The short answer is 1. The Bible and 2. Our friends. Here is the long answer…

The idea of gathering to read aloud the Scriptures is rooted in the history of God’s people, dating back to the return of Israel to their land after 70 promised years of exile. In Nehemiah 8 we read that “All the people came together as one in the square... They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel. 2 So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. 3 He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law...(18) Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day, in accordance with the regulation, there was an assembly.”

The idea of reading aloud God’s word is foreign to many of us, but it is a tradition that God’s people have observed as a communal form of instruction and worship. God said thru Isaiah “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” So, when we read it, it will accomplish God’s purposes in our lives. This is not just our lives as individuals, but our life together as a church.

Our friends at Neighborhood Church Ocala were also a huge inspiration in us taking on this challenge. Their church read the Bible aloud during Holy Week in 2022. They heard of the idea from other friends whose church family does a read-through every single year!