Monday 14 Oct 2024 → Monday 24 March 2025

Paul writes that ‘… the Holy Scriptures … are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God’s people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’

2 Timothy 3:15-17

Open Word was devised by Matthew Hutton while a curate at St Stephen’s Church in Norwich. Matthew presented Open Word at St Stephen’s over 2016/17 and 2017/18 and, at the Mitre Benefice, in 2020/21, first in person and then (with the advent of Covid) on Zoom.

The idea behind Open Word as originally conceived is to cover (somewhat ambitiously!) the whole Bible over 18 weeks – to see how God’s Grand Story hangs together and how He speaks to us though the unfamiliar as well as the more well-known bits. A particular aim is to see how Jesus inhabits the Old Testament. Now, through a more condensed version, running from September 2024 through to March 2025, Matthew will be focussing on the OT books, after an initial Overview of the whole Bible.

This is in recognition that most of us tend to direct our attention to the NT, and neglect the OT, apart perhaps from the Psalms and a few favourite passages elsewhere. And, in various conversations, Matthew has sensed that a number of folk might welcome some concentrated sessions on the OT – in community.

Teaching
Seeing and understanding what the OT says.

Training
Learning how to apply what we learn to our daily life.

Transformation
Allowing the Holy Spirit to conform us more into the image of Christ.