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 2025. 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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February 23, 2025 Numbers 22-24 (NRSV) Números 22-24 (RVR1960) Balak Summons Balaam to Curse Israel 22 The Israelites set out and camped in the plains of Moab across the Jordan from Jericho. 2 Now Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done ...
February 22, 2025 Numbers 21, Psalms 45-46 (NRSV) Números 21, Salmos 45-46 (RVR1960) The Bronze Serpent 21 When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel ...
February 21, 2025 Numbers 19- 20, Psalms 43-44 (NRSV) Números 19-20, Salmos 43-44 (RVR1960) Ceremony of the Red Heifer 19 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “This is a statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the Israelites to ...
February 21, 2025 Numbers 16-18 (NRSV) Números 16-18 (RVR1960) Revolt of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram 16 Now Korah son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, along with Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth son of Reuben, took 2 two ...
February 19, 2025 Numbers 13-15 (NRSV) Números 13-15 (RVR1960) Spies Sent into Canaan 13 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites; from each of their ancestral tribes you shall ...
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February 18, 2025 Numbers 11-12, Psalms 41-42 (NRSV) Números 11-12, Salmos 41-42 (RVR1960) Complaining in the Desert 11 Now when the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, the Lord heard it, and his anger was ...
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February 17, 2025 Numbers 9-10, Psalm 40 (NRSV) Números 9-10, Salmos 40 (RVR1960) The Passover at Sinai 9 The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, ...
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February 16, 2025 Numbers 7-8, Psalm 39 (NRSV) Números 7-8, Salmos 39 (RVR1960) Offerings of the Leaders 7 On the day when Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle and had anointed and consecrated it with all its furnishings and had anointed ...
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February 15, 2025 Numbers 4-6 (NRSV) Números 4-6 (RVR1960) The Kohathites 4 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “Take a census of the Kohathites separate from the other Levites, by their clans and their ancestral houses, 3 from thirty years...
February 14, 2025 Leviticus 25-27 (NRSV) Levítico 25-27 (RVR1960) The Sabbatical Year 25 The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land shall observe...
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February 13, 2025 Numbers 1-3, Psalm 38 (NRSV) Números 1-3, Salmos 38 (RVR1960) The First Census of Israel 1 The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after...
February 12, 2025 Leviticus 22-24 (NRSV) Levítico 22-24 (RVR1960) The Use of Holy Offerings 22 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Direct Aaron and his sons to deal carefully with the sacred donations of the Israelites, which they dedicate to me, so...
February 11, 2025 Leviticus 19-21, Psalm 37 (NRSV) Levítico 19-21, Salmos 37 (RVR1960) Ritual and Moral Holiness 19 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the Israelites and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the ...
February 10, 2025 Leviticus 16-18 (NRSV) Levítico 16-18 (RVR1960) The Day of Atonement 16 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died. 2 The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother ...
February 9, 2025 Leviticus 14-15, Psalm 36 (NRSV) Levítico 14-15, Salmos 36 (RVR1960) Purification of the Diseased 14 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “This shall be the rule for the person with a defiling skin disease at the time of his ...
February 8, 2025 Leviticus 12-13, Psalm 35 (NRSV) Levítico 12-13, Salmos 35 (RVR1960) Purification of Women after Childbirth 12 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the Israelites, saying: “If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she ...
February 7, 2025 Leviticus 7-9 (NRSV) Levítico 7-9 (RVR1960) 7 “This is the rule of the guilt offering; it is most holy. 2 At the spot where the burnt offering is slaughtered, they shall slaughter the guilt offering, and its blood shall be dashed ...
February 6, 2025 Leviticus 10-11, Psalms 33-34 (NRSV) Levítico 10-11, Salmos 33-34 (RVR1960) Nadab and Abihu 10 Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his censer, put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and they offered unholy fire before the ...
February 5, 2025 Leviticus 4-6 (NRSV) Levítico 4-6 (RVR1960) Purification Offerings 4 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the Israelites, saying: When anyone sins unintentionally in any of the Lord’s commandments about things not to be done...
February 4, 2025 Leviticus 1-3 (NRSV) Levítico 1-3 (RVR1960) The Burnt Offering 1 The Lord summoned Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When any of you bring an offering of livestock ...
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February 3, 2025 Exodus 37-40 (NRSV) Éxodo 37-40 (RVR1960) Making the Ark of the Covenant 37 Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood; it was two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. 2 He overlaid it with pure ...
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February 2, 2025 Exodus 34-36 (NRSV) Éxodo 34-36 (RVR1960) Moses Makes New Tablets 34 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you broke....
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February 1, 2025 Exodus 31-33 (NRSV) Éxodo 31-33 (RVR1960) Bezalel and Oholiab 31 The Lord spoke to Moses, 2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with a divine spirit, with ...
January 31, 2025 Exodus 27-30 (NRSV) Éxodo 27-30 (RVR1960) The Altar of Burnt Offering 27 “You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide; the altar shall be square, and it shall be three cubits high. 2 You shall make...
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January 30, 2025 Exodus 24-26 (NRSV) Éxodo 24-26 (RVR1960) The Blood of the Covenant 24 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship at a distance. 2 Moses alone shall ...