Cue the Confetti!

 

    Finally,   after 9 months of study, trial and error;  the new TonyaAnn.com has launched. You can download resources and subscribe to my blog.   Click over and let me know what you think.  Invite a friend to read my blog! 

 

I'm Gonna sit right down and Write a Letter

 

      Before telephones, email and text, our ancestors communicated by written letter. As a child I had “pen-pals’ with whom I wrote letter after letter communicating our daily activities, likes and dreams. I still enjoy the handwritten note or letter.

    After Jesus’ resurrection, as the apostles evangelized the world, written communication to the churches became a primary mode of instruction. Paul was the chief letter writer of our New Testament, but other apostles communicated by letter also. Literarily speaking,  the New Testament letters are divided into two categories:  those written by Paul and those written by ‘others.’   Once again,  these were written as complete letters; verse and chapter divisions were added by translators. Once again, they were written to be read aloud to the congregation and then passed on from church to church.

   These letters  were written exactly the way we learned in elementary school about letter writing.  There is a greeting,  a body, a closing, and a signature. The body contains elements of news, questions for the reader,  complements or criticisms and helpful notes. The closing is a personal note. Paul and the other writers wrote like we would write a friendly letter.

   Paul’s writing doesn’t always seem ‘friendly; so it will help our understanding to look at the church or individuals the letter is addressed to. If Old Testament scriptures are referred too,   we need to stop and look them up to understand why the writer added these old writings.

   Inside Story readers are reading Paul’s letters to his individual friends this week.  Timothy, James and Jude.   He calls these friends,  “my true child in the faith”,  “ a servant of God and Jesus Christ”.  These greetings aid our understanding of the message of the letter.

DIVE DEEP

·       Read the letter to Jude three times in three different translations.

·       Dissect the structure of the letter by identifying the greeting, body, closing and signature.

·       What is the theme of this letter?

·       What outcome was Paul hoping for?

  I hope you are increasing in your love and excitement for the Word of God through these studies!   Leave a comment below! 

Reading the Historical Books of the Bible

 

      It’s an on-going joke that the Colorado outdoor activity is wasted on me. I do not want to hike, kayak, hunt, fish or camp in the mountains. Nor do I want to sit on a sandy beach with my toes in the surf for days on end. My idea of a dream vacation is a tour of the Presidential Libraries. I love Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Boston. Doreen Rappaport, Beth Anderson,  Marissa Moss, and Barb Rosenstock write the BEST kids history. Thank you, Jill Eileen Smith, and Fiona Davis, for cannot-put-down historical fiction. Yep,  I’m a history nerd.

  Despite that, I stumbled through Old Testament books 6-17 yawning. Mostly lost in the wilderness with the children of Israel. Yet another driving reason to look for a better way to read the Bible.

   I knew those books as the history of God’s people, but they seemed so repetitive and boring. Until I started reading them as stories,  not statistical historical accounts. Ignoring the chapter and verse breaks and the subtitles in my translation.

   In narratives,   we read about specific characters and see them as real people with real problems. Villains become more villainous;  heroes have flaws also. We see thought processes for problem solving and we feel their emotions. As with any narrative, these stories give us deeper understanding of our God and His plans for the world He created.

   Writers are constantly admonished to “show, not tell”  in their stories. The writers of these Old Testament narratives were experts in this literary technique. For example:  I Kings 10:1-5. What if the author had written “The Queen of Sheba came to visit and to test Solomon with questions?  She was shocked at the wealth of Solomon.”   Read what it really says and see the difference!

 A good narrative will put the reader in the setting,  the characters will feel like friends or foes. An ‘inciting incidence’ such as seven hundred wives and 300 concubines turning a king’s heart from the Lord will cause our blood pressure to rise as we anxiously anticipate the outcome of this action. The action follows an “arc”  as the action rises, and situations become more dire until they fall into resolution. The Biblical narratives are a roller coaster of good and bad even among our heroes.

   Old, familiar stories become exciting when read as a narrative. Choose a story from 1 Kings and . . .

  DIVE DEEP     

·       Identify the main characters and the setting of this story.

·       What has happened that led up to this story?

·       Identify the ‘inciting incident.’  What happened after this that led to the resolution?

·       What is God trying to teach us through this story?

 

  I can’t wait to read the rest of I Kings this week. How about you?  

   I am still posting here due to you who are still reading here.  BUT,  if you could join my email list at tonyaann.com  I would appreciate it.   The website is under redesign but scroll to the bottom and contact me.  You won't recieve any more content than what is posted here.  And share with a friend.  THANKS!  Tonya

     Msg me at tonyaann.com  or comment on my FB at TonyaAnn,Writer.

Keep Reading!

The Law, Literarily

 

   As promised, here is a mini literary lesson about genre. Followers of Inside Story are reading Leviticus this week. One of the five books in the Bible categorized as “Law.”  These books were written by Moses between 1445 and 1405BC,  also called the Pentateuch. The laws recorded here can be sorted into three categories: moral, civil, and ceremonial. Understanding these categories help  us understand which laws apply to today.

   When reading or studying any book of the Bible, it is helpful to remember that the Bible was written to be read  aloud. It did not have chapter or verse breaks; it was on long scroll. Translators added chapters and verses much later. Moses read the laws to the people;  they didn’t have a hard copy in their hands.

Secondly,  the Bible is primarily written as stories, speeches, or poetry. It will aid your understanding  to know which you are reading.

   And finally; as you read,  think about the connecting theme of the passages in the genre.

       The Law books consistently focus on a Sovereign God, the great I AM. And every law points to the sin of putting any other Gods before Him.

   It’s obviously overwhelming and all-consuming to think through the following suggestions for every passage of the law, so,   choose one chapter from Leviticus this week and consider the following questions.

  DIVE DEEP  

·       Decide if the passage is a speech or a story.

·       Imagine what is happening to the people at this time in history.

·       How does this speech or story connect to the theme of  ‘no other Gods” ?

·       Why did God make this law?

·       Does He repeat it anywhere else?

   Comment on my FB or message me through TonyaAnn.com.

  Keep Reading!

 

The Bible as Literature

    Thanks to my friend, Kathy Brahmer, for telling me about a book called Literarily   How Understanding Bible Genres Transform Bible Study by Kristie Anyabwile (https://kristieanyabwile.com/). Not surprisingly, I was intrigued.

   Anyabwile hypothesizes that the variety of genres that make up the word of God  need to be studied the way one studies literature. The study of poetry is different from the study of history,   which is different from the study of biography  and so forth. Anyabwile makes a case for the value of studying the Bible according to the literary style of the book.  I obviously agreed with her when I wrote  Inside Story.

   Literarily is  the study of the form and structure of the writing. Specifically God’s Holy Word. It is a deeper dive into Biblical genres.  

    The Bible is literature,  not just a book but a library of sixty-six unique books with a consistent theme. A genre approach to reading the Bible is helpful to the new reader and adds insight to the experienced reader. The human authors of this inspired text become real as we read the words with an understanding of genre. It makes sense of confusing sections.

     Over my next several posts,   I’ll be correlating some of Anyabwile’s  insights with mine. They will post to coincide with the Inside Story reading chart. If you aren’t using Inside Story,  no worries, considering the genre of the book you’re reading will enhance the experience. You may decide to try a genre reading plan.

Keep reading!  

   

Road Trip

  I’ve been out of pocket for a few weeks. Spent my annual week at Royal Family Kid’s Camp in Missouri (see forthechildren.org for more info),  attended an anniversary celebration for my cousin,  had some quality time with extended family and good eating with friends. I drove over two thousand miles in 17 days. A trip I’ve done several times before. As I planned my return, I mapped a different route from OKC to Denver, but circumstances sent me back to boring, flat land I35 to I70 across Kansas. It was the same scenery;  the same gas station stops and the drive through at Steak n Shake in Goodland. The obligatory stop at the last Braums before Colorado in Salina, Kansas, and decision to take backroad 83 instead of 70 into downtown Denver. It was the usual road trip.

  How many times do we take the same way to work every day,  the same road to our summer cabin,  the same itinerary  to Grandma’s house,  same street,  same turns, same stoplights? Most of us travel the same route day after day. It’s familiar, it’s easy and the car practically drives itself.

  Last year I was bored with the “same ole” when it came to Bible reading. That’s why I wrote Inside Story: 52 Weeks in the Word. (See https:TonyaAnn.com). I was looking for different. A different trek through the same ancient words. A reader recently messaged me that she was using Inside Story for her year’s Bible reading. “It’s as though I’m on a journey that I’ve been on many times but taking a different route. So many new and interesting things to see,” she said.

   If you’ve never read the Bible completely before,  try the genre reading plan. You won’t get stuck in the wilderness right away;  you’ll get some breathing room in heavy prophecy, and you’ll find Jesus in every book.

   If you are an avid Bible reader,  it’s time for a different route through familiar territory.

     Inside Story is undated so can be started with your school year,  your birthday,  your fall Bible study group or TODAY! Ask for it at your favorite Indie bookstore or log in to Amazon prime!

Keep Reading! 

It's Only A Day Away

  

  I recently discovered author, artist and blogger,  Austin Kleon.  He’s the author of Steal Like an Artist and  Show Your Work.  His newsletter is genius.  It’s always 10 things worth sharing.  It is a quick read unless you choose to extend it by clicking on one of its plethora of links.   He shares comments of music, art, literature, food, places etc.  Warning:  Austin doesn’t write Christian content, he is occasionally controversial and/or offensive.   

  Last week, I chose to read his blog entitled Would I do it Tomorrow?  In an effort to control his schedule, he suggests moving every request and/or task to “tomorrow”.  “Tomorrow makes decisions simple…”  If you would drop everything to honor a request or do a task tomorrow,  your answer is a simple yes.  If not,  stop and consider.  

   This advice seems especially applicable to life as a believer.  In light of eternity, we should evaluate every project, plan and opportunity with eternal value in mind.  How would our schedule change?  Is that project worthy of my time tomorrow?  Would I move my plans around to accommodate that invite tomorrow?  Is it worth cancelling something else to do that tomorrow?  Can I drop everything tomorrow for this? 

  If we employed this train of thought,  applied it to every decision,  how would our priorities change? 

   Looking back over my last week,  I was shocked to find that three tasks would have been utterly abandoned.  They were prior commitments that I would have declined if I had considered doing them within twenty-four hours. When I accepted them,  May 20^th seemed a long way off.    Two time consuming errands would have been eliminated.  One task was a requirement of life on earth,  oil changes are necessary evils.  Only one item listed in my planner would have been a definitive YES.   Thought provoking to say the least. 

  Look at your calendar and/or to-do list;  past and present.  Categorize your entries. 

·       Which of these have eternal value? 

·       Which ones are worth cancelling everything else?

·       Which are required of life on earth?

 Prior commitments need to be fulfilled,  but can you put a stop to them and remind yourself not to say yes in the future?  Eliminate things you would never say yes to again.  Put “tomorrow” in place of the date or deadline you are asked to consider.  

    Comment at TonyaAnn,Writer on facebook  with your thoughts or insights!