out for yourself.
Let’s do this again, for the glory of God, the building up of His church, and the salvation of the world!
Grace,
Peter
