The McK 2 Year Bible Reading Plan

For some time I have wondered, as you probably have if you have read this blog, what is he trying to say, and probably more importantly who he saying it too.  I have find it rather difficult at times to know what I am saying without having any clear sense of who I am saying it to.  Robert Benson in his book about writing books advises actually putting up pictures of “the jury” as he describes it.  If not actual pictures, mental ones of who you are writing to.  So here is where I have landed...bear with me a bit and hopefully this will make some sense.

For many years now it has been my practice to read through the Bible, all the way through on a two year time table.  No magic in the two years.  There are bunches of plans out there for reading through in a year, but I just found that trying to make it through in a year was too much for me.  So, I created my own plan, is that allowed?  I found that beginning with Old Testament and grinding through stuff like Leviticus and major and minor prophets without some New Testament relief and perspective caused me to bog down, usually somewhere in Leviticus in a bad year or for sure in Ezekiel in a good year, and give up.  So in the McK 2 year reading plan I alternate reading in the OT one day and the NT on alternate days and include a Psalm every day.  I read 3 pages on the Old Testament day, give or take a page as needed to finish at the end of a chapter, because thats how many pages it takes to get through the OT in two years alternating days with the New Testament in my Bible. (Your Bible may be different, so take the total number pages in the OT in your Bible, subtract the number of pages in the Psalms, and divide that number by 365 to see how many pages is required in your Bible.  I read one Psalm per day except Psalm 119 where I read two of the sections each day. Remember you are alternating days with the NT so you have a year in the OT and a Year in the NT in our two year span.  Like I say, for my Bible the magic number is 3 pages in the OT.). For the alternating day in the NT I just read one chapter per day.  I spread out the gospels over the two years because I need the Jesus stories sprinkled throughout to give me perspective and help see His story throughout the larger story as I read.  There aren’t enough chapters in the NT to actually fill up all the days so on the shorter books I will usually usually read them several times until I hit my benchmark on the grid/schedule.  I save two full months for Revelation, more on that in the bonus section, because it is especially relevant to our present age and times, not as a timeline to check off or predict the “end times.” Also it is too dense for me to understand on my own without some help. (See the bonus section below.)  So there you go, 3 pages and a Psalm one day then 1 chapter in the NT and a Psalm the next.  2 years later  you have made it all the way through and you will never read any part of scripture the same again, it will now fit into this broad rich story that you have, if you are like me, finally read all...the way...through. Awesome!  So if you are wondering how in the world to keep all this straight and you want a simple outline with sign posts of where you need to be month by month to be on track, drop me a line in comments and I can send you a simple chart (Grid/schedule) that keeps you on track.

BONUS STUFF
1. If you want some help seeing the bigger picture of the whole Story of the Bible as you read I will suggest two helpful resources:
- Get a copy of The Message, translation by Eugene Peterson, that has his introductions to each section and book of the Bible.  Short reads, solid gold!!!  I prefer to do my reading in my favorite Bible translation not The Message, but use a translation that is best for you.  (ESV, NASB, NIV, or some such translation.)
- Go to www.bibleproject.com and watch the videos that introduce each book. Also solid gold!!!  I have found it helpful to use an app called Reading Scripture. It is a reading through the Bible in one year plan that is too much reading per day for must folks, but they have embedded in the reading plan the Bible Project videos for each book with some added thematic videos that help give perspective to the larger story as you read.  I just use it to find the right video to fit where I am reading and ignore their time line.  Finding the right video is easier in this app that on the Bible Project web page.
2. Journaling:  Let me confess on the front end that I am a terrible journaler, is that a word?  I may journal every day for s week and then go a month or two and not write anything.  What I have found to be rewarding is to journal as I can, not as I must. If I make a journal entry I will write a date in my Bible (Actually now I use a digital version so I can just link it to my journal) that keys me to that journal entry.  If you choose to try another round of  reading through the Bible you will be able to go back to previous journal entries as you come across them and see where/what you were thinking at the time the last time you were reading this passage.  I have been using the 2 yr plan for almost 20 years now and find that rereading my journal woven through the years of my Bible reading has, in effect woven my story into God’s larger story in ways that I would otherwise forget.  It becomes a form of remembering, and remembering is a recurring theme throughout scripture.
3.  A word about commentaries.  Neil Cole says in his book Organic Leadership, that we should not let Christians, especially new Christians, read commentaries and books about the Bible until they have learned to hear The Spirit speak to them through the scriptures on their own.  Once you learn to hear the Spirit speak, those other resources may become helpful.  A little extreme perhaps, but I’ve been a follower of Jesus for almost 70 years, and still feel pretty new and often inept at listening to the Spirit first.  I have found that small doses of commentary and other resources are helpful, but can become distractions if used too much.  The ratio of personal engagement with the scripture to external resources should lean way toward the personal.  Having said that, when you get to Revelation, because of the difficulty of how it is written (Apocalyptic, what does that mean?  That is just the point.) and the mostly erroneous applications that try to predict the “end times,” I do think some outside resources are helpful at least the first time through to help understand.  Two resources that I have found to be very helpful: Reverse Thunder, by Eugene Peterson (Easier read.) and The Revelation of St John, by G.B. Caird. (A more dense read, but solid gold!!). The reading grid/schedule allows extra time for Revelation so you can read along in one of the resources if you choose.

So that is it, pretty simple and relatively small bites to take us all the way through the Bible.  By the way, no one is checking on you, so if you get behind or miss a day, relax, catch up your reading on your Sabbath or worse case scenario you may finish a month late.  That is no problem, the big thing is to read all the way through.  The grid/schedule provides a measure of accountability, but it is personal accountability and binds you to no one else’s schedule.

One last thought, beware, you might find, as I have, that once through is not enough and find yourself  beginning again and doing it all over again.  I can say from experience that each time through is more rich than the last and if you weave your journaling into the larger story, the Spirit will weave your story into His in a very personal way.  Have fun!