Time for a little re-building

    

    When in doubt, "rebuild" I always say.  

    I know I have not seen many of you for a few weeks and no doubt many of you have wondered why.  The simple answer is just this:  time.  Until I can convince the almighty that my idea for a thirty six hour day has merit I am stuck with a mere twenty four hours in each day, and as such, am likewise stuck only being able to accomplish so much.  The more complicated answer has a few reasons. 

    

    Reason one is structural.  At my congregation every five years I do what I call a "Five Year Trend Report".  It is part State-of-the-Union, part statistical analysis, and part strategic future planning.  I usually shake up everything from our committee structures, to our worship services, to our financial planning.  The fact to the matter is five years is about all the longer any church ought to have plans and structures for.  Life just moves too quickly to set things in stone any farther than five years.  So, it is the five year mark and it has been time for me to do my new Trend Report.  A great many exciting changes have come our way in the last few months as a result, but all of this has taken a good bit of time away from (P)Review.  

    Reason two is more ideological.  By breaking the lectionary readings into two parts (one for Preview, one for Review) it has given the false impression that the the First Lesson/Second Lesson and Gospel are somehow disconnected. 

In the style of preaching from a Lectionary (or list of scripture passages to be read each Sunday) we read one text from the Old Testament, one from the Psalms, one from the Epistles and one from the Gospels.

    I have to admit as I review the last few years, that this false dichotomy has carried over into my actual preaching.  I imagine that has something to do with the care and thought that I have put into the actual (P)Review articles bleeding through into my writing process.  As such, it seems now is a good time to do a little re-tooling and rebuilding for the blog.  So, I think that I will take my cue from the good folks at the Apple corporation.  

    Every year Apple releases a new iPhone, but in between releasing the new model they release their "S" edition that represents a minor change in design.

The "S" in iPhone stands for "second edition" thus iPhone 5 is the fifth version of the phone and iPhone 5s is the second edition of the fifth version of the phone...clear as mud right?

 
   So, I think it is time I release an "S" edition of my own.  I propose to you that I will be presenting, starting this week, "Preview(S)".  In my case the "S" stands for both second edition as well as my hope for addressing the issue I have had with splitting the lessons into two different studies.  I believe that since the lessons of the lectionary are supposed to work together to form a unified theme each week that the study should work to try to synthesize the readings into a single Bible study.  So for me the "S" also stands for synthesis.  

    Life marches on, and so does this blog.  I hope you will join me in the upcoming year as I continue to present my ideas on the scriptures...this time as a synthesis in: Preview(S).