Encounter with God

Scripture Union

Are they dated or just for non-specific days?

Dated

How much do they cost?

£3.75 per quarter or £15 for a year.

How is each day set out? For instance, does each day have a passage printed out, a prayer, a poem, a reflection?

There’s a thought, a reading (to be read from your own Bible), a comment and a reflection or prayer ... there are also guidelines for reading the Bible through in a year.

Each day has a title, a brief introductory thought and what the passage for the day is (but not printed out), a reflection on that passage and a short prayer or challenge. There are also readings for those who wish to read through the whole of the Bible in a year. This series takes us through the whole Bible in 3 years each time.

There is one page per day, and it begins with a very short passage, bible verse, or line from a hymn or poem, to set the scene, then gives the reference of the study text. This is usually a whole chapter for OT studies, or 8 - 20 verses for NT studies. A whole book or section of a book is studied consecutively each fortnight or so, so that you gain an understanding of the context of the each passage. For long OT books, fortnightly sections are interspersed with NT studies.A reflective commentary then takes up most of the page. This varies in style according to the particular author for that section, but it does always treat you as an adult. The day rounds off with a short paragraph to challenge you to a practical application of the passage in your own life, and to lead into further prayer or action. There are also introductions to each new study, and "taking it further" pages at the end of each logical grouping of chapters, giving key themes and ideas for reflection. Each quarter there are a couple of articles about topical world issues from a christian viewpoint, and great christians writers/witnesses from the past.

What do you like about them?

They are challenging, and not too basic.

I'm afraid I don't like them very much as many of the writers don't use my type of language but my husband is happy and hates change and, as we use them together, I try not to rock the boat.

Sunday is a separate study from the rest of the week (we've been going through the psalms for years) so it is possible to have one day off a week without losing the flow of the study. The commentaries/reflections are aimed at adults who already know the basics of the christian faith, so challenge more deeply than many studies.

What would you change about them if anything?

Nothing

I find that the 'chunks' of OT are very long and heavy and that, by being totally 'fair' we only go through the NT once for every time through the OT and, to me, that is not a good balance.

The OT passages are often very long - but it is hard to see how this could be changed without missing whole chunks out.

How long do you generally spend with them each day?

Only 5 minutes or so, but I tend to use it to lead into prayer.

Twenty minutes or so

It only takes about 10 minutes to "do" it, and this is all it usually gets, but ideally within a longer period of prayer of half an hour or so.

reviewed by hepzibah and Barbara and LizT

 Buy From SU now