So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new. - 2 Corinthians 5:17
The Greek word Paul chose for new in this verse is kainos referencing a new creation that has not existed previously. This has greater implications than if Paul had instead used neos, meaning new in an already established category.
This biblical concept of kainos new is a pillar of Christian doctrine. Since God is about the work of making us new every day, we are transformed throughout our lives into a new creation, continuously growing in our resemblance to the one we follow, Jesus Christ. Evidence of this transformation can be found in our words, attitudes, actions and lifestyle.
One way that we open ourselves to experience kainos new is by practicing the spiritual discipline of reading Scripture. This is because we encounter God in the pages of Scripture. And each time we meet the living God, we are changed.
With that in mind, I invite you, the Holston Conference, to join me in reading through the Bible together individually and collectively in 2022. As we participate in “Read Together” in community, we open ourselves to experience God's presence and kainos on an individual basis and as a conference.
- Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett
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June 29, 2024 Song of Solomon 4-6 (NRSV) Cantares 4-6 (RVR1960) The Young Woman’s Beauty Extolled 4 How beautiful you are, my love, how very beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats, moving ...
June 28, 2024 Song of Solomon 1-3, Psalm 102 (NRSV) Cantares 1-3, Salmos 102 (RVR1960) 1 The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s. Colloquy of the Young Woman and Friendsa 2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than ...
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June 27, 2024 Ecclesiastes 10-12 (NRSV) Eclesiastés 10-12 (RVR1960) Miscellaneous Observations 10 Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a foul odor; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. 2 The heart of the wise inclines to ...
June 26, 2024 Ecclesiastes 7-9 (NRSV) Eclesiastés 7-9 (RVR1960) A Disillusioned View of Life 7 A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death, than the day of birth. 2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to...
June 25, 2024 Ecclesiastes 4-6 (NRSV) Eclesiastés 4-6 (RVR1960) 4 Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. Look, the tears of the oppressed—with no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power—with ...
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June 24, 2024 Ecclesiastes 1-3 (NRSV) Eclesiastés 1-3 (RVR1960) Reflections of a Royal Philosopher 1 The words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. 3 ...
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June 23, 2024 Job 42, Psalms 100-101 (NRSV) Job 42, Salmos 100-101 (RVR1960) Job Is Humbled and Satisfied 42 Then Job answered the Lord: 2 “I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 ‘Who is this that hides...
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June 22, 2024 Job 38-41 (NRSV) Job 38-41 (RVR1960) The Lord Answers Job 38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: 2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, ...
June 21, 2024 Job 35-37, Psalm 99 (NRSV) Job 35-37, Salmos 99 (RVR1960) Elihu Condemns Self-Righteousness 35 Elihu continued and said: 2 “Do you think this to be just? You say, ‘I am in the right before God.’ 3 If you ask, ‘What advantage have ...
June 20, 2024 Job 32-34 (NRSV) Job 32-34 (RVR1960) Elihu Rebukes Job’s Friends 32 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became angry. He was ...
June 19, 2024 Job 29-31 (NRSV) Job 29-31 (RVR1960) Job Finishes His Defense 29 Job again took up his discourse and said: 2 “O that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me, 3 when his lamp shone over my head, ...
June 18, 2024 Job 25-28 (NRSV) Job 25-28 (RVR1960) Bildad Speaks: How Can a Mortal Be Righteous before God? 25 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered: 2 “Dominion and fear are with God; he makes peace in his high heaven. 3 Is there any number to his ...
June 17, 2024 Job 22-24 (NRSV) Job 22-24 (RVR1960) Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great 22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: 2 “Can a mortal be of use to God? Can even the wisest be of service to him? 3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty ...
June 16, 2024 Job 19-20 (NRSV) Job 19-20 (RVR1960) Job Replies: I Know That My Vindicator Lives 19 Then Job answered: 2 “How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words? 3 These ten times you have cast reproach upon me; are ...
June 15, 2024 Job 16-18 (NRSV) Job 16-18 (RVR1960) Job Reaffirms His Innocence 16 Then Job answered: 2 “I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all. 3 Have windy words no limit? Or what provokes you that you keep on ...
June 14, 2024 Job 13-15, Psalm 98 (NRSV) Job 13-15, Salmos 98 (RVR1960) 13 “Look, my eye has seen all this; my ear has heard and understood it. 2 What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. 3 But I would speak to the Almighty, ...
June 13, 2024 Job 10-12 (NRSV) Job 10-12 (RVR1960) Job: I Loathe My Life 10 “I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. 2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; let me know ...
June 12, 2024 Job 7-9 (NRSV) Job 7-9 (RVR1960) Job: My Suffering Is without End 7 “Do not human beings have a hard service on earth, and are not their days like the days of a laborer? 2 Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like ...
June 11, 2024 Job 4-6 (NRSV) Job 4-6 (RVR1960) Eliphaz Speaks: Job Has Sinned 4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: 2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended? But who can keep from speaking? 3 See, you have instructed many; ...
June 10, 2024 Job 1-3 (NRSV) Job 1-3 (RVR1960) Job and His Family 1 There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons ...
June 9, 2024 Esther 7-10 (NRSV) Ester 7-10 (RVR1960) 7 1 So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. 2 On the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be ...
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June 8, 2024 Esther 4-6 (NRSV) Ester 4-6 (RVR1960) Esther Agrees to Help the Jews 4 When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter ...
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June 7, 2024 Esther 1-3, Psalm 97 (NRSV) Ester 1-3, Salmos 97 (RVR1960) King Ahasuerus Deposes Queen Vashti 1 This happened in the days of Ahasuerus, the same Ahasuerus who ruled over one hundred twenty-seven provinces from India to Cush. 2 In ...
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June 6, 2024 Nehemiah 11-13 (NRSV) Nehemías 11-13 (RVR1960) Population of the City Increased 11 Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in the holy city Jerusalem, while ...
June 5, 2024 Nehemiah 9-10, Psalm 96 (NRSV) Nehemías 9-10, Salmos 96 (RVR1960) National Confession 9 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth and with earth on their heads. 2 Then those...