People’s Bible comes to town

On January 14th 1604 an august gathering took place just up the road from where I live at Hampton Court Palace. Convened by royal command of King James I , there were Puritans ,one Archbishop, eight bishops, eight deans and one archdeacon. One of the results of that conference was the idea of producing a new Bible in the English language. Seven years later, in 1611, the King James Bible was born.

Four hundred years on, a great wave of creativity has been unleashed within the churches of the United Kingdom under the banner of Biblefresh. One such creative endeavour is explained below.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7WBFEJC_o8&w=400&h=300]

When I spoke to people at this week’s business meeting about the People’s Bible visit here in November there was unqualified interest. This is nothing to do with the very clever technology involved, but something else entirely. I believe there are two factors which contribute to this – story and community. The King James Bible is part of our local story here – and there is a sense of continuum about adding to that story now. The other reason is the ‘big C’ of yesterday’s post. This is an event which the church can host but the community can enjoy.

When Bishop Miles Smith wrote his foreword to the original King James Bible, he wrote that “translation it is that openeth the window and letteth in the light”. Centuries later, it is hoped that a bluetooth enabled writing pod will do the same!

The People’s Bible will visit Teddington on November 15th, just before it completes its journey at Westminster Abbey the next day.